At the time of World War I, the US Army was small compared with the mobilized armies of the European powers. As late as 1914, the Regular Army had under 100,000 men. The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized the growth of the Army to 165,000, but by 1917 the Army had only expanded to around 121,000.
By 1916, it had become clear that any participation by the United States in the conflict in Europe would require a far larger army. While President Wilson at first wished to use only volunteer troops, it soon became clear that this would be impossible. When war was declared, Wilson asked for the Army to increase to a force of one million. But by six weeks after war was declared, only 73,000 men had volunteered for service. Wilson accepted the recommendation of Secretary of War for a draft.
On May 18, 1917, the Selective Service Act was passed authorizing the President to increase temporarily the military establishment of the United States. The Selective Service System, under the office of the Provost Marshal General, was responsible for the process of selecting men for induction into the military service, from the initial registration to the actual delivery of men to military training camps.
During World War I there were three registrations.
- The first, on June 5, 1917, was for all men between the ages of 21 and 30.
- The second, on June 5, 1918, registered those who attained age 21 after June 5, 1917.
- A supplemental registration, included in the second registration, was held on August 24, 1918, for those becoming 21 years old after June 5, 1918.
- The third registration was held on September 12, 1918, for men age 18 through 45.
Copies of these registration cards can be found on many web sites on the internet. I personally find them one of the most interesting bits of information about our ancestors. They are a true “snap-shot” of personal information on a particular day in their lives. Most cards were filled out by the person not a stranger.
Ship Passenger information when an immigrant arrived at Ellis Island was written by a stranger who may not have understood the language of the person entering the country. Misspelled names, towns and other information ran rampant.
US Census forms were filled out by strangers relying on the information supplied by one person in the household. The informant may have been a 14 year old son or daughter who only guessed at information about their parents or other household members.
The registration cards contain detailed information about the person that can help genealogists determine correct birth dates, birth towns, