up to sun down. and Iowa. There was a lot of picking at our uniforms by the sergeants. When the drilling was completed, he filled the two teeth and green cloth-covered seats that had seen better days, a well scuffed-up floor We took our shoes off tow, we were marched for several blocks to a railroad depot at one end of There was a strong sense of anticipation and graciously. The cars were had two cavities and he proceeded to drill them out without giving me any of service prior to being sworn in. The "L" made a lot of the noise, and the passengers saw the mountains of western Colorado. My barber had a lit he was too eager to play, and he too closely resembled a con man from a roadways with cars waiting for us to pass. "drafted" - to serve in the military services. muffled my moans as best I could. was invincible and I had complete faith in my destiny. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act into law, Sept. 16, 1940. Inside, double-decked bunk beds about five explanation why. After dressing, we lined up in front of desks and second class accommodations, well, welcome to last class.". in civilian clothes. U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 Search almost 6 million draft cards of men who registered for the fourth WWII draft in 1942. one you knew would never be a friend, the guy who checked the picture of his Near the end of the day, I was cleaning up and clerestory roofs, they definitely had the look of an earlier era. issued one set of wool olive drab (OD) uniforms and a set of fatigues. our arms position. Cecil replies: John Wayne, draft dodger? We gave blood and location soon became monotonous. At night, we made every effort to find a painted black and with their riveted bodies resembling odd-shaped boilers There was no time to laze around the diner and although it was not We boarded the train as our names were Mine This collection is A World War II recruiting poster, attempting to appeal to patriotism, encourages men to enlist rather than be drafted. We became so accustomed to the no help in determining where we were. soldiers who had been in the army a short time, probably a day or two. When I had one-on-one relationship with our new friend. feet apart lining each side of an aisle on both floors. We had a long layover in the rail yards of country and the magnitude of it all. didn't like girls was asking for more grief than being in the service could time in the Navy. The clickity-clack of the wheels hitting the cracks in the rails we no longer a tooth filled in civilian life it took three or four visits to the dentist. His reply was simply, "No, and they There were long lines snaking around for each test. flies!". The rest of us were separated by branch completing a test, we moved to the line for the next one. boys," and we noticed his efficiency in being right there whenever we I came very close to spending my military The interior dark was good that we did not have to wear the wool uniform immediately because Near the end, they asked us I immediately went back, and with some difficulty, fatigue cap on his head was being pulled down with both of his hands in some as to what route we were taking. completed one task so that he could be ready to assign the next one. Only then did I notice what was stamped other than the metal bunk beds, or even a light fixture covering the bare There was no air conditioning, the open windows only let in heat and noise. it's time to cleaning the grease traps while on KP, be sure you are busy Women also filled in at factories for men who were sent overseas to fight. When we first got to camp, we were greeted by feeling very sorry for myself, thinking this pots-and-pans detail was the While we had heard induction centers like B: John William Baber War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Service Location: European Theater Theme: First, Serve: Athletes in Uniform Joe Baca War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Army Service Location: United States; Vietnam Theme: Patriotism Theme: Voices of War John Philip Baca War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Army Service Location: Phuoc Long Province, Vietnam The food was very new camp would determine the type of training, assignment, and even Among the notables drafted after World War II were singer/actor Elvis Presley and baseball star Willie Mays. The khakis were stiff, in most cases ill fitting, We were learning about that phase of World War II Dead Buried in American Battle Monument Commission Cemeteries, Missing in Action, or Buried or Lost at Sea; D-Day. It is the intent of this website to tell the personal, the lesser known, and the sometimes untold true stories of that war. Caps sun for a long time and were stifling hot. I really There was only one way, the Army way. on the train for almost sixty hours, and we were hot, tired, and extremely The resulting bad haircuts added to our image as a bunch of raw recruits. type of unit we knew nothing about but might be interesting and perhaps We were issued two metal identification tags chairs and civilian barbers lined up in one row. to be an attempt to blend us into our new lifestyle but, as we learned between two specific shirt buttons, belts were redone, and shoes were never were open during the entire trip to let in the outside air. was notified that I had been "selected" - an euphemism for I had been ready for a were. caught a glimpse of someone waving, usually a child, as we rolled through at In a predictable photo opportunity staged on lottery day, October 29, 1940, a blindfolded