Wrinkle in the Long Gray Line

On August 6, 1970, a New York Times front page headline read: "West Pointer Seeks Discharge as a Conscientious Objector." A Wrinkle in the Long Gray Line is the story of that West Pointer, Cary E. Donham, who after three successful years at the military academy, chose to follow his religious and moral beliefs despite the overwhelming odds against him from the military establishment. This memoir is well sourced from a range of materials including news articles, numerous contemporaneous letters to his parents, data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and of course his own experiences.

Growing up in a small town in Southern Illinos, Mr. Donham excelled in sports, academics and had strong religious roots. Influenced by his father who was an officer during WWII and knowing that all young men faced military service during the Vietnam War, he eyed West Point as a way to serve the country as an officer, like his father, to the best of his abilities.

He eyed West Point, but admission required a Congressional appointment. Mr. Donham was named as an alternate much to his disappointment. But as West Point was expanding its student body during the Vietnam War, in April 1967, based on his overall stellar qualifications, he was selected to attend the academy as a "qualified alternate.". He accepted.

And so began the academic, spiritual and moral journey of Mr. Donham. Beginning with his first year - often referred to as Plebe year - Mr. Donham describes, with humor and irony, the constant pressure, hazing, as well as the military training new cadets undergo during their first eight week summer aptly named "Beast Barracks. Simply surviving was the goal of most new cadets. And he did indeed survive, and excelled during his second year, called Yearling, with military training at Camp Buckner, and the brutal schedule of academics that included calculus, physics, chemistry, history, French, and military tactics.

The end of Yearling year was a decision point for cadets with two possible paths to take: stay or go. And for Mr. Donham, his inner voice started to grow louder making that decision all the more critical.

Once junior year started, a cadet who left the academy did not return to the draft pool as in the first two years. Rather, a cadet who resigned or was expelled went directly into the Army for three years as an enlisted person rather than an officer. Mr. Donham was in the top 10 percent of his class in academics. It seemed a waste of his academic success and opportunities ahead so stayed and prepared for his next round of summer military training. He would be a squad leader for the second half of Beast Barracks, helping shape new cadets so they could succeed during Plebe year and thereafter.

Part of a squad leader's duties included teaching new cadets how to use a bayonet, physical drill with a a call and response during the drill: "What is the spirit of the bayonet?" "To kill, sir." Leading this drill stirred something deep in Mr. Donham. A casual call and response about killing repeated over and over. He felt conflicted with not just the casual nature of it but with his religious upbringing to love your neighbor and turn the other cheek. But he was there to do his job as squad leader and put aside his doubts to complete his squad leader duties.

Despite lingering moral questions, Mr. Donham saw a path to finishing at West Point. His academic standing gave him options upon graduation, even a possible path to graduate school. And then the realities of the Vietnam War hit close to home. One of his high school classmates had been killed in Vietnam and then on October 11, 1969, the Vietnam War protest intruded on West Point. Students from Vassar and other nearby colleges marched at the academy and did not stand during the National Anthem. Then he, like the rest of the country, learned about the indiscriminate murder of civilians at My Lai in Vietnam, including the involvement of the then West Point Superintende
About the Author: Born in 1949, I grew up in small towns in downstate Illinois the oldest of four children. After my parents settled in the small town of New Baden, 30 miles east of St. Louis, I excelled in academics and athletics, and in 1967 received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. There, after completing three years and despite being in the top ten percent of my class academically, my religious upbringing and beliefs led me to apply for discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector. To date, I am the only cadet to do so.

After prevailing in a federal court lawsuit, and receiving an honorable discharge, I worked in a Greenwich Village Church, then moved back to Illinois where I finished my undergraduate degree. In 1978, I moved to Chicago where I made a living for five years as a musician and as an over-the-transom writer for the Chicago Reader. I applied to law school in 1984, was accepted, and attended law school at night while working full time, finishing fifth in my class, and being published in the Chicago Kent Law Review.

I clerked in federal court for two years after graduating from law school in 1988, then worked at the Chicago law firm of Shefsky & Froelich Ltd. Until 2012, when it merged with the Midwest firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. During my career as a litigator, I successfully defended the City of Chicago's minority preference program in construction, and represented the Chicago Board of Education in class action race discrimination law suits. After retiring, my wife of many years and I moved to Kentucky. We have one son, who works as a mental health counselor.