Conchie: What my Father didn’t do in the war

“What did you do in the war, daddy?” It’s a classic question – and maybe one that expected the answer to be stories of brave attacks on enemy lines, pressing forward against overwhelming odds. But to Gethin Russell-Jones, the question was not one to ask – he knew what his father had done and, growing up, would have summed his father’s contribution to the war effort under one word: “Nothing.” As a conscientious objector, and despite the fact that his fiancée was cracking German codes at Bletchley during the Second World War, John Russell-Jones exhibited a different kind of courage to that shown by most of his peers. Convinced that Christ’s teaching forbade him to take the life of another, he faced ignominy, insults, and opposition, from the state, his friends, and even his own family. As an adult, Gethin decided it was time to look for the man his father had been, and to see if he could regain respect for him. And as he finds out what led his father to the decision he made, he discovers a man he never really knew – one who was prepared to suffer for an unpopular and unfashionable belief, and who exhibited a different kind of courage in doing so.