Ted Studebaker (September 1945 outside of

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

– 26 April 1971) was a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

who served as an agricultural worker during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and was executed by

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

in 1971. Studebaker was the 7th child of eight born on a farm in the small town of

West Milton, Ohio West Milton is a village in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,630 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The first settlement at West Milton was made in 1807. West Milton was n ...

. He was a devout member of the

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren (german: link=no, Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germa ...

, and also excelled in sports and played football in high school as well as in college where he attended the small liberal arts school

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

North Manchester, Indiana North Manchester is a town in Chester Township, Wabash County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,112 at the 2010 census. Geography North Manchester is located at (41.003951, -85.772573). According to the 2010 census, North ...

. He then attended

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

for two years pursuing his graduate degree in social work before he left for Vietnam. He also had a great love for music and was a guitarist. On August 27, 1967, Studebaker delivered a message from the pulpit to the congregation at the West Milton Church of the Brethren. He expressed concerns about social issues of the day, including the war in Southeast Asia. "The dehumanizing process of war concerns me deeply," Studebaker said. "What can I do about man's inhumanity to man?""For What It's Worth," a message written and delivered by Ted Studebaker, to the West Milton Church of the Brethren, August 27, 1967. While in Vietnam he volunteered with the Vietnam Christian service where his goal was to follow the example of Jesus Christ. He volunteered for two years working with a Montagnard hill tribe where he helped them with agricultural production. He bought fertilizer and sold it to the tribe at cost to yield a better crop, did the same with a roto-tiller, and also worked on a poultry production project. He believed that working with the people of Vietnam was the only way to pursue true peace and stability in Vietnam rather than war, although he did not side with either the Vietnamese or the US military. He married a Chinese volunteer named Ven Pak in April 1971 although they were only wed for one week before he was killed. He was killed on April 26, 1971, by North Vietnamese when they first attacked the volunteers’ house with rockets and then invaded. The soldiers did not know who Studebaker was, they merely saw him as an American and therefore a threat and so he was executed. The lives of his wife and other volunteers were spared. A record album was released of Ted Studebaker's music. The name of the album is Life is Good, Yea!/Ted Studebaker in Vietnam. According to the liner notes, "This record was produced from cassette tape recordings Ted Stedebaker sent from Vietnam to his family, relatives and friends....This project was conceived by Ted's brother, Gary, and Steve Engle." An original copy of the LP is in the

Vietnam War Song Project The Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) is an archive and interpretive examination of over 6000 Vietnam War songs identified. It was founded in 2007 by its current editor, Justin Brummer, a historian with a PhD in contemporary Anglo-American relation ...

collection.

References

External links

Pioneer for Peace: Ted Studebaker

PEACE HEROES: The Ted Studebaker Story
1945 births 1971 deaths American conscientious objectors Manchester University (Indiana) alumni People from West Milton, Ohio Florida State University alumni Activists from Ohio American members of the Church of the Brethren Vietnam War casualties {{US-activist-stub