Civilian Public Service - Epilogue

Epilogue

Civilian Public Service men were released from their assignments and the camps closed during March 1947, nineteen months after the end of the war in the Pacific. Reforms in the mental health system continued after the war. The experience of Mennonite COs was instrumental in creating regional mental health facilities in California, Kansas and Maryland.

Lewis Hill, who was in CPS camp number 37 near Coleville, California, together with several other COs founded Pacifica Network and KPFA Radio in Berkeley, California, the world's first listener-sponsored radio station. Poets William Everson and William Stafford were both in CPS camps. Actor Francis (Fritz) William Weaver spent time in the Big Flats (New York) CPS Camp number 46.

Men from the historic peace churches volunteered for relief and reconstruction after their release from CPS. The 1947 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to American and British Friends Service Committees for their relief work in Europe after the war. Mennonite Central Committee redirected its effort from camp administration to relief and reconstruction in Europe after the war.

Civilian Public Service created a precedent for the Alternative Service Program for conscientious objectors in the United States during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Although CPS would not be duplicated, the idea of offering men an opportunity to do work of national importance instead of military service was established.