U.S. WW II Draft Cards Online

As predicted in this newsletter on May 19, Ancestry.com has now created a new online database collection of World War II Draft Cards. Be aware, however, that this new online collection is not all the draft registration cards, only a subset.

Several draft registrations were conducted after President Roosevelt signed into law the first peacetime selective service draft in U.S. history in October 1940. The only registration that has been released to the public is the fourth registration, popularly called the "old man's registration." The fourth registration was conducted on 27 April 1942 and registered men who were born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897 - men who were then between 45 and 64 years old and who were not already in the military. Earlier registrations had been conducted for younger men.

The new online database is an indexed collection of the draft cards from the Fourth Registration. Information available on the draft cards includes:

• Name of registrant
• Age
• Birth date
• Birthplace
• Residence
• Employer information
• Name and address of person who would always know the registrant's whereabouts
• Physical description of registrant (race, height, weight, eye and hair colors, complexion)

Additional information such as mailing address (if different from residence address), serial number, order number, and board registration information may also be available.

This database currently contains draft cards only for the following states and territories:

Arkansas
Connecticut
Delaware
Indiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia

Each state's National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Regional Branch holds teh original draft cards. All of these cards are also available on microfilm from the Family History Library (FHL) and/or NARA.

You must be a paid subscriber to Ancestry.com's U.S. Membership or World Membership services in order to access this database.

For more information about Ancestry.com's online database of the Fourth Registration Draft Cards, go to http://landing.ancestry.com/military/vday/world.aspx. The database itself is available at: http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1002&o_iid=24436&o_lid=24436&o_it=21416

Comments

[Stephen Harris]

Note that even within the states listed, there are significant omissions. For example, NARA has about 120,000 4th Draft cards for Essex County, New Jersey, most of which are for Newark. However, the Ancestry database currently has only 86 cards for Newark. When I inquired, I received the following (apparently boilerplate) message from Ancestry:

We apologize for any inconvenience. At this time we are working to complete the posting of information in the WWII Draft Registration cards. We do not have an official release schedule for future postings. Certain information may not currently be available due to varying issues. These include (but are not limited to) research, rescanning, and quality assurance matters. We will complete the posting of this database as quickly as possible, but there will be some delay before the entire project is completed. Thank you for your patience.

[Elissa Scalise Powell]

Some of the WW II draft cards are filmed with the front of a card on the top and the bottom of a card on the bottom. HOWEVER the front and back are NOT for the same person. The cards were filmed with the front of one card and the back of the previous card in the same frame. This causes problems since the description and draft board are not for the person named. My husband's great-uncle is listed as Negro in the Ancestry index for the WWII draft cards since that is what the back that is filmed with his front card says. He is white in all other records and in family photos. USE CAUTION when using these records!

[Jack Novicki]

Hi Everyone:

It would apppear that most of the WWII front and back images do not agree with each other. The front card does not belong with the back card shown. Ancestry does not provide a forward or back button of the images. Below is a work-around to get to the correct back card that matches the front card in the previous image.

At the top of the page after you find page one of the WWII draft card look for the LARGE WHITE ADDRESS BOX that goes across the page. If you are using Internet Explorer the word “Address” should appear to the left of the LARGE WHITE BOX and the word “GO” should appear to the right of the LARGE WHITE BOX. In the LARGE WHITE BOX you will see a series of letters and numbers and other symbols. This is the address of the CARD you were searching for. Sometimes this ADDRESS is larger than the LARGE WHITE BOX. If this is so you must move the cursor to the end of the ADDRESS to expose the numbers I am referring to.

The following is an example only, it is the LAST part of an ADDRESS for a Leon Novik’s draft card. It is NOT the whole ADDRESS only a section of the LAST part.

