Sending Them Off to State of war: Pre-Induction Data Programs

Page Content

Answers For Nervous Inductees and Their Families

Drawing of soldiers lined up in a row with the many styles of military uniform stretching back to the Revolutionary War.
An Army poster promotes patriotism and tradition. (Image courtesy Northwestern Academy Library) Enlarge prototype
The federal government faced the challenge of mobilizing millions of men and women for service in the armed forces during the war. Well before the U.S. entry into the state of war and despite strong isolationist sentiments beyond the country, Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Human activity of 1940 authorizing a draft. By October 1940 all men between the ages of 21 and 35 were required to register with their local draft board. During the first few years of the typhoon, data most the induction process, life in the war machine, and related topics was not given to potential inductees in a unified and comprehensive manner. Many times inductees learned important information by word of rima oris or discovered things they should take done after it was too tardily. The resulting anticipation, confusion, and family hardships led the U.Southward. Role of Civilian Defense and other federal agencies to promote pre-induction data programs across the land.

Overview of the Draft

The implementation of America's showtime peacetime typhoon went relatively smoothly. In Congress, the argument for conscription after the plummet of western Europe and the fall of France earlier in the 1940 overcame the bitter opposition of the anti-interventionists. On October. 16, 1940 over 16 meg men registered for the draft at i of near half dozen,500 selective service boards across the country. Each registrant received a typhoon number from one to 9,000. A national lottery later determined the society in which each of the numbers was called and, past extension, who would be drafted showtime.Footnote 1

Drawing of sailors working on ship at sea. Text reads "Sub Spotted - let 'em have it! Lend a hand - enlist in your Navy today"
The Navy filled its ranks completely with volunteers until early 1943. (Epitome courtesy Northwestern Academy Library) Enlarge paradigm
Local boards, staffed by prominent or influential volunteers, oversaw the draft process. The federal government gave these boards authority to make judgments based on the standards and mores of their communities besides as civilian production needs. While this freed the process from some of the chokingly detailed regulations that would have arisen, it also resulted in favoritism from time to time. The local draft boards, augmented by hundreds of appeals boards, oversaw the registration process, received deferment or conscientious objector status requests, and heard appeals.

The boards could classify a potential draftee into one of a number of classifications ranging from i-A, meaning "available for armed services service," to iv-F, meaning "physically, mentally or morally unfit for service." Anyone classified other than i was considered deferred but an individual's classification could modify depending on the situation. Deferments were bachelor based on medical, psychological, educational, family unit, or occupational status. In all, nearly 10 million men received exemptions or deferments, with nearly four.5 million of them highly-seasoned their classification. At outset the system did non draft married men, which led to a "marriage boom." Fathers were not drafted until late 1943 and and then simply over the opposition of one U.S. Senator who insisted that "slackers in the regime bureaus" should be inducted "before American homes are cleaved up." Others favored first conscripting "those unmarried men who shun piece of work and are establish in puddle rooms, barrel houses, and on the highways and byways." Eventually about four 1000000 men received deferments based on a growing list of "essential" occupations, mostly in agronomics and industry.Footnote 2

More 5 million potential draftees were rejected for medical, educational, or mental reasons. This was despite relatively low standards for acceptance. For example, the Army would accept draftees who were at least 5 anxiety tall and 105 pounds, provided they had correctable vision, half of their natural teeth, no hernias, flat feet, or venereal disease. As evidence of the crippling upshot of the Depression on public education, hundreds of thousands of men signed their typhoon registration forms with a mark because they could not sign their own names. Before the cease of the war the Army was so drastic for men that it set up special schools to bring illiterate draftees up to a 4th-grade reading level. Meanwhile, most three one thousand thousand men were rejected because of "emotional instability." Some experts blamed this on "Momism" and a State of war Department consultant commented that many women "had failed in the elementary female parent function of weaning offspring emotionally likewise equally physically."Footnote 3

Drawing of woman in military attire. Text reads "Your duty ashore...his afloat. SPARS apply nearest coast guard office."
About 350,000 women joined military machine programs such as the WACs, WAVES, and SPARs during the state of war. (Image courtesy Northwestern Academy Library) Overstate image
The attack on Pearl Harbor and the annunciation of war in Dec 1941 brought a significant expansion of the typhoon. At its peak in 1945, the military counted more 12 million GIs on active service while about 16 1000000 served during the course of the war. During that time, the Selective Service System registered about l million men from 18 to 64 years of historic period while it drafted over x million men from 18 to 38 years of age. In addition, about 5.7 million men and 350,000 women volunteered for service in the armed forces. In fact, until early 1943, the Navy and the Marine Corps relied solely on volunteers before their needs required tapping the draft.Footnote 4

