SIX MILLION
UNITED STATES ARMY
LATEST DRAFT ORDER.
CALL ON ALL MEN UNDER 45.
LOS ANGELES, June 3.
A. feeling of uncertainty has gripped the millions of men in the United States under the age of 45, writes Lon Jones. Until a few weeks ago it had been assumed that America would need an army of only 3,600,000, but the Army Department has suddenly changed its mind and the Under-Secretary of War, Mr Patterson, announced that the Army has “raised its sights” to 6,000.000 men. This means that men will be drafted into the armed forces at an ever-increasing rate and will include men up to 45. Most men between 36 and 45 had felt comparatively safe from the draft until this announcement and had made their plans for the future.
But these plans have been swept aside. The Army is now building so quickly that it is already getting ready to dig deep into the nation’s secondary reserve of manpower. This means that no man within the draft age limit is safe from call. MEN WITH FAMILIES. Within a very few months all of the younger men with 1A classifications will have been called into service. Then the younger deferred men will be reclassified and called, provided they are not absolutely essential to war industries or have not too many dependents. But it is growing increasingly clear that even married men with dependents are likely to be called if the war lasts beyond 1943. Congress is considering legislation to provide for soldiers’ dependents. If passed, the bill will give wives 20 dollars a month and 10 dollars a month for each child, with a maximum total of 100 dollars a month to a family. The Army, it is estimated, is now drawing into service about 150,000 men a month. By the end of the year it is expected this will be stepped up to 250,000 a month. These men now can be completely equipped and quartered.
FUTURE UNCERTAIN. The Army wants the younger men, those between 20 and 27, and is roping them in as fast as local draft boards can handle them. The Army would like to get the youths between 18 and 20 and there is a move to have the Draft Law amended to include these youngsters, who evidently make the best soldier material. However many of these youths are not waiting to turn 20 to be drafted but are enlisting by the thousands in the Army and Navy, especially the latter. It is obvious the Army does not want all the men between 20 and 45. There are some 27 millions of these and even at its peak, the Army is not expected to exceed 10,000,000. Present plans call for 6,000,000 in the Army, 2,000,000 in the Air Corps, and about 1,000,000 in the Navy. Unofficial estimates place the present strength of the Army at some 3,000,000, which leaves roughly 24,000.000 from which to secure the remaining 6,000,000. This means that one out of every four of these will be taken into service, so you can readily see why most men in this country are a little uncertain about the future.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1942, Page 4
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526SIX MILLION Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1942, Page 4
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