Biography
Michael J. Mandel was a Hutterite conscientious objector from South Dakota imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. Sentenced to 25 yrs. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered for draft on June 5, 1917 as a C.O.; was classified as 1A; interviewed by Special Bd. for disobedience of orders on Sept. 24, 1918 at Funston & on Feb. 14, 1919 at the Disciplinary Barracks ; offered farm furlough & wished to accept it; sentenced to 25 yrs. …
1920s custody review: The Swarthmore Peace Collection compilation distinguishes uncertain June 1917 drafting from February 13, 1918 imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth. The admission field is corrected accordingly. Its sources include J. D. Mininger's March 10, 1919 list and the Fourth Wing Basement survey. The compiler also records a reduction from 25 years to 18 months. It supplies no release date, so the inherited 1920 year is not newly verified; no release is calculated from sentence length. Transfers and arrest remain unresolved, and no identity-matched photograph was found.