Question on the draft during WWII

5,322 Views | 30 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Liquid Wrench
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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I recently saw a post where a football player - Sammy Baugh - was lauded for the stats he put up during the 1943 season while playing for the Washington Redskins. I know that professional sports did not completely shut down during the war, but I also know that there were many celebrity types who did serve in some capacity.

I am curious how anyone healthy enough to play professionally could manage to not be drafted. Is it due to having a value as an entertainer for the home front and a source of inspiration for troops overseas?
Flying Crowbar
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From what little I could find, it sounds like he didn't volunteer to serve, and he was never drafted, so he continued playing in the NFL.

Seems strange to me, since I always figured just about every able-bodied man served in one capacity or another.
Liquid Wrench
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Found a clipping from 1944 that might give a clue:



Baugh is about 30 years at the time of this article, and I think had a family. Could have been a number of reasons he wasn't at the front of the draft list.

No doubt pro sports were seen as good for morale and the gov't didn't want to totally destroy them. I have a good Grantland Rice article on that subject if I can figure out how to post it.
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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Probably due to kids and his ranch - as above could not find anything on this.
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
Liquid Wrench
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You're probably right:

Cinco Ranch Aggie
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Thanks for the responses.

I never would have thought anything like kids and a ranch would come into play, given that both my grandfathers had kids by Dec7 1941 (as it turned out, my mom and dad). Heck, my mom's dad was leaving from shore leave ( not sure if that's what it was called) and boarding his ship in San Diego when he received notification that his second daughter, my aunt, had been born. At least that is the story that was passed down to us.

By no means am I trying to cast any negatives on Mr. Baugh, or anyone else. I am just curious.
HollywoodBQ
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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

I never would have thought anything like kids and a ranch would come into play, given that both my grandfathers had kids by Dec7 1941 (as it turned out, my mom and dad).
My father's father had two boys when the war started. He enlisted in the Navy (not sure if he was drafted, he would have been about 32 years old in 1941). They told me that because he had two sons, he remained stateside and spent the war at Pensacola, FL where he was a tailgunner trainer. At least that's what I've been told.
terata
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Interesting little story. Perhaps a list of those "celebs" that could've served in WWII but chose to stay home would be just as interesting.

1.) Sammy Baugh
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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HollywoodBQ said:

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

I never would have thought anything like kids and a ranch would come into play, given that both my grandfathers had kids by Dec7 1941 (as it turned out, my mom and dad).
My father's father had two boys when the war started. He enlisted in the Navy (not sure if he was drafted, he would have been about 32 years old in 1941). They told me that because he had two sons, he remained stateside and spent the war at Pensacola, FL where he was a tailgunner trainer. At least that's what I've been told.
Thanks for sharing that story. I've always been fascinated with WWII, but rarely have I thought about the home front or how decisions were made regarding who went overseas and who stayed here.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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terata said:

Interesting little story. Perhaps a list of those "celebs" that could've served in WWII but chose to stay home would be just as interesting.

1.) Sammy Baugh
That would be interesting.

I know a lot of people who became celebrities served before they were celebrities. There were also legitimate celebrities who did serve. I want to say, to your point, that John Wayne and Ronald Reagan were in the "chose to stay home" category but I stand to be corrected on that.
CanyonAg77
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Reagan was 30 when the war broke out. He had joined the reserves in 1937, and was a LT in a Cav unit. He was disqualified from overseas service because he was nearsighted and was transferred to an AAF film unit

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/ronald-reagan-performed-well-in-world-war-ii/
CanyonAg77
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John Wayne is a little fuzzier. Thirty-four with four kids when the war broke out, he got a deferment. He also had several chronic injuries from his movie work that may have disqualified him from service. Wayne himself apparently tried to get in, but it appears the studio blocked him, even from getting into a combat film unit.

One could argue he could have tried harder to serve. And many think his lack of service is one reason he was super-patriotic later
45-70Ag
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My great grandfathers brother owned a couple of grocery stores and tried to enlist. He was told his job was considered critical and was denied enlistment. It's a weird letter from the war department.
Aggie_John
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My grandfather was in South America working the oil fields when Pearl Harbor happened. It took him a year to get back state side and to Olympic, Washing to report to the draft board, as he figured he had been drafted.

Turns out he hadn't been, so he enlisted and lied about his occupation. If the army had known about his career and college degrees (bs and masters in geology) he would have been kept here to keep pumping out oil for the war effort.

Instead, they sent him to Harvard for school to learn Japanese and he became a translator.

I believe he was 26 when he enlisted.
DogCo84
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My great uncle was 40 years old, married, had a couple of kids and (by his own admission) was about 40 pounds overweight when he was DRAFTED (from Beaumont) into the Army shortly after the Selective Service Act of 1940 was passed. He went to basic training, lost the weight and eventually ended up in Engineer OCS. Commissioned and then posted to the CBI theater where he stayed until his discharge at the war's end.

