# Why do so many American servicemen in WWII look so old? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231 "2015-10-31T04:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/21 "2015-10-31T21:42:36Z")
Dental and orthodontic care (or the lack thereof) can really change the appearance of the mouth. I wonder if young men back then had more crooked teeth, or fewer teeth in their mouths than we would expect today. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/22 "2015-11-01T02:33:40Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > As I recall, men of all ages from 18 to 39 were rushing down to enlist, representing a pretty broad age cohort. And the older ones had disproportianaly lower survival rates for one reason and another. One lesson of WWI was that kids didn’t do well in the regular army: they tend to fall asleep while on duty. It was a lot harder for a 15yo to enlist in WWII. One lesson of WWII was that people over 25 didn’t survive as well in combat and POW roles. Leading to the present situation: in Aus, 18-24yo at enlistment. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/23 "2015-11-01T02:45:01Z")
> **[Draft age is lowered to 18](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/draft-age-is-lowered-to-18)** > > On November 11, 1942, Congress approves lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37. In September 1940, Congress, by wide margins in both houses, passed the Burke-Wadsworth Act, and the first peacetime draft was imposed in the... Some men were in their 30’s when joined the service . My dad was in WW 1 and had to lie about his age , he was too young . He had no birth record , he was born in Russia around 1892. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/24 "2015-11-01T03:02:23Z")
I don’t think it’s just WWII or even B&W photos. I noticed a long time ago that people photographed in general in times gone by tend to look older than their present-day counterparts of an equal age. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/25 "2015-11-01T03:13:37Z")
Fear, stress, lack of sleep, fatigue, bad food, and seeing people around you shot to pieces. There’s no mystery. War isn’t noble or invigorating. It’s exhausting and dirty. Young men lose their youth very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![DtypeJag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@DtypeJag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DtypeJag)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/26 "2015-11-01T04:07:44Z")
I would guess that the major factor in making WWII GI’s look older is that the B&W film used then had much less exposure latitude than modern B&W or color film. This causes strong highlights and deep shadow in the pics. Detail will be lost in the gray areas such as facial features that we use to judge the age of a person. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/27 "2015-11-01T10:32:33Z")
But looking at footage from the Vietnam War, those guys definitely look younger. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/28 "2015-11-01T14:56:01Z")
I used to think that people from my father’s (he was in WWII) generation always looked older than those in my generation, and my sister agreed with me. My dad explained that it’s the clothing and hairstyles that give that illusion. All the girls my age (I was a teenager at the time) wore long, straight hair while those of my mom’s generation had shorter, curled hair. My mother still had her hair curled for the week at the salon, and wore the same type of dresses as in her high school pictures. Boys in my dad’s yearbook had short hair while my generation had longer hair. Since the elder generation generally still wore their hair in the same way as they aged, and also wore clothes similar to when they were younger, I had associated my parents’ age with their fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/29 "2015-11-01T15:01:27Z")
Yeah, it’s funny how kids in photos from a hundred years ago will sometimes look like little old people. Especially the ones working in the mines and mills. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/30 "2015-11-01T15:02:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I don’t think it’s just WWII or even B&W photos. I noticed a long time ago that people photographed in general in times gone by tend to look older than their present-day counterparts of an equal age. It’s probably a combination of things. even now, if I look back at the yearbook I got in first grade, the 8th-graders back then all seem like they were in their 20s. But if I look at _my_ 8th grade yearbook, we all looked like a bunch of kids. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/31 "2015-11-01T16:16:01Z")
Well, hell, the dang war’s been over for more than seventy years! How young do ya want 'em to look? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/32 "2015-11-01T16:28:22Z")
