Draft ages in World War II
Reader Sarah is struggling to track some key dates that may well be important for folks who want to research the young men of their families in the World War II era.
She writes:
I’m trying to find exact dates for the different draft age changes during WWII. Everywhere I look, the information is not very detailed or contradictory. I know the original age at the start of the draft was 21, but I’m trying to find when it was lowered to 20, and then to 18. For the age 18 I keep seeing the date of June 1942, but then FDR’s Fireside chat where he mentions lowering the draft age from 20 to 18 isn’t until October 1942. Congress approves it November 11th, and I’ve seen December 5th as the age change to 18 as well. It’s quite a frustrating conundrum and I would love your help in solving this perplexing issue.
Great question… and one that requires reference to two key sources of federal reference materials that all genealogists should be familiar with. And it requires an understanding of the World War II draft registration system as well.
The first source to look to whenever a question like this arises will be the federal statutes: the laws passed by Congress and signed by the President (or enacted over his veto). These will provide the basic structure or framework that governed a federal issue like this one. And you can find historical federal statutes online in three basic locations:
• Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, part of the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress. This fabulous free website is chock full of federal statutory materials, including the Statutes at Large (the printed volumes of federal laws in roughly chronological order from the first Congress after adoption of the Constitution through to the first major federal code, the Revised Code of 1875. For any statutory research up to about 1875, this should be your first stop.
• For public laws from 1875 forward through at least 1950, the Complete Collection of United States Statutes at Large of the Constitution Society is your best bet. There are individual downloadable PDF files for each volume of the public Statutes at Large from volume 1 through volume 128 (2013). The website doesn’t have private laws (affecting individuals or families personally) after about 1875.
• For modern federal statutes, from 1951 through to 2011, the Government Publishing Office’s Federal Digital System has the United States Statutes at Large with PDFs of each volume of the Statutes at Large from volume 65 (82nd Congress, 1st Session, 1951) through volume 125 (112th Congress, 1st Session, 2011).
• And for modern statutes right up to today, the House of Representatives’ Office of the Law Revision Counsel has the entire United States Code — all existing federal statutes — from 1994 to the present.
So… what were the draft laws affecting our young men in World War II?
Leading up to and during World War II, there were three key draft statutes that made men of various ages subject to being conscripted:
• The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, enacted into law on 16 September 1940, provided that “every male citizen of the United States, and every male alien residing in the United States who has declared his intention to become such a citizen, between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-six at the time fixed for his registration, shall be liable for training and service in the land or naval forces of the United States.”1 So the first group that could be drafted were those aged 21-35, and any young man could enlist at age 18.2
• An amendment to the Selective Training and Service Act was adopted by the Act of 20 December 1941: “every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the United States, who is between the ages of twenty and forty-five at the time fixed for his registration, or who attains the age of twenty after having been required to register pursuant to section 2 of this Act, shall be liable for training and service in the land or naval forces of the United States.”3 So as of the start of the war, the age range was 20-44, but young men had to register for the draft at age 18.4
• A final amendment to the elective Training and Service Act was adopted by the Act of 13 November 1942: “every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the United States, who is between the ages of eighteen and forty-five at the time fixed for his registration, shall be liable for training and service in the land or naval forces of the United States.”5 So as of the end of 1942, the age range for the draft was 18-44.
But what about those other dates Sarah kept finding? Like the December 1942 date? That requires us to look at another reference source: the Executive Orders of the President. That’s where policy can be set that limits or impacts the statutory system. And on 5 December 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did issue an executive order, Executive Order 9279, transferring draft authority to a newly-created War Manpower Commission.6
That Executive Order didn’t change the draft age. Instead, it provided that all men 18-37 who were subject to the draft couldn’t enlist voluntarily but had to be inducted into the military “under provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended.”7 So that December order really pushed young men into the draft system, rather than the enlistment system.
And what about that June 1942 date Sarah keeps seeing? That’s where the understanding of the draft registration system comes into play. Because some of the dates you’ll come across when looking at the World War II draft system are dates when different registration rules took effect and different groups of people had to register for the draft.
There were, in all, seven draft registrations during World War II — and there’s a good overview of these registrations free online at Fold3.com. Fold3.com gives us these bits of information:
First Registration – October 16, 1940: “over 16 million men between the ages of 21 and 36, registered at local draft boards around the country.”
Second Registration – July 1, 1941: “men who had reached the age of 21 since the first registration.”
Third Registration – February 16, 1942: “For men 20-21 and 35-44 years (born on or after February 17, 1897 and on or before December 31, 1921).”
Fourth Registration, “Old Man’s Draft” – April 27, 1942: “men who were 45 to 64 years old at the time.”
Fifth Registration – June 30, 1942: “Men 18-20 years.”
Sixth registration – December 10-31, 1942: “Men who had reached the age of 18 years after June 30, 1942.”
“Extra Registration” – November 16-December 31, 1943: “American men living abroad, 18-44 years old.”8
So the law said who could be drafted, and who had to register. The Executive Order limited whether those who might be drafted could enlist. And the draft registration system created the records when those who were subject to the laws actually had to register for the draft.
