Thank you.
Obviously I cannot speak for your father’s experience. However my statement that “from December 1942 to December 1945, draft-eligible men (ages 18-45) were no longer able to enlist voluntarily into the armed forces. Instead they were inducted into military service through their local draft boards” (and the draft boards and/or the military would subsequently determine to which service the draftee was assigned), is based on legal developments at the time.
This statement is based upon the text of Executive Order 9279, which President Roosevelt signed on December 5, 1942, effective immediately. E.O. 9279 addressed a number of topics, most of which are irrelevant to this discussion. However, paragraph 4 stated, “After the effective date of this Order no male person who has attained the eighteenth anniversary and has not attained the thirty-eighth anniversary of the day of his birth shall be inducted into the enlisted personnel of the armed forces (including reserve components), except, under provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended…”
That is, for any males ages 18 through 37, the only way in which they could enter into the armed forces as enlisted personnel after December 5, 1942, was “under provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act,” i.e., to be conscripted (drafted). The rationale for this limitation was to avoid a situation, encountered earlier in the war, in which more men than needed volunteered for one service (for example the Navy) but fewer men than necessary volunteered for another service (for example the Army).
Interestingly, one will see that the Executive Order applied to men ages 18-37, but at the same time the ages “liable for training and service” in the military was ages 18 through 44. (This age range was set by an amendment to the Selective Service Act dated November 13, 1942, expanding the earlier age range of 20-44. The amendment was titled “An Act to amend the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 by providing for the extension of liability,” 56 Stat. 1018, Pub. Law 77-772.)
Therefore, beginning December 5, 1942, men ages 18 through 37 could enter the military as enlisted personnel only via the draft. However, men younger than age 18 could still volunteer to enter the military (with consent of the parent or guardian), as could men between the ages of 38 and 44. My earlier statement in my message of April 12, 2011, quoted above, was in error in that it said men ages 18-45 could not enlist voluntarily into the military, whereas properly the age range was 18-37.
See http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=60973 for the text of E.O. 9279. Also see http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-rejection-of-americas-volunteer.html#.WP4Khmeb_B4 for additional discussion of the Executive Order.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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