Organizing Pre-Induction Data Programs

By 1943 federal officials had seen plenty anticipation and fielded plenty complaints almost spotty information for inductees and their families. The U.S. Office of Civilian Defense and other federal agencies developed a program that offered answers to common questions brought by inductees. In turn, the federal government sought to enlist the assistance of state defense councils to implement the plan around the land. Government officials reasoned that "if a prospective inductee knows what the Army expects of him, what tests and training he may await to get through, what kind of life he will alive, and what kind of war nosotros are fighting, he will enter the service with greater confidence and assurance. He will adjust more readily to the new situation and probably develop more than quickly into a skilful soldier."Footnote 5

Rock formations in Malheur County known as "Pillars of Rome."
Many remote areas of Malheur County needed their Oregon pre-induction advisory broadcasts via a Nampa, Idaho radio station. Shown in a higher place are the county's "Pillars of Rome." (Epitome no. 20130620-D8C_1623, Oregon Scenic Photos, OSA) Enlarge prototype
In Oregon, the State Defense Quango got the programme running in early 1944. The council settled on orientation meetings, which would exist given in cities and towns across the land. Before implementing the arrangement, notwithstanding, several test or rehearsal meetings were held with groups of inductees to experiment with presentations. A programme evolved that typically included the participation of a range of experts from the armed forces, Red Cantankerous, selective service, land bar association and social agencies. The meetings generally would include a motion-picture show describing life in the military followed past short talks and question and answer sessions. (Oregon Pre-induction program )Footnote half-dozen Federal regime recommended that meetings outset with ring music or group singing to set up the correct tone. Their sternest communication concerned long-winded presenters: "The nearly common criticism of the meetings is directed at the number and length of the speeches. If the films are used, and if the leaflets are distributed during or at the close of the meeting, very little speech-making should be necessary."Footnote 7

Drawing of man reviewing paperwork and a tag with "21 days" sticking out of his pocket.
After going to the induction station for a day, draftees had at to the lowest degree 21 days at home to have care of business and say goodbye to friends and relatives. Making certain paperwork was in order for family members to receive allotments was a key task. (Folder 2, Box 35, Defense Council Records, OSA.)
More remote communities, specially in eastern Oregon, were served by radio program transcriptions. To accomplish this, the State Defence Council "engaged a grouping of radio players on the staff of radio station KGW, Portland, to produce iii fifteen minute programs patterned after meetings with members of the panel.... The plan is congenital around the March of Time style with fanfare music in the opening and is an excellent piece of work." To farther "this ingenious radio meeting programme," the council enlisted local newspapers to deport a forepart folio box to promote each broadcast. This worked well except for in Malheur County where "it was discovered that their best radio reception comes from radio stations located in Nampa and Boise, Idaho." A flurry of messages to the Idaho State Defence force Council and Idaho radio stations eventually secured the broadcast of the programs on a Nampa station.Footnote viii

The pre-consecration information program in Oregon moved forward quickly during the jump of 1944. Multnomah County was drawing in an average of 300 inductees and family members to weekly meetings. Marion Canton typically saw a crowd of from thirty to 50 people at its meetings, which were held twice a month. Most participating counties held monthly meetings or "on draft calls." These meetings normally brought from 15 to 75 people depending on the size of the county and the typhoon telephone call. Even though some counties were even so in the process of organizing meetings, by July 1944 one State Defense Council official was confident of full statewide coverage either in open forum meetings or by radio broadcasts, proverb that "as recently as last week, ...on a trip through the land, [a State Defense Council employee] lined up three counties hitherto only lukewarm on the idea."Footnote 9

Draftees Get Their Affairs in Order

7 men gather around a table to learn military training.
Men with three months before induction could enroll in pre-induction training courses that could help them get a desirable task in the military. (Binder two, Box 35, Defense Council Records, OSA.)
While presenters in pre-induction meetings tailored answers to local situations, much of the cloth they used conformed to information provided by the military and federal and land civilian defense force organizations. Many questions centered on what the inductee needed to do before reporting for service. For example, subsequently a ane-day stint at an induction station, draftees were sent home for at least 21 days to clear upwards personal and business organisation affairs. Officials urged men to arrange for the settlement of their current fiscal obligations such equally taxes, loans, credit debt and mortgages. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act included relevant provisions, so getting legal communication was recommended. Inductees often needed to secure allotment checks for dependents such as wives, children, and parents to provide for them while in the service. The allotments weren't much money but they were better than nothing - $fifty for a married woman or other developed dependent ($22 of that was to be deducted from the serviceman'south paycheck) and more money for each child. Other tasks such equally purchasing life insurance and transferring power of chaser also came into play.Footnote x

