Selective Service, 1942-1943

EJZ's papers, photos, and so on from the Second World War were inadvertently divided when the Marilla house was emptied in 2004.  Now that Marty has shipped the New Trove to Argyle, they are again all in one place and combined into one collection.

Now that each item has been arranged in order of date on the specialized work surfaces of the Society offices, the entire collection is present and in order for the first time since it was in that black metal foot locker in 1946.

Part of it.

The rest of it.

So we shall leave Gene in Chicago at work on his Japanese irregular verbs, so to speak, while we throw the True Tardis into gear and full-throttle back to December 1942, the time of our earliest Army-related ephemera.

Selective Service considered him, a college student, according to his permanent address in Buffalo.  But they appear to have addressed mail to him at St. Mary's College, Orchard Lake, Michigan.  Chronology recap:  high-school graduation, 1941; College freshman, 1941-42; College sophomore 1942-43.

The strip of manila paper, below, looks like the bit at the bottom that you keep while you send back the top.  We can only guess that it sought to confirm identity, location, work or school status, and so on.

How I wish we could all sit around a fireside with him and have him pass these papers around and tell stories.  Imagine the party!  Well, imagine is what we do, since we have never seen any of these things before.

The following two images are drafts in Gene's handwriting of a letter to the Selective Service Board in Buffalo, asking for deferment for a few months until he finished sophomore year. First draft is on the front of the letterhead paper; second draft is verso.

We can picture him - and perhaps classmates, as well? - discussing the application as a desireable and acceptable thing, and then discussing the tone and wording of such a letter. Everybody at Orchard Lake knew that this was coming; when eventually we get to the pile of Orchard Lake things we will see ongoing discussion in student publications of the war in Europe and in the Pacific.

When you lose somebody it is comforting beyond description to have something in that person's handwriting.  So, save some stuff.

First draft.

Were we having that imaginary party, I would at this point formally thank my father for sitting down next to me at 8pm the night before my 8th-grade composition was due, on the subject of "Americanism in Teddy Roosevelt," and force-marching me through several drafts before midnight.  He was irritated that I had put it off, but helped me anyway.  All these scratchings and hatch-marks remind me very clearly of that incident.  Thanks, Dad.

Second draft.

"No. 12167

January 18, 1943

Having sent you my questionnaire December 15, 1942, I am now in a position to be classified by your board.

Being a student at St. Mary's College, Orchard Lake, Mich., however, and registering for the second semester of my Sophomore year after the advise (sic) of Rt. Rev. Msgr. L. Krzyzosiak, President of St.Mary's College, I feel in the position to appeal for a deferment until June, when I shall complete my Sophomore year.

I am enclosing a letter from the President of St. Mary's College."

And here is Fr. Msgr. Dr. Krzyzosiak's lawyerly letter in support of the application, citing the recommendations - "urgings," actually - of the War Manpower Commission.

Well, the app was successful, although we have no doc related to the awarding of deferment.  The Army Specialized Training Program was "implemented" in December of  1942.  Then, pretty quickly, a "pre-induction qualifying test" was written up:

"During the late part of the academic year 1942–1943, a national testing program was conducted among the male college student bodies."

So, he must have sat that test, and we shall see what came of it, next post.

Julie

Your Real Dr. Who