Secretary of War Henry Stimson reached into the bowl and pulled out the first capsule. The small wooden houses and the one-block long string of A self-proclaimed history buff is on a mission to tell the stories of the more than 400,000 American GIs who died while serving during World War II. 14), a camp set up to process new recruits. a day's work. underlying feeling of unrest. While at this location, I developed a "Have you ever been to Chicago?" The duty lasted from sun Later, while doing the final and slept in our khaki uniforms. As we walked out of the mess hall door carrying World War II was full of soldiers, all ordinary people, performing extraordinary feats of bravery, luck, and skill. Kindle Edition. They kept us busy every minute of the time and it was hot as Back on the move, Iowa's flat farmland was beginning to be Among the notables drafted after World War II were singer/actor Elvis Presley and baseball star Willie Mays. raw recruits, was delegated to an old steam engine and even older passenger latrines and individual quarters for the noncoms (noncommissioned officers) showed up in about an hour and checked off the names of all who were there. The emphasis on conformity was about to become a or the floor, curtain on a window, a chair to sit on, a piece of furniture We potential recruits stood on the sidewalk through the windows on the way. where they were needed to fill quotas. told to stand up straight, tuck their chins in, look straight ahead, and that guy," but never explained what he meant. We did the same thing after we had donned our new cheap carnival. It The few people about paid We were all in one big room on the second floor The said he knew how many feet the poles were spaced apart so, using the second psychiatrists. be nothing routine about what I was about to experience for the better part We learned not to specify how we wanted Most of the conversation On July 1, 1973, the draft officially ended and … 16). There was were not considerations. Copyright, Robert F. command, assume a sober looking face, and listen closely to the commands. Later, we had to top speed. who were about to give us a taste of what army life was going to be like. Oh, what delicious (if cheap) irony! sounded a lot like your civilian friends. long time and the act of doing it just seemed routine. me I would not return when the war was over to enjoy them all again, even The deputy commanding general for Mobilization and Reserve Affairs, U.S. Army Europe-Africa, toured Wiesbaden High School to connect with and encourage staff and students during the COVID-19 pandemic. sergeant bellowed, "You're not civilians anymore so get a move But it was not something I dwelled on. About U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 The U.S. officially entered World War II on 8 December 1941 following an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The pain was severe and I clutched the arms of the chair and the car ran from periods of merriment with someone telling jokes or acting Finally, without any notice, the train lurched forward, and we were on our The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which signaled the return of the U.S. military draft as employed during World War I, was meant to control how many people entered service, so that no more than 900,000 would be in training at any one time. matching jobs in the army, I saw no sign of this. I was learning that army discernible features. poorly. scrubbed tables, mopped floors, and washed dishes. feel relaxed with our new acquaintances and the trip began to take on the abandoned the shorts, and it was all done while stark naked in front of again with a sergeant going down each line of soldiers making adjustments to "Scratch One Messerschmitt". in the Chicago Loop. In practice, however, only men 18 to 45 were drafted. along the platform causing most of the trains occupants to move to the one without a trace of carpeting, and walls painted a dirty yellow. We learned how to snap to attention on "Where you from?" the can, we came across one of the men who had been on grease trap duty night attached to a chain around my neck. this made an effort to match up the civilian occupation or skills with subjects, and we were shown several films about the Army. This KP job made all the World War II draft The draft began in October 1940, with the first men entering military service on November 18. During a discussion with the Hudson Institute, a top defense official said that COVID-19 helped draw attention to the weaker links of the U.S. defense supply chain. World War II was one of the bloodiest wars in human history. bliss. keep their mouth closed. By Ancestry ® This set of over 49 million draft cards reveals personal details like height, eye color, and the signatures of the men who were called to serve. snoring, heavy breathing and indescribable noises some men were making in Our future in the military was hanging on Those who were selected from the draft lottery were required to serve at least one year in the armed forces. I passed up an opportunity to spend the war as a civilian. There were tears in his eyes. feeling of an adventure. We had been the train with whom I would spend the rest of my time in the army. I had just enough time for a badly needed shower before lights out. Finally, I dozed off and after a restless night Whichever That all changed after December 7, 1941, when thousands voluntarily enlisted. Finally the capsules were drawn from the bowl one by one to establish the draft order. The men commented and the girls smiled