He wrote an amusing, and fairly detailed diary of his time in the Army. I need to get it cleaned up and published online somewhere. There are some fascinating stories--some involving personal contacts with Chiang Kai Shek.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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My maternal granddad was in the US Navy. I have a photo of his squadron (probably not the right word) but the ship's name is not present. We have never been able to verify the story that he survived not one, but two times having a ship sunk out from beneath him. No details as to ship names or the type of action that caused the sinking - sub, Jap surface ship, or aerial bombardment.

My paternal granddad was in the US Army prior to the war. He was honorably discharged in about 1939. When war broke out, he enlisted in the US Navy, where he was the tail gunner aboard TBF Avenger torpedo bombers (the same aircraft George HW Bush flew that is displayed in his library on A&M's campus). Again, no details on his service, and no verification of his service in Avengers. But this is the story we heard growing up, and again at his funeral in 2005. My dad recently told me that Grandpa was discharged from the Navy before the war ended on account of having contracted polio.

My dad's uncle was one of the badasses who dove out of a perfectly good C-47 over Normandy on June 6, 1944.

My wife's granddad was in the US Army Air Corps attached to a photo reconn unit based out of New Guinea.
Rabid Cougar
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DogCo84 said:

My great uncle was 40 years old, married, had a couple of kids and (by his own admission) was about 40 pounds overweight when he was DRAFTED (from Beaumont) into the Army shortly after the Selective Service Act of 1940 was passed. He went to basic training, lost the weight and eventually ended up in Engineer OCS. Commissioned and then posted to the CBI theater where he stayed until his discharge at the war's end.

He wrote an amusing, and fairly detailed diary of his time in the Army. I need to get it cleaned up and published online somewhere. There are some fascinating stories--some involving personal contacts with Chiang Kai Shek.
CBI doesn't get the respect that it deserves.
Rabid Cougar
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I forget to mention my father in law. Graduated form Notre Dame when Knute Rockne was coach.
then graduated for Georgetown Medical School and went to work in Charlestown, West Virginia. Was drafted in 1942 but because he was a Doctor was commissioned into the Coast Guard. He was sent to Galveston where he walked the beaches every morning and rescued torpedoed sailors/recovered bodies. Stayed there the for duration of the war. Liked the area so much he stayed after being discharged.

He was 62 years old when my wife was born........
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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Rabid Cougar said:

DogCo84 said:

My great uncle was 40 years old, married, had a couple of kids and (by his own admission) was about 40 pounds overweight when he was DRAFTED (from Beaumont) into the Army shortly after the Selective Service Act of 1940 was passed. He went to basic training, lost the weight and eventually ended up in Engineer OCS. Commissioned and then posted to the CBI theater where he stayed until his discharge at the war's end.

He wrote an amusing, and fairly detailed diary of his time in the Army. I need to get it cleaned up and published online somewhere. There are some fascinating stories--some involving personal contacts with Chiang Kai Shek.
CBI doesn't get the respect that it deserves.
Agreed on CBI.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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DogCo84 said:

My great uncle was 40 years old, married, had a couple of kids and (by his own admission) was about 40 pounds overweight when he was DRAFTED (from Beaumont) into the Army shortly after the Selective Service Act of 1940 was passed. He went to basic training, lost the weight and eventually ended up in Engineer OCS. Commissioned and then posted to the CBI theater where he stayed until his discharge at the war's end.

He wrote an amusing, and fairly detailed diary of his time in the Army. I need to get it cleaned up and published online somewhere. There are some fascinating stories--some involving personal contacts with Chiang Kai Shek.
I think there are many who would love to be able to read a diary such as your great uncle's. I know that I would.
eric76
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My father tried to join after Pearl Harbor, but was turned down because of allergies.

He was allergic to both milk and to wheat products. They sent him to a clinic in Oklahoma City for evaluation. I guess that was too much for them.

By the time that they turned him down, they had already put him through flight school in Lubbock.
Liquid Wrench
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I'd be curious to do some reading just on draft procedures during WWII, down to the roles played by local draft boards. Obviously, the government couldn't just suspend the domestic economy for an indefinite period.

There's a family story about my great-uncle volunteering, despite being a few years older, because he was divorced and had no kids and hoped it might decrease the chances of his brothers with kids being drafted. I wonder if that would have been a consideration for the local draft board.
BrazosBendHorn
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Quote:

I'd be curious to do some reading just on draft procedures during WWII, down to the roles played by local draft boards. Obviously, the government couldn't just suspend the domestic economy for an indefinite period.

Here's what it says on Wikipedia (Conscription in the United States).

