The subject of combatancy vs. noncombatancy further compounded the political challenges of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists. To discuss the crisis, Dr. Ruble called together a special meeting of church leaders in Washington, DC, on Sabbath afternoon, September 14. He then reported to Dr. Percy T. Magan that the possibility of students at Seventh-day Adventists colleges losing their noncombatancy status had resulted in grave concern.
Dr. Ruble and his colleagues at CME believed that medical service in the Army Reserve equaled noncombatancy. Whether CME could meet Government requirements to form Student’s Army Training Corps (SATC) unit in order to avoid closing the School of Medicine became Drs. Magan and Evans’ most vital question.
They sought advice and support from Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, president of Stanford University and regional director of the SATC program. Dr. Wilbur immediately wired Washington and recommended acceptance of the proposed Loma Linda unit. While administrators waited for a reply to Dr. Wilbur’s letter, the Educational Department of the General Conference sent a telegram and long letter expressing strong disapproval. “Committee has not authorized any of these steps and fear you are compromising the denomination.”
Clearly, denominational leaders felt that anyone joining a SATC unit would forfeit his noncombatant status. Dr. Evans quickly wired church leaders suggesting that they had not studied Dr. Magan’s explanation. In response, a night letter from A. G. Daniells and F. W. Howell illustrates the dynamics of the crisis. “…Advice obtained from military authorities revealed that those joining the Medical Reserve of SATC become combatants, forfeiting noncombatant standing, hence General Conference Committee in full session, Ruble present, decided it cannot authorize premedical work at Loma Linda nor advise formation SATC in denominational institutions.”
J. H. Christian, president of the CME Board of Trustees, Drs. Evans and Magan and others responded with another night letter dated September 29. “Your wire has caused us deep perplexity. Board met. With all courtesy believe you absolutely misunderstand situation in which you place us.… Following your counsel school must close immediately. We have information that once closed it will never be permitted to reopen. Officials with whom we have counseled have assured us that noncombatant status will not be compromised by training corps in medical school. We have acted in good faith.”
To enlist support for Loma Linda’s position on noncombatancy, Dr. Magan wired Adjutant General James J. Borree, an attorney in Sacramento, requesting a positive statement regarding those with conscientious scruples against bearing arms. He reminded General Borree that President Woodrow Wilson had designated the Medical Corps as a noncombatant service. Magan received Borree’s reply on October 5. “Opinion of this office medical student who enters army training corps forfeits right to noncombatant service. Signed, Borree.”
How would CME respond? Administrators firmly believed that CME had been established under Divine guidance and, with faith, prayer, and sacrifice, developed for the training of medical missionaries. Even under these difficult circumstances, they would not give up, and called an emergency meeting in Oakland, California, October 7 to 11, 1918, to discuss the issues. Following Dr. Wilbur’s recommendation, they decided to send Dr. Magan to Washington, DC, to petition the War Department to establish a noncombatant SATC in Loma Linda. Magan planned to join George Thomason, MD, who was already in the nation’s capital, and together they would meet with Major General E. H. Crowder, Provost Marshal, the Adjutant General of the Army, and, if necessary, President Wilson, himself.
At this critical time, Magan succumbed to an epidemic of influenza that swept the nation, and gave up his plans to travel east.
Although burdened with heavy responsibilities, including the startup of a wartime nursing school in Loma Linda, Dr. Newton Evans quickly decided to go in Magan’s place. With supporting documents, he entrained for Washington, DC, where he met Dr. Thomason on October 29. The CME physicians found the nation’s capital almost paralyzed by the influenza epidemic.
On the West Coast, students were restless. Tensions mounted as institutions waited for Dr. Evans’ reports. As one group of students after another were taken for physical examinations, church members fasted and prayed. A stream of telegrams reported step-by-step progress to college presidents. One wire stated that CME’s request would be considered. Another stated that the training corps was out of the question. The final telegram stated that all Government officials had insisted that training corps students were combatants, and that church officials would not consent to opening a training corps. (This crisis can be seen as a back story for Desmond Doss, and the recent movie “Hacksaw Ridge.)
Still not ready to give up, Dr. Magan, who had not fully recovered from his bout with influenza, called a special Board meeting. From that, Pastor Christian and Dr. Magan drafted a night letter to Dr. Evans stating their fear that if circumstances forced students to attend other schools in order to join the SATC, they would feel that the denomination had deserted them after they had faithfully stood by.
The signing of the Armistice ending World War I on November 11, 1918, suddenly interrupted additional negotiations with the Government just as problems were becoming even more complicated and unsolvable. Students on their way to military service returned to Loma Linda. The College of Medical Evangelists had survived again to fight even more battles against its very existence. The Armistice ending World War I saved the School of Medicine. Dr. Magan believed that God's hand was seen in the timeliness of the Armistice in what he called, "the sudden, spectacular and miraculous close of the war.”
Dr. Newton Evans agreed and stated, “Again we felt that the hand of Providence had intervened…. In our experience in the school we have come to expect trials and difficulties and to believe that these are permitted to help us to continue to realize our absolute dependence upon God and His upholding and protecting care.”