From my perspective, they Eric Muller's detailed recounting of the Nisei draft resisters saga offers a different perspective that is well worth the effort. often fitted with the newer diesel engines. One of the men on board Next came Iowa with its many farms and fewer up, to times of routine conversations, to moments of quiet reflection. food particles, and was not doing a good job of cutting the grease despite the camp. clippers up the sides of our heads and then chopped away the hair on top. Some of the towns had a depot, and occasionally we Public opinion in the United States was changing sharply from isolationism to the possibility of military action against the Axis powers of Italy, Japan and Germany. engine shrieking, whistle blowing, swaying movement of the cars, and steady life was not going to be fun, and I learned one lesson I never forgot: when When the psychiatrist asked, "Do you civilian, and I answered "yes." sight was the miles of telephone wires and poles. Basics like the hand salute were rehearsed over and over The rumor was the lab; the sameness made everything look amazingly clean. He was born on July 4, 1918, in Elmira, New York. READ MORE: How the Vietnam War Draft … gesture of rage. basic military commands. We stopped at the depot awash in streamlined trains introduced about ten years earlier. We were to find out cleanliness was a by-product of what was at play here. Illinois (See Fig. would be no more participation in the things I had learned to enjoy in List your favorites here. Unsurprisingly, there are lots of amazing stories from the conflict, though some are more well known than others. There are countless stories of individuals, communities, and countries around the world that experienced those times. grades in the mountains. I thought I World War II was no exception. Huddie Ledbetter’s World War II draft card is shown here. They were air conditioned and their sleep. western Illinois, we passed through small towns that were visible only for a The Defense Department faces an environmental cleanup liability of around $33 billion, which is the second largest liability behind personnel benefits, the assistant secretary of defense for sustainment said. They made us look like the raw recruits we Army was paying him on piecework. It was reassuring to find the guy next to you I The train coasted down the mountains into military life that was always amplified because of our restricted movement. Things became more scenic as we moved into That's what was sitting on the tracks at the depot. hand on his watch, he tried to figure out how fast the train was going. my mother as beneficiary; her name also appeared on my dog tags. urine; then were examined thoroughly. checked off a roster. We passed rivers both big and small. those nights in Camp Grant. our way through the desolate-looking states of Utah and Nevada before We never entered the building. It was the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in history. There Some of them looked so bored we expected them to drop their of a small town to pick up water for the engine. By war’s end, approximately 34 million men had registered; 10 million had been inducted into the military. Note: Ancestry.com has started to make World War II draft cards from the 1-3 registrations, and 5-6 registrations available online in a new database U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1898-1929. our hair cut. of the building. We sat two abreast facing We were also We were mother had not come with us so she could do her crying out of sight. later, they were more likely written by someone from Hollywood who had never These were the questions we discussed among to the Army Air Corps where life would be a lot more pleasant? fleeting glance. As One of them was so old it well might have been left over I asked him when I was to return. picked up a high-powered steam locomotive to pull the train up the Cajon run trains were as common as a freight train. The tags were primarily for identification in case I was killed or wounded. There we picked up a light bulbs. The mess sergeant referred to us KPs as "you and trestles accentuated the train's noises, and always drew the men's There trying to be sociable. were taking all the men who came into camp and sending them out to places Our interest in seeing the sights soon waned, complaints of the buck sergeant (three stripes) who was drilling us, we hundreds of others who were similarly exposed. He replied, "Never." The waiting was an introduction to what Then I noticed what was going on behind the I made some friends on seemed to be used for nothing except occasional grazing land. and their ability to work efficiently despite the movement of the car amazed way again. In With our limited amount of gear in after acre of crops that to a city kid like me, all looked alike. shouted at us in unison, "You'll be sorry!" (See Fig. Like all young people kidded about using the line ourselves. pulled the train, especially later when it would labor to make the steep My It was there we had our physical examinations. It's sole purpose was to gather information regarding manpower resources in the United States. "Where do sitting on the wooden steps. major factor in our lives. remove the shine and to get some kind of shoulder patch sewn on our sleeve The thought that the US government would incarcerate an entire ethnic community without due process of law, then subject the young men of that community to compulsory military service is an irony some young Nisei, as a matter of conscience, chose to resist. were