Quote:

By 1942, the Selective Service System moved away from administrative selection by its more than 6,000 local boards to a system of lottery selection. Rather than filling quotas by local selection, the boards now ensured proper processing of men selected by the national lottery.[19] On December 5, 1942, presidential Executive Order 9279 made it so that men from the ages of 18 to 37 could not voluntarily enlist even if they had not been drafted, providing protection for the nation's home front manpower pool. Paul V. McNutt, head of the War Manpower Commission, estimated that the changes would increase the ratio of men drafted from one out of nine to one out of five. The commission's goal was to have nine million men in the armed forces by the end of 1943.[25] This facilitated the massive requirement of up to 200,000 men per month and would remain the standard for the length of the war. The World War II draft operated from 1940 until 1947 when its legislative authorization expired without further extension by Congress. During this time, more than 10 million men had been inducted into military service. With the expiration, no inductions occurred in 1947.[26] However, the SSS remained intact.
I recall my dad saying that the lottery was the main factor in the draft for most guys his age in WWII. He was halfway through college when war broke out and was signed up in the Enlisted Reserve Corps. He went into active duty in the spring of 1943.
aalan94
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There is a cool show on Netflix right now called 5 who came back. It's about 5 filmmakers, including John Ford and Frank Capes, who signed up and served in military film units. I saw the first episode last night and it was good.
OldArmy71
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Typo: You mean Frank Capra.

The series is based on a book which is excellent.
Hey Nav
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Weslaco boys enlisting together in January 1943

They must have found a loophole.
harleyds2
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My granddad was too old to b drafted in ww1. Him and his best friend volunteered. He was made an officer because he had gone to TAMC. His best friend was killed in the trenches
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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Quote:

We have never been able to verify the story that he survived not one, but two times having a ship sunk out from beneath him. No details as to ship names or the type of action that caused the sinking - sub, Jap surface ship, or aerial bombardment.
I've been spending some time researching ancestry recently, and while I have yet to verify this, I did find that my Papa served aboard a ship called the ARD 12 (auxiliary repair drydock?) that repaired sea-going vessels. Service area was Espirito Santo, New Hebrides, Phillippines, and New Guinea. This one apparently survived the war - I was able to find a record on the ARD 12 indicating it had been sold to another country and reportedly retired many years later. Another interesting find was the time it took to return to the States. They started their trip back to the US on November 30, 1945, and arrived back January 31, 1946.
Rabid Cougar
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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

Quote:

We have never been able to verify the story that he survived not one, but two times having a ship sunk out from beneath him. No details as to ship names or the type of action that caused the sinking - sub, Jap surface ship, or aerial bombardment.
I've been spending some time researching ancestry recently, and while I have yet to verify this, I did find that my Papa served aboard a ship called the ARD 12 (auxiliary repair drydock?) that repaired sea-going vessels. Service area was Espirito Santo, New Hebrides, Phillippines, and New Guinea. This one apparently survived the war - I was able to find a record on the ARD 12 indicating it had been sold to another country and reportedly retired many years later. Another interesting find was the time it took to return to the States. They started their trip back to the US on November 30, 1945, and arrived back January 31, 1946.
Drydocks have to be towed. Probably doing at best 5 to 6 knots.
HarleySpoon
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My dad was drafted about two months after he turned 20. He reported to Camp Wolters in Mineral Wells the summer of 43. H decided he was going to die anyway so he volunteered for the airborne since they got paid twice as much and he liked the jump boots. Departed Fort Benning with his jump wings and was immediately assigned to the 505th PIR of the 82nd airborne. Jumped on H-minus and liberated the first French town...Ste Mere Eglise. Jumped at Nimejjan (the second bridge) but was injured pretty quickly. Fought outside St Vith during the Bulge and got a head wound toward the end of the battle....along with frost bite of course. Was the occupying unit for quite a while of the American sector of Berlin. Silver star, two bronze stars and two purple hearts. Unit was supposedly the most decorated in the European theatre....four presidential unit citations. He was not great at following orders...never promoted beyond private first class. Took my teenage sons to Normandy this last March so they could see where their grandfather fought.

My dad never talked much about combat but rather spoke fondly of the women in Britain, France and Germany. My favorite story was when a British gal invited him home after a dance of some sort and he thought he was going to get lucky that night. Instead, she slept with her mom and he had to sleep with her dad. This upset him evidently. Also kept a letter that was written in French from what he called his French girlfriend, Gisele. He received it while he was in Berlin after the surrender. However, it was in French and he had no idea what it said. Some many years after his death, I had it translated. His "girlfriend" was a French ***** that "never charged him like she did all the other Americans" and wanted him to take her home to America. He said the German women were actually the friendliest; and I still have pictures of him in a boat in a Berlin area lake with his German "girlfriend" during the summer of 1945. He came home, settled down pretty quickly, married my mom and lived a very quiet life thereafter....always felt he was just glad to have survived that kind of combat.

My uncle (mother's brother) was in the 121st Infantry and killed outside of St. Lo on September 3, 1944. My dad would always remind me that the heroes were the guys that didn't come home.
RGV AG
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Hey Nav said:

Weslaco boys enlisting together in January 1943

They must have found a loophole.

Who'd of ever thunk a boy from Weslaco, Texas would be a part of the most famous US Military picture, and it started with this enlistment picture. You never know. What an incredible generation.
Liquid Wrench
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harleyds2 said:

My granddad was too old to b drafted in ww1. Him and his best friend volunteered. He was made an officer because he had gone to TAMC. His best friend was killed in the trenches
I had a great-uncle who volunteered for WWII and supposedly ended up a sgt because of training he had at TAMC, despite not graduating.
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