United States World War II Draft Records

United States U.S. Military  WWII  Draft Records

Draft Records
On 16 September 1940, President Roosevelt signed into law the first peacetime Selective Service Act. During WWII, the Selective Service System conducted six draft registrations; these records are held collectively in two groupings at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO.

The first group contains records from the 4th Registration for those men whose year of birth was from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897. The "World War II Selective Service Draft Cards: Fourth Registration, 1942" is often referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft". The second group contains the Selective Service Records of the remainder of the WWII registrants, born from February 17, 1897 to July 31, 1927.

Please note: as there is overlap in the WWI and WWII Selective Service registration birth years (1877 to 1900), some men may have registered twice and have both WWI and WWII draft records.

See a description of the Fourth Registration Draft Cards from the National Archives at draft-cards-fourth-registration.pdf.

Information in a Draft Record
For men who registered for the draft prior to 1976, the only Selective Service System information available is that of the individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) and Classification History (SSS Form 102) records.

All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist.

The individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) may contain information such as: name, Selective Service registration number, age, date and place of birth, ethnicity, place of residence at time of registration and basic physical description.

The Classification History (SSS Form 102) may contain: name; date of birth; classification and date of mailing notice; date of appeal to the board; date and results of armed forces physical examination; entry into active duty or civilian work in lieu of induction (may include date, branch of service entered and mode of entry, such as enlisted or ordered); date of separation from active duty or civilian work; and general remarks.

Missing Records
The cards for the following eight Southeastern states were destroyed. These records cover about 10 percent of the population.


 * Alabama
 * Florida
 * Georgia
 * Kentucky
 * Mississippi
 * North Carolina
 * South Carolina
 * Tennessee

Where to Find the Records
Online

Ancestry
 * U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (Ancestry) ($) - see list of states included at the bottom of the page below the search field.

Fold3
 * WWII "Old Man's Draft" Registration Cards (Fold3) ($) - see a list of |h8cJ-LB2XDtK0Bu_C states included.

FamilySearch (two collections)
 * (FamilySearch) - see a list of states included by clicking browse on the page.
 * (images with partial index) (FamilySearch) - see a list of states included on the search page.


 * A wiki article describing these two FamilySearch collections is found at:


 * United States World War II Fourth Draft Registration Cards (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Libraries


 * Check with your local library to see if they have draft records for your area.