Let’s say it’s 1943. I’m 22 years old, in good health, single, family not dependent upon me financially.
Is there any way I wouldn’t have been drafted in to the Army? In other words, did anyone who was not eligible to serve during WWII not get drafted just because they didn’t need you.
If you were the only male heir to your family line you would not be drafted.
People working for military “related” companies could get exemptions/deferals.
You need some skilled people to design/make the tanks, planes, ships, guns, ammo, tires, steel, aluminium, gasoline, oil, plastics etc.
The same for infrastructure fields such as electrical utilities, mining and pipelines.
Even then, if they could train someone who was exempt from the draft to take your place, you could be drafted.
Even if you succeeded with a concientious objector claim you could still be drafted and assigned to medic or corpman duty where you would still be exposed to combat (you just wouldn’t have a weapon).
My grandfather was drafted in 1942 at the age of 38 when he had a wife and 4 small children at home! They didn’t send him overseas, but he spent the next 3 years training recruits how to drive a tank.
BobT, were you asking about how to avoid the draft, or were you wondering how many eligible people (those without any of the above (or other) exclusions) were not called to serve, for no other reason other than their number never came up?
If it was the former, I don’t know how effective it would have been during WWII, but I believe removing Thanksgiving-day refuse in a certain socially unacceptable manner might have sufficed.
If it was the latter, I have no idea, and can’t add anything significant to the discussion. But I would be curious to see the answer.
Thanks for reading!
Gov’t agents were exempt as well. FBI, Treasury, etc.
I wasn’t looking for people who avoided the draft, but for people who just never got called up because, I would assume, the Army never got around to calling them up.
In a sense, “Why didn’t you serve in WWII?”
“Nobody asked me.”