On to the Army Reception Center

After getting affairs in society and maxim goodbyes, draftees were sent for iii-five days at a reception eye. Men were cautioned not to "gloat on the night before you have to go out for the Reception Heart" since they would be given a battery of tests and "you'll desire to be on your toes." They were likewise told to travel calorie-free: "Don't pack a trunk. Take along a small overnight bag with razor, toothbrush, modify of underwear, extra handkerchiefs." After swearing in, the new soldiers (in the instance of the Army, although Navy training centers were similar) would become a stark reminder that they were no longer in the civilian earth for as officials noted: "There'due south no privacy for the individual." In the company barracks, the soldiers would "eat and sleep, work and play, toilet and clothes correct along with a whole bunch of other fellows who are doing the aforementioned matter." The Regular army supplied wearable and shoes that were "carefully fitted past tailors and shoe experts" along with toiletries. New soldiers were warned to go along track of their article of clothing since "you volition have to pay for whatsoever articles you lot may lose." Aptitude and nomenclature tests were followed by interviews in which Army staff weighed diverse skills and other criteria along with military machine needs to arrive at an assignment for the new soldier.Footnote 12 Personal preferences for job assignments were office of the decision process but no promises were made:

Basic Training

Soldiers next landed for 17 weeks of basic training where, according to pre-induction educational activity literature, they gave upwardly their minds and bodies to a ritual of calisthenics, close-order drills, armed services indoctrination, and Army subject field. Soldiers learned methods of self-protection, camouflage, care and use of weapons, and how to be part of a combat team. Sailors learned a variation on the Army theme with training in elements of seamanship, gunnery, signals and Navy linguistic communication. For those in the Marine Corps, "'Boot Camp' will probably exist an ordeal for you lot. It is non easy. The day begins at 4:45 and when it ends at 8 P.M. y'all volition greet sleep with pleasure." Officials noted that 90% of marines on duty were gainsay troops who would likely come across battle and while they were "taught to consider your rifle the all-time friend you always had," it was fighting battles together that would build lifelong comrades in the Marine Corps. Later on bones training, many soldiers, sailors and marines were sent to their assigned duty. Others, depending on their specialty, required further training that could last up to a twelvemonth. Most served for the duration of the war plus 6 months, unless the military chose to discharge them early.Footnote 14

Food, Pay and Recreation

Drawing of soldiers running to action with their weapons. Text reads "Action! Men of 18 and 19...Choose Your Combat Branch"
A poster urges immature men to get in the action in the Army, and means to practise it. Another branch, the Marine Corps boasted that 90% of members saw battle. (Image courtesy Northwestern University Library) Enlarge prototype
Pre-induction meetings also described other aspects of life in the war machine. For case, challenge "no soldier or crewman in the world is better fed than the American soldier or crewman," officials described a sample menu for soldiers and sailors that weighed near v pounds per person per day: Breakfast: fruit or juice, cereal, milk, eggs, bread and butter, java; Dinner: roast or chops, two vegetables, salad, bread and butter, dessert, tea or coffee; Supper: soup, meat dish, 2 vegetables, staff of life and butter, dessert, coffee. In the field, soldiers often had to rely on packaged emergency meals known as Thou rations with the post-obit sample contents: Breakfast: chopped beef and egg white, biscuits, fruit bar, coffee pulverisation, carbohydrate, cigarettes, chewing glue; Dinner: American cheese and bacon, malted milk and dextrose tablets, biscuits, lemon powder, sugar, cigarettes, chewing mucilage; Supper: bouillon powder, corned pork loaf, biscuits, chocolate bar, saccharide, cigarettes, chewing gum. Servicemen held decidedly less appreciation for the quality of the meals than their superiors. And to add more suffering to the experience, many had to take part in kitchen patrol or KP duty during which hours were spent washing dishes, peeling potatoes, or "slinging hash" for beau troops.Footnote fifteen

