Ted Studebaker

Ted Studebaker (born September 1945, outside of Dayton, Ohio) was a pacifist and conscientious objector who served as an agricultural worker during the Vietnam War and was executed by North Vietnamese in 1971.

Studebaker was the 7th child of 8 born on a farm in the small town of West Milton, Ohio. He was a devout member of the Church of the Brethren, 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 College in North Manchester, Indiana. He then attended Florida State University for 2 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.

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 it is important to note that he did not side with the Vietnamese nor the US military. He married a Chinese volunteer named Ven Pak in April of 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.

External links

* [http://www.cob-net.org/ted/pioneer.htm Pioneer for Peace: Ted Studebaker]