Seriously, Even After 30 Years of Research, A Old Gal Can Learn New Tricks

Copyright 2021, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

My last blog post I shared with you Man's grandfather's World War II Draft Registration, and my surprise at his reported "birth place".  I shared that image with Man.  

I thought that birth place stuff was rather humorous, but, leave it to Man, who rarely looks at my genealogy and the massive files, to notice something I have missed.  Let's have another look - - 

What did Man see?  Why the difference between lines 2 and 3.  I swear in all these 30 years I never noticed that.  

Of course, I went on a little research side trip to see if I could find some explanation.  

I looked at Ancestry dot com.  They have a nice description of the data base.  They also include a list of states for which there are NO cards.  They are:

     Alabama

     Florida

     Georgia

     Maine

     Mississippi

     New Mexico

     North Carolina

     South Carolina

     Tennessee

I looked at a few independent web sites, again, good stuff, basically the same as Ancestry.  I looked at FamilySearch dot org and they even have an image to reference.   The wiki page (link below) is quite extensive and helpful.

As I looked closer I realized that Fred's registration card had a notation in the lower left corner that said, D.S.S. Form 1, (Revised 4-1-42)

You know that word "revised" peaked my curiosity.

I started reviewing some of my other World War II Registration applications.  Some had the notation D.S.S. Form 1.   Here is an example from my own research:

Look at line 2 and above his name in the margin.  There are at least 4 addresses here. Did this moving and address issue lead to the revision by the government?  Did this affect a lot of guys registered?  Frankly, I have no idea, in my reading I did not discover the reason for two forms. 

My last stop in my little side research trip was at Fold3, a pay site I use for military research.  They have a very nice descriptive page on World War II Draft Registration forms.  And, they show images of THREE different versions of the card.  They show the D.S.S. Form 1, another which was revised 6-9-41 and the third which was revised 4-1-42. 

Their brief, but, nicely worded description of the data base follows:

"The first draft registration under the 1940 Selective Training and Service Act required all males ages 21-36 to register on October 16, 1940, to serve in what would ultimately be WWII. Between 1941 and 1943, there were five more registrations, and the ages changed to 18-44. One exception is the Fourth Registration, or "Old Man's Draft," also on Fold3. Registration cards show name, residence, age, place of birth, employer, physical characteristics, and other information."

What is so typical of research, when I did some more clicking around on the Fold3 site, they tell me there were not FIVE registrations, but, SIX!  As follows:

     First Registration - October 16, 1940

     Second Registration - July 1, 1941

     Third Registration - February 16, 1942

     Fourth Registration, "Old Man's Draft" - April 27, 1942

     Fifth Registration - June 30, 1942

     Sixth registration - December 10-31, 1942

And just for fun, noting there is no sense in counting it as number 7, they tell us there was one more registration set:

     Extra Registration - November 16-December 31, 1943

(Note:  Each of the registrations targeted a different set of men, defined by their ages.)

See I learned something, even after 30 years of research.  Goodness I have no idea how many of these registration forms I have looked at and have in my data base.  All this said, I am not sure I have discovered all the little tidbits about the World War II Draft Registrations.  Like was there a reason for the 3 different variations of the form? 

I love learning - - don't you?  And, keep an open mind, so you can be surprised - - 

* BTW, the data base descriptive page at Ancestry dot com may be behind a pay wall.  The description at FamilySearch dot org, is not, here is the current link.  The information at Fold3 may be behind a pay wall.

** * Please remember to check my Disclaimers page and the fact that I pay for my use of the web site Ancestry dot com and Fold3.  FamilySearch dot org is a free site to all users.

.