Biography
Forrest Hostetler was a World War I conscientious objector who refused military service and was court-martialed and confined at the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas. When the U.S. Army's Board of Inquiry examined him at Fort Leavenworth on January 4–5, 1919, it concluded that he was a sincere conscientious objector who would have qualified for a furlough.
Forrest E. Hostetler was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Indiana imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. Sentenced to 10 years in prison. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: sentenced to 10 years in prison; sent to Leavenworth Oct. 4, 1918; part of Group 2 of C.O.s released in Jan. 1919 (those whom "the Board of Inquiry now find sincere and who in their judgment would have been recommended for furloughs if they had had the opportunity of being …