SOURCES
Image: James Montgomery Flagg, World War I recruiting poster, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
- Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 885 (16 Sep 1940). ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- “An Act To amend the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 by providing for the extension of liability for military service and for the registration of the manpower of the Nation, and for other purposes,” 55 Stat. 844 (20 Dec 1941). ↩
- Ibid., §2. ↩
- “An Act To amend the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 by providing for the extension of liability,” 56 Stat. 1018 (13 Nov 1942). ↩
- Executive Order 9279, 5 Dec 1942; The American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ : accessed 13 July 2015). ↩
- Ibid., §4. ↩
- “WWII Draft Registration Cards,” Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 13 July 2015). ↩
Thank you so much, Judy, for answering my question. This was extremely helpful!
Thank YOU for asking a great question!
At the other end of the age limits for WW II draft registration, when did they begin the “old man’s draft?” I found my grandfather’s registration, and I have a number of questions about it. The card is missing a date, and his birth date (I know that, but having it on the card would help date the card). He was in a nursing home, and his signature is a shaky “X.” This was witnessed by someone else, and the spelling is absolutely bizarre. The handwriting on his name in this spot is not at all like that on the rest of the card. My guess is that the administrator filled out the rest of the card–where his name is spelled correctly–and an aide guessed at his name. When I asked my mother about this, she told me that her father-in-law was in the nursing home because of a severe stroke. That would explain the misspelling, if the stroke had affected his speech and the aide had to guess at what he was saying. My main question is why they were collecting draft registrations on such severely handicapped men in nursing homes in the first place? Or did the law apply regardless of whether or not there was any reason to expect the man would recover and could serve? I found one for my other grandfather as well, who was retired, in his 70s, and ended up working part time as some kind of civilian warden watching for enemy aircraft, not in the military. He lived in Seattle, where this was a real risk.
The Fourth Registration, called the Old Man’s Draft Registration, took place in April 1942, and covered all men who were 45 years of age up to and including those who were 64 years of age: those born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897, and who were not already in the military. It wasn’t really a draft registration for conscription purposes, but rather to collect information on the industrial capacity and skills of men whose labor skills might be useful in the war effort. It served functionally as a manpower census.
Thanks for the date. This would have been useful in the case of my other grandfather, the one who ended up as a civilian warden spotting for enemy aircraft at night. I still fail to see why they collected data on men in nursing homes who were unlikely to recover. Though I suppose it at least told them that.
As you noted there were seven draft registrations during World War II for which men completed their registrations on particular dates. After the 6th registration in Dec 1942, beginning in Jan 1943 Selective Service switched to a system of continuous registration — men residing in the United States were to register at their draft board office within 30 days of whenever it was that they turned 18, without waiting for any particular “registration day”. For example, in the month of June 1944, over 85% of the 72,939 men who registered in that month did so when they turned 18. (Selective Service as the Tide of War Turns: the 3rd report of the Director of Selective Service (GPO:1945), pp.253-254.) By the way, Selective Service had expected approximately 100,000 men to register that month, based on birth statistics from 18 years earlier, so there were men who failed to register or who registered late.
Also, one reason for the Dec 1942 change requiring men younger than 39 to be drafted instead of volunteering was so that men in essential industries and jobs would be kept at those jobs instead of inducting them into the armed forces. Previously, men who desired to fight might volunteer in the hope of having some control over the military branch in which they served. This resulted in more men than was needed volunteering for the Navy.
Great additional info, thanks!
Thank you Judy for your concise summary of the WWII draft.
My grandfather was included in the “Old Man’s Draft.” I have his selective service card dated 26 April 1942 from San Francisco. I always wondered why he would have had to register at age 59.
He didn’t have a birth certificate to prove his age. This may suggest a reason he took the additional step of having his aunt notarize an “Affidavit of Birth” form with the San Francisco Recorder’s Office, dated 3 Sept 1943. There is no record of him using this affidavit to apply for a delayed birth certificate in his birth county, Santa Rosa.
Also consider his work situation and whether he applied for a Social Security card around that time, Stan. That might also explain the affidavit.
Yes, Social Security had been a suspicion too. City directories & censuses suggest he had steady employment through the 1930’s & 1940’s but I should get an SS-5 to verify his employment in 1937 (and not 1943!).
So, if a young man is 18 in late 1942 (like in October when FDR mentions lowering the draft age to 18), would he have already filled out a draft card at that point? Was it only voluntary to enter the draft at age 18 until the President’s Executive order in Dec. 1942 made it mandatory? Or was he required to enter the draft as soon as he turned 18 (or if he was already 18) as a result of the 5th draft registration in June 1942? I’m not sure why this is still confusing me, but thank you for any clarification.
Hi Judy,
The Chicago Tribune (Dec. 16, 1942) published a statement that the voluntary period of recruitment was extended from Dec. 5 (per Exec. Order 9279) to Feb. 1, 1943. The story can be found at: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1942/12/16/page/3/article/how-draft-laws-work-in-america-britain-empire/ . I have not seen any such amendment to the Exec. Order in the National Archives. I wonder if the Tribune got this wrong, and if so, where they heard this rumor? (My grandfather enlisted on Jan. 15, 1943, so I was particularly interested in this strange story of an extension for volunteers before the Draft kicked in.) Any thoughts? I have emailed the FDR Presidential Library and Museum to ask if such an extension is documented officially — but have not yet heard from them.
I don’t see any amendment to that Executive Order either.