In late 1913 Delwyn “Del” Thomas received the best possible news – he had won a prestigious Rhodes scholarship and would be travelling to England to study at Oxford University the following year.1 The native Utahn arrived to study chemistry but the outbreak of the war proved incredibly disruptive for the young student and his peers. Soon, many of the American students returned home while large numbers of his British colleagues were enlisting with the armed forces.
In 1915, while on a trip to London, Delwyn attempted to photograph a military fortification. He was immediately arrested and accused of being a spy. A fellow student, who was now a military officer, testified to Delwyn’s defence and ignorance of the ‘Defense of Realm’ laws that were in force. It later emerged that the tower Delwyn was photographing contained a secret searchlight designed to illuminate German Zeppelins at night. Fortunately for Delwyn, he was released without punishment.2
With the outbreak of war persons sympathetic to the Allies volunteered to aid the war effort in various capacities. Some notable Americans, such as Ernest Hemingway, Walt Disney, and Tony Hulman, volunteered to work for the American Ambulance Field Service, which provided a military ambulance service.3 It was to this group that Delwyn Thomas belongs. Like others, Delwyn felt a need to stop the erosion of liberty caused by the German army’s advances, but he could not justify becoming involved as a combatant. Of the war he wrote:
“As long as the war was essentially a clash of economic and commercial interests founded on a mediaeval idea of nationalism and balance of power, I could not feel called upon to take a combatant part…”4
In 1916, Delwyn began service as an ambulance driver in France. Surrendering the comforts of life in Oxford he was thrust into the hellish landscape of the war-torn front. Conditions in France were a world away from the comforts of Oxford.5 In this setting there was much speculation about when the conflict would end. Delwyn was an optimist and although he hoped for a speedy conclusion to the conflict it was not forthcoming.6 Instead, Delwyn continued to drive ambulances, such as the Ford T, in wretched conditions across France. In bad weather, roads turned into mires and the groans of the wounded filled his ears as he rushed them back to an aid camp.
At the conclusion of his enlistment with the Ambulance Service in the summer of 1917, Delwyn had undergone a radical transformation of his former pacifist views. In a letter to his family he noted how his experiences in France had “pretty well destroyed my pacifist ideas,” and he found himself alone in Oxford wanting to do more. He explored several options but wasn’t sure what to do.7
In the meantime, Delwyn travelled to London to meet with the Saints there. Conference President James McKay spoke to him about serving a mission. He was thrilled to be among the Saints again, but he was soon called back to military service.8 In a radical departure from his previous task, Delwyn was tasked with working on developing poisonous gases in a chemical warfare laboratory at Oxford University.9 He continued at Oxford for several more years and eventually received his doctorate before returning to his home in Utah in the 1920s where he remained an active Latter-day Saint until his death in 1975.
‘Moyer Delwyn Thomas Next Rhodes Scholar,’ Deseret News, 1 December 1913, p. 14; and ‘Social and Personal,’ Deseret News, 26 September 1914, p. 25.
‘Camera Gets Salt Laker in Trouble,’ The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 January 1915, p. 3.
Patrick Gregory, ‘Volunteer Ambulance Services (USA),’ International Encyclopedia of the First World War, (2018), available at: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/volunteer_ambulance_services_usa, [date accessed: 16 September 2020].
Letter from Delwyn Thomas to his sister, 4 June 1917.
Letter from Delwyn Thomas to his family, 27 February 1917.
Letter from Delwyn Thomas to his family, 27 February 1917.
Letter from Delwyn Thomas to his family, 26 July 1917.
Letter from Delwyn Thomas to his family, 26 July 1917.
‘Utah Boy Must Remain in London,’ Salt Lake Telegram, 25 June 1918, p. 2.