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Peninsula, Ohio
Gulf War ex-soldier and wife thankful for letters


For 10 years, Tim and Yvette Coil have treasured the encouraging letters that were their lifeline during the Gulf War. Now the former soldier and his wife want to express thanks.

While serving in the US army in the early 1990s, Tim had concluded that military service was incompatible with following Jesus. He was sent to the front lines in Iraq,

Tim Coil, a former soldier, describes the letters of support he and his wife Yvette received when he applied for conscientious objector status during the Gulf War. MCC News photo by Jack Leonard

where he faced death threats for refusing to carry a weapon. Back at the base in Germany, Yvette was ostracized as “the C.O.’s wife”.

Cathy and Andre Gingerich Stoner, then serving with Mennonite Central Committee in Germany, asked Mennonites and other pacifists to write to the Coils during those difficult months.

“[The letters] saved me from self-destruction. They helped me at a very hard time in my life,” Yvette recently wrote to the Stoners.

Now as the US steps up military action in Afghanistan, the Coils are sharing their story.

Originally from Ohio, Tim joined the army in 1985, then re-enlisted for a second tour after marrying Yvette. While stationed in Nurnberg, Germany, the Coils began attending church and a Bible study. As the build-up toward war in the Gulf got underway, Tim befriended a soldier applying for conscientious objector status. At the same time, Yvette was pregnant with their first child.

“When my son was born – Dec. 3, 1990 – that’s what crystallized my beliefs in non-violence,” Tim remembers. “I realized that God created my son, and God created everyone else’s sons. God gives life, so what right do I have to take it?”

Tim’s commanding officers were not happy about this realization.

“‘We’ll drag you down there, or you’ll go to prison,’” Tim remembers one yelling. Not certain of the options, he went to the Gulf but refused to carry a weapon.

The Stoners and their network of peace counsellors in Germany were offering information to military personnel seeking to apply for conscientious objector status. After a phone call between Cathy and Yvette, Tim’s was one of the cases they followed.

In Saudi Arabia, and then in Kuwait and Iraq, Tim felt under attack from all sides. Ordered to drive a fuel truck on the front lines, he saw the carnage of war. He was harassed and taunted by others, and overheard two colleagues discussing shooting him and blaming his death on a sniper.

In Germany, Yvette maintained contact with the Stoners as Tim was compiling the documents and statements needed to apply for C.O. status. Through MCC and other peace networks, the Stoners spread word about Tim’s situation and called for letters of support to the couple, their congressional representatives and Tim’s commanding officer.

Letters, dozens then hundreds, came from Mennonites, Quakers and Bruderhof members.

Tim told the men he worked with, “I won’t expect you to defend me. I’m out there without a weapon, ready to stare death in the face – but I don’t want to cause someone else to die.” Meanwhile, Yvette was speaking out against the war and publicizing her husband’s situation.

Tim returned to Germany in May 1991, after serving six months in the Gulf. He was honourably discharged in May 1992 on other grounds after his C.O. application had been held up for a year. The Coils moved to Ohio and, through a suggestion made by Andre, started attending Aurora (Ohio) Mennonite Church.

While many of the books and materials Tim read while applying for C.O. status were written from an Anabaptist perspective, the Coils hadn’t realized the extent to which a belief in non-resistance is central to the Mennonite faith. They are now looking forward to sharing their experiences with others in the church.

The need for what they have to say has been especially clear since the events of Sept. 11, Tim says. “The recent violence has solidified my beliefs even further. Violence begets violence . . . For Christians, the values of our country shouldn’t come before the values of God.”

The Coils have two children, Joshua, 10, and Brittany, 9.

 – adapted from a report by Rachel Beth Miller, for MCC

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Last modified December 7, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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