Hello, everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could provide me with information regarding the enlistment process for the Armed Forces in the US in WWII? What records did you need, what was the process like, what forms were filled out, did the physical occur there, when was the enlistee approved and when would he receive his uniform, etc?

There is surprisingly little information about the recruiting/enlistment process on the web (that I've been able to find, anyway) so ANY information will be hugely appreciated.

Thanks!

-Cathy

Edited to add: I could also use some information regarding formation of units. I am particularly interested in the 29th Infantry Division, during WWII. I read on wikipedia that it was made up of National Guard units...does this mean that folks who enlisted would not have been put in this unit, only people who were in the National Guard prior to the war? TIA.

This is generalized:

If you "enlisted" versus were drafted then you walked into a recruiter's office and asked to enlist.
The recruiter would get basic information and then schedule you to take the AGCT (Army General Classification Test) or equivalent for your service of choice (today this is the ASVAB test). This would determine your desirability to the military.
You had to provide a birth certificate or have witnesses that testified to your age if you appeared to be too young.
After this, you went to a local processing center where they gave you your physical and additional testing if required. There you officially signed your enlistment contract and took your oath of enlistment.
From there you were given a report date and location along with travel tickets, money etc. Generally, enlistees would be travelling in a group with a designated person in charge (usually the one with the best testing scores or that was designated for OCS etc).

The National Guard is a bit different. The same system applied pre-war except it is done entirely within the state of service. For the 28th it would have been Pennslyvania. There you went through roughly the same process but after boot camp went to drill with your local National Guard center and unit on your weekends. The weekend schedule varies with the unit. Some drilled one day per week. Others combined this into 2 or 1 weekends per month. An annual 2 or 3 week drill (often called "summer camp") was also required.
One major difference was that National Guard units often had alot of political appointees, particularly in the officer ranks. When nationalized for federal service these peacetime political appointees were often thrown out of the unit during their work up to deployment or shortly after the unit went into action due to incompetence. Even at the enlisted level National Guard units tended to suffer more psychological and mental problems than regular army units did.

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