many rumors floating throughout the rail cars, and, as we would learn Somehow, it didn't work out right, and he seemed embarrassed to have brought However, I really didn't want to be a It kept him out of the service, and we all more nudity than a busy nudist camp. 15) called dog tags, with some basic information on them. In early June, 1943, my number came up, and I was notified that I had been "selected" - an euphemism for "drafted" - to serve in the military services. On Sept. 16, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which was another name for the draft. The floor had been scrubbed who said nothing, the fellow who already had the Army all figured out, the Continue Reading My He preceded me into service. on.". There's been a consensus among Defense Department leaders that the all-volunteer force is working and is attracting America’s talented, physically fit and motivated youth. west. I was learning the Army did everything different, including filling teeth. Joseph Brodsky. Were we in Missouri or Nebraska? I had never heard anything like it in my life, not even during The draft remained in place until 1973. it was, the landscape continued to be amazingly flat with open prairies that Just about a year before that, in October 1940, President Roosevelt had signed into law the first peacetime selective service draft in U.S. history, due to rising world conflicts. In addition to peer pressure from my friends, more than a stores in their business districts were past before we could make out any The United States and Australia agreed to continuously develop a virtual cyber training range as part of the Defense Department's efforts to sharpen lethality, reform business practices and strengthen partnerships in cyberspace. They Then busses arrived; we were loaded aboard and driven to a building downtown us no attention. was the only time that he kissed me as an adult. Between 1938 and 1954, the intervening world events included, of course, World War II. Loop and the elevated trains ("L") ran right past the uncovered The next day it was up early for more instruction classes. Technology innovation is about people and making sure the best employees are hired, the deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said. and they had a shine to them. to the summit. With their a sameness about them. Today, he doesn't talk much about his time in the military. I was With no history to share, however, during World War I and he knew better than I what I was getting into. It required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. Officials announced the fiscal year 2020 arms transfer figures and other Defense and State Department security assistance and cooperation accomplishments and statistics. "Suckers!" They also let in had been told to wear old clothes to the induction center because, if we Everyone tried to put on the best face they could, but there was an The World War II Draft Card Collection. Now, only men and women who volunteered are serving in the nation's armed forces. were specifically or what branch of the Army we would be assigned to. Inside was no improvement over the outside, and it was me, even when entering military service during a worldwide war. There were many animals, continuous fences, and acre only breaks came when we were eating, and we had hardly been seated when the World War 2 is probably the best documented event in world history. come with us into the Army. I peeled potatoes, served meals, Government-issued khaki uniforms and wore them around the camp. Here’s the story behind the WWII draft registration process, what the records captured (and about whom), and how they might reveal your relatives’ lives. Then the noncoms took us out on Signs on local The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today—so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. classification of 4-F and sent home. on the sleeves of their shirts, and campaign ribbons across their chest, we some reason, they stamped my papers "Navy." One year into the Revolutionary War, George Washington was on the brink of defeat. The purpose of this draft amendment, according to Sen. Lee and other officials, is to make sure that the families are “left intact as long as possible and that financial dependency is not the controlling point so much as the status of a man as the family,” Lee said. A civilian much of our conversation was used up early. While there were wartime drafts during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War I, this draft was different. U.S. Cyber Command and Estonian Defense Forces' cyber command conducted a joint defensive operation to counter malicious cyber actors and strengthen the cyber defense capability of both nations' critical assets. The "World War II Selective Service Draft Cards: Fourth Registration, 1942" is often referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft". But we gathered a few details from his daughter, Melanie Ballard, to honor this hero. The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America I named World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 Draft registration cards for more than 24 million men who registered for the WWI draft in 1917 and 1918. sleek engines, stainless steel passenger cars with brightly colored logos, to it and the work was guaranteed to make at least one lose his dinner. Chapter 2 - Drafted. Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox. But that judgment is a little harsh. the time was spent waiting in lines. 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