That Lt. Leo Jones in a photo from the OP’s link looks like he’s about 17. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/33 "2015-11-01T17:43:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > But looking at footage from the Vietnam War, those guys definitely look younger. McNamara tours. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/34 "2015-11-01T18:00:16Z")
It’s something you see in pre World War Ii photos of baseball players. They look old [http://baseballhall.org/sites/default/files/externals/9302f9ba4ff31b599f4c26b9f2439bb0](http://baseballhall.org/sites/default/files/externals/9302f9ba4ff31b599f4c26b9f2439bb0) This photo was apparently taken in 1929 (It can’t be later than 1932). Going left to right Jimmie Foxx is 21, Babe Ruth 34, Lou Gehrig 26 and Al Simmons. I assume they were reasonably decently fed growing up but they spent a lot of time outdoors. I wonder if soap was made differently…not as much skin conditioners as today. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/35 "2015-11-01T19:05:02Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > It’s something you see in pre World War Ii photos of baseball players. They look old > > [http://baseballhall.org/sites/default/files/externals/9302f9ba4ff31b599f4c26b9f2439bb0](http://baseballhall.org/sites/default/files/externals/9302f9ba4ff31b599f4c26b9f2439bb0) If you want an example of a ballplayer who looks older to us than his biological age, consider [Eddie Collins](http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/attachments/ootp-mods-rosters-photos-quick-starts/229572d1316488040-high-res-portraits-sal1199-eddie_collins_-white_sox-_8.jpg). He looked like an old man while he was still an active player. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/36 "2015-11-01T19:08:59Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > It’s something you see in pre World War Ii photos of baseball players. They look old > > [http://baseballhall.org/sites/default/files/externals/9302f9ba4ff31b599f4c26b9f2439bb0](http://baseballhall.org/sites/default/files/externals/9302f9ba4ff31b599f4c26b9f2439bb0) > > This photo was apparently taken in 1929 (It can’t be later than 1932). Going left to right Jimmie Foxx is 21, Babe Ruth 34, Lou Gehrig 26 and Al Simmons. I assume they were reasonably decently fed growing up but they spent a lot of time outdoors. I wonder if soap was made differently…not as much skin conditioners as today. With the exception of Ruth, they all look like guys in their mid-20s. They’re a bit pudgier than today’s highly trained athletes are on the whole (the John Kruks of the world notwithstanding). And… Colby Rasmus has never looked _young_… maybe not old, but never young. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/37 "2015-11-01T20:05:34Z")
> [@bump](#): > > With the exception of Ruth, they all look like guys in their mid-20s. They’re a bit pudgier than today’s highly trained athletes are on the whole (the John Kruks of the world notwithstanding). The only one in that picture who is overweight is Ruth. Foxx was always very muscular and fit. Gehrig and Simmons look lean. Uniforms in those days were loose-fitting, which tended to even things out. Slim players looked fatter, and fat players looked slimmer. If you want to see an out-of-shape contemporary ballplayer, check out Bartolo Colon. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/38 "2015-11-02T00:39:53Z")
> [@Kamakiri](#): > > What gives? None of them looks babyfaced; not like, for example, troops in Vietnam, who mostly _do_ look like they’re in their early 20s. My father (AVG/CBI WW II) always claimed it was the life they lived (even before the war), the uncertainty of life back then, and nutrition standards back then. He went into the service younger than he should have but even then he had already worked in the coal mines as a breaker boy and worked the farm and he had earned his weathered-older-looking face. He looked older in uniform at 18 (without his hat) than my brother did at 25 after having done two tours in Nam. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/39 "2015-11-02T02:55:35Z")
> [@Kamakiri](#): > > You keep reading/hearing about how young everyone was who fought in WWII (my dad did, in the 8th Air Force) but when you look at footage from war zones—I’m watching Ken Burns’s “War” now, but it goes for ALL documentaries I’ve seen—the men don’t look like they’re 18 or even in their mid-twenties. _many_ of them, easily more than 75%, to my eyes, in fact look as if they’re in their early 40s or even older. I’ve got all kinds of photos of my dad in WW-II and he looks young. But at the same time he looks like an adult. Maybe we’re seeing the same thing from different age points. To me, today’s young adults look like they live in their parent’s basement. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/40 "2015-11-02T03:14:10Z")
Don’t underestimate the effects of smoking. During that time period, nearly everyone smoked to some extent. Regular tobacco use will make you look significantly older. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231.md?page=3)