The pay was small but, co-ordinate to pre-induction meetings, it was decent compensation if all the benefits were calculated. Buck privates and apprentice seamen earned a paltry $fifty a month. The highest noncommissioned officers, principal sergeants in the Army and chief lilliputian officers in the Navy, earned $138 a calendar month. Simply Role of War Data officials said people should include room, board, and other benefits in the equation "to bear witness what a private or apprentice seaman actually gets" per twelvemonth: Greenbacks - $600; Food - $576.50; Shelter - $120; Equipment - $170; Health care - $100; Life insurance savings - $63.twoscore; Cigarettes savings - $ten.95; Laundry savings - $32.fifty; Postage and barber savings - $26.65. The optimistic total rose to $1,700 per year.Footnote 16

Drawing of men playing pool, playing the piano & singing, watching a movie.
Pre-induction informational literature showed servicemen enjoying recreation halls in military camps. (Binder 2, Box 35, Defense Quango Records, OSA.)
If the serviceman would not get rich, at least he could look forward to recreation. While in army camp, most soldiers and sailors had evenings and Sundays as free time. Pre-induction coming together presenters described company day rooms equipped with books and easy chairs and often had pool or ping-pong tables. More enjoyment was available at recreation halls and post exchanges (PX) "where you lot can gather effectually for sodas and chat." Men were encouraged to organize teams to play baseball, basketball, football and other sports. Officials boasted "yous volition exist able to see the latest movies, sometimes even before they hit the large cities, for only nearly 20 cents." Moreover, phase, screen, and radio stars sometimes performed for troops at the recreation hall. Talent shows and post dances rounded out the camp entertainment. Many servicemen really looked forrad to the recreation bachelor abroad from the camp. And, many towns offered special dormitories and canteens in conjunction with the United Service Organizations (USO), Ruby Cross, local churches and civic groups, non to mention the many illicit options related to gambling and prostitution.Footnote 17

Related Documents

"Pre-Induction Coming together" Minutes, Marion County Pre-Induction Committee, Jan. 26, 1945. Folder 56, Box 27, Defence force Council Records, OSA.

Notes

  1. John Due west. Jeffries, World State of war II and the American Dwelling house Forepart: Part One (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 2004), Pages 19-21; Ronald H. Bailey, The Abode Forepart: U.S.A. (Fourth dimension-Life Books, Inc., 1977), Pages 42-47.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Ibid; William K. Tuttle Jr., Globe War II and the American Home Front: Part Two (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 2004), Folio 57.
  4. John W. Jeffries, World War II and the American Home Front: Part Ane (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 2004), Page twenty.
  5. "Introduction to the Ground forces," U.S. Office of Noncombatant Defense, February. 1944. Page III, Binder 2, Box 35, Defense Council Records, OSA.
  6. "Oregon Pre-Induction Program" Press Release, State Defence Council, July 17, 1944. Folder x, Box xv, Defense Council Records, OSA.
  7. Memorandum from Harold Snyder Re: Observations about Pre-Induction Training, June 1, 1944. Folder 56, Box 27, Defense force Quango Records, OSA.
  8. "Oregon Pre-Induction Program" Printing Release, State Defense Council, July 17, 1944. Folder 10, Box 15, Defense Council Records, OSA; Letter from James Olson to Vivienne Becker, May 2, 1944. Folder 10, Box 15, Defence Council Records, OSA.
  9. "Pre-Induction Meetings" Chart, State Defense Council, May xxx, 1944. Folder 10, Box 15, Defense Council Records, OSA; "Oregon Pre-Induction Plan" Printing Release, State Defense force Council, July 17, 1944. Folder x, Box 15, Defence force Council Records, OSA.
  10. "Answers to Important Questions for the Potential Inductee and His Dependents" Booklet, Country Defense Quango, Sept. 1944. Binder 2, Box 35, Defense force Council Records, OSA.
  11. "Pre-Induction Meeting" Minutes, Marion Canton Pre-Induction Committee, January. 26, 1945. Binder 56, Box 27, Defense force Council Records, OSA.
  12. "Introduction to the Army: Suggestions for Pre-Consecration Advisory Meetings" Guide, U.Due south. Office of Civilian Defence force, Feb. 1944. Folder 2, Box 35, Defense Quango Records, OSA.
  13. "Pre-Induction and Draft Aid Center" Briefing Voice communication, Capt. Andrew Agree, State of war Department, May 31, 1944. Page three, Folder 56, Box 27, Defense force Council Records, OSA.
  14. "Introduction to the Ground forces: Suggestions for Pre-Induction Informational Meetings" Guide, U.S. Role of Civilian Defense, Feb. 1944. Folder 2, Box 35, Defence Council Records, OSA.
  15. Ibid.
  16. Ibid.
  17. Ibid.