Biography
Harry Sommers was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Indiana imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: sent to Camp Zachary Taylor; sentenced to10 years in prison; imprisoned on Oct. 4, 1918 at Ft. Leavenworth; part of Group 2 of C.O.s released in Jan. …
The compilation reports that Harry Sommers was sentenced to ten years and belonged to the second group of conscientious objectors released in January 1919. It places his Fort Leavenworth imprisonment on October 4, 1918 and cites court-martial trial number 115205. That reported institutional date does not resolve the relationship with the earlier custody date recorded for him. The ten years is an imposed term, not demonstrated service. No existing custody endpoint or total is changed.
Anne M. Yoder, World War I Conscientious Objector Database, retained CSV row 1930.
