Doggone I'm glad you mentioned the draft. Filing this under "Ya re-learn something new everyday" I didn't remember that there had been a draft in World War II until you mentioned it.
Here's what I found:
"...The 1917 draft law prohibited enlistment bounties and personal substitution, but did authorize deferments on the grounds of dependency or essential work in industry or agriculture. It allowed religious conscientious objectors (COs) to choose noncombatant service within the military. The law was implemented through a Selective Service System, composed of a national headquarters—commanded by a major general—and some four thousand local draft boards staffed by civilian volunteers who decided on the induction or deferment of particular individuals within overall national guidelines.
In 1917 and 1918, Selective Service registered and classified 23.9 million men, eighteen to forty-five, and drafted 2.8 million of them. In all, 72 percent of the wartime army of 3.5 million troops was raised through conscription.
There was no repetition of the Civil War draft riots. Aside from a few violent episodes and a number of antidraft demonstrations, opposition was expressed mainly through criticism and evasion. Between 2 and 3 million men apparently never registered, and 338,000 (12 percent of those drafted) failed to report when called or deserted after arrival at training camp. In addition, 64,700 registrants sought CO status. Of the 20,900 COs drafted into the army, 4,000 refused to participate in any military role, and 450 "absolutists" were sent to prison. In 1918, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that national conscription was constitutional.
In World War II, the fall of France in 1940 led Congress to adopt the nation's first prewar conscription act as a result of a campaign headed by old preparedness leaders. The draft was to run through 1945, but because of intense opposition from pacifists, isolationists, and others, the draftees (aged twenty-one to thirty-five) were obligated to serve only one year, and service was restricted to the Western Hemisphere and U.S. territories.
In August 1941, however, Congress, by a one-vote margin (203-202) in the House, voted to keep the one-year draftees in the Army beyond their term. After Pearl Harbor, the lawmakers removed all remaining restrictions and extended the draft to men aged eighteen to thirty-eight (and briefly to forty-five) for the duration.
Approximately 10 million men were drafted through the Selective Service System, and nearly 6 million enlisted, primarily in the U.S. Navy and Army Air Corps.
There was some discontent. Some 72,000 registrants applied for CO status, of whom 25,000 entered the army in noncombatant service, another 12,000 went to civilian work camps, and 20,000 had their claims rejected.
Ultimately, 6,000, the majority of them Jehovah's Witnesses, were imprisoned. Some antidraft incidents in Chicago and other cities stemmed from protest by African-Americans against discrimination and segregation in the armed forces. Draft evasion did not disappear. The Justice Department investigated 373,000 alleged evaders and obtained convictions of 16,000.
The draft did not end with World War II. Except for a brief hiatus between 1947 and 1948, it helped maintain throughout the cold war a sizable number of men in the armed forces (a mix of volunteers, conscripts, and draft-induced volunteers).
During the Korean War, 1.5 million men, eighteen to twenty-five, were drafted; another 1.3 million volunteered, primarily for the navy and air force. Discontent led to an increase in COs (the percentage of inductees exempted as COs grew to nearly 1.5 percent, compared to .15 in each world war). Some 80,000 draft evasion cases were investigated..."
Excerpt from The Reader's Companion to American History Conscription
Thanks for finding that.
Doss really took a lot of crap from his fellow soldiers at first. There were no "diversity and inclusion moments" or sensitivity training in those days.
But he proved himself no coward in the battles in the Pacific and they weren't dissing him when he risked nearly certain death to save his fellow soldiers.
You don't have to share his CO philosophy to respect and admire what he did. It was every bit as heroic as was done by any soldier with a rifle. Unlike John Kerry, he earned that medal and was a great man on a personal level.
I don't think he's passed away yet, but last time I saw him he was looking somewhat frail.
The first conscripts in WW2 received the munificent salary of $21/month plus found.
If that sounds small now, it sounded small then, too.