Some interesting stuff on the 1940 US draft...

Some 50 million men registered for the draft before and during the war.

The age limits at first were 21 to 36, these were later lowered to age 18 and raised to 42.

At first service time was limited to 1 year and would only serve in the Western Hemisphere. It was then changed to any area and for the duration of the war plus 6 months.

They had to be at least 5 feet and no more than 6 ft. 6in. and weight at least 105 lbs. Certain exemptions were made for these draftees, for certain sevice skills. This did NOT apply to enlistees.

At first everyone had to be able to read and write, later changed to take those who could not.

At least 1/3 were rejected of those who got these greetings from "uncle Sam" for medical and dental short comings. Then there were those rejected for moral grounds such as giving the wrong answer to; "do you like girls".

At first a man was required to have half his teeth. That later changed also. Remember these men grew up during the depression and few had ever seen a dentist.

At first no one who was convicted of even trivial petty misdemeanor crimes like shop lifting were allowed in. That changed over time and by 1945 at least 100,000 convicted felons had served. Some volunteered to be drafted straight from prison in order to shorten their sentences. The only man shot for desertion springs to mind; Pvt Slovik.

Being nearsighted was reason at first to be turned down. That also changed. During the war the army issued at least 2 million pairs of glasses. They also even took men with one eye.

The army set up schools to teach them en how to read and write. Making some 800,000 literate.

Most of this is from The War and Intimate History 1941-1945 by Geoffrey C. Ware and Ken Burns. (p.30)

Some of it is stuff I had found on my own over the years.

 

desperate times call for desperate measures... great info Clint. Very interesting to see the the standard for entry, then the slow progression of leanancy for admittance .....one eye? felons? ha ha

 

some interesting stats there

 

In the novel The Young Lions, GIs are complaining about their draft boards:

"Look at me, I got only one eye. I told them, ONE EYE! 'One A' they say, and in I go!"

Yeah, desparate times called for much less stringent regs.

 

Great info that i did not know before! Compare that to later wars? In Vietnam era the draft age was 18 to 26. Deferments were given for married men and those with children, along with the famous college deferments, and for certain occupations such as schoolteachers. Then as now, you could enlist with parent or guardian's consent at age 17 but could technically not be allowed to be sent into a combat zone until age 18. Some young soldiers were sent at such a time that they actually only turned 18 while on the ship going over to Vietnam (as an aside it was only the very early 1964-66 period of American involvement that many soldiers and Marines were sent to Vietnam by Navy ships, later most arrived in Vietnam by commercial airliner).

The draft in the USA ran only from about 1940 to 1946, but was reinstated in 1948 and ran until 1973 (the longest period in American history) when the unpopularity of the Vietnam war again compelled congress to revert the military to an all-volunteer force.

Modern day, before the 9/11 attacks the age range for enlistment was age 17 through 30 (or 32 depending on service/branch including National guard and reserves). Ironically, American commitments on 2 fronts again forced to army to request, and receive, permission from congress to raise the maximum enlistment age to 42! Oddly, some men even older than this have been allowed to re-enlist, some as old as 48 (based on a slightly complicated system using how much prior service time you have etc.)

 

One eye....felon.....illeterate..... whatever the case, appreciate every one of em! Thanks for the ref Clint, I'll check it out.

 

I read about this book and recalled this thread . . . . A history of dentristry in the army to WWII from the US Gov't Printing Office.

U.S. Government Bookstore: News Releases