PA-2139282-2800&fn=Leon&In=Novik&st=

If you look at the numbers that follow the “PA” (Pennsylvania) you will see 7 numbers and a dash (-) and then 4 numbers followed by “&fn=Leon&In”, ETC. If you look at the 4 numbers that follow the (-) in the example you will see 2800. If you change the last digit “0″ to a “1″ the number is now “2801″ and then hit “GO” you will go to the next image. If you look at the BACK page it will most likely NOT agree with the address on the other fron page of the card image on the page. The back card image on this page is matched with the image that you found in your search.

Before you change the number in the image address print the correct front page card image then go to the next image. Now you can see if the address on your front page is in the same area with the second back page image.

Because the images are in alphabetical order the chance that the next back image, being from the same area as the front image, are very very slim. I have searched and found over 15 cards and not one back page agreed with the front page but always agreed with the front page in the previous image.

PLEASE NOTE:
THE LARGE LONG WHITE ADDRESS BOX IS NOT ON OR IN THE IMAGE BUT IS ON YOU INTERNET PAGE… IT IS WHERE THE ADDRESS OF THE PAGE YOU ARE LOOKING AT IS LISTED. THIS IS WHERE YOU MUST MAKE THE CHANGE IN THE NUMBER.

~Jack Novicki

[Marilyn Harris]

My Father in Law: Henry Harris, is listed on Ancestry.com, for WW1 Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918, when he was 24yrs old, at June 5, 1917 at time of Registration, and everything is Correct,and he is listed as: WHITE, but when you go to the:

WW2 DRAFT REGITRATION CARDS 1942 AT ANCESTRY.COM:
HE IS LISTED AS "BLACK" ON THE REGISTARS REPORT SECTION!!!!
ANCESTRY HAS COPIED THE WRONG CARDS TO GO ALONG WITH THE REGISTRATION CARD APPARENTLY!!!!! THIS NEEDS TO BE REDONE AND CORRECTED! IF YOU LOOK AT ALL CENSUS REPORTS FOR HENRY HARRIS, IN KENTUCKY AND THEN IN WEST VIRGINIA, YOU WILL SEE THAT IN ALL CENSUS REPORTS HE IS DEFINITLY OF THE "WHITE RACE"

CLEAN THIS UP-ANCESTRY!!!!
I PAY TO MUCH FOR A SUBSCRIPTION THAT IS FAR FROM ACCURACY!

[Marilyn Harris]

**The original Post I posted was put under another name at this site, so I will try again to post it to the correct person.

My Father in Law: Henry Harris, is listed on Ancestry.com, for WW1 Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918, when he was 24yrs old, at June 5, 1917 at time of Registration, and everything is Correct,and he is listed as: WHITE, but when you go to the:

WW2 DRAFT REGITRATION CARDS 1942 AT ANCESTRY.COM:
HE IS LISTED AS "BLACK" ON THE REGISTARS REPORT SECTION!!!!
ANCESTRY HAS COPIED THE WRONG CARDS TO GO ALONG WITH THE REGISTRATION CARD APPARENTLY!!!!! THIS NEEDS TO BE REDONE AND CORRECTED! IF YOU LOOK AT ALL CENSUS REPORTS FOR HENRY HARRIS, IN KENTUCKY AND THEN IN WEST VIRGINIA, YOU WILL SEE THAT IN ALL CENSUS REPORTS HE IS DEFINITLY OF THE "WHITE RACE"

CLEAN THIS UP-ANCESTRY!!!!
I PAY TO MUCH FOR A SUBSCRIPTION THAT IS FAR FROM ACCURACY!

[Carol Mckay]

Re: Ancestry.com's 1942 Draft Registration Cards and the problem with front and back sides not matching up...........

I found some cards with only a front side. Using the suggested "work-around" in this newsletter, I changed the URL sequence to the next number, and the back side came up. Even better, Ancestry.com lets you click forward and backward to bring up the two sides. But, not all cards are working that way, not yet anyhow.

Three cheers to Ancestry!
Carol

[stella kenyon]

Hi.

I would like to know if there was a photo of the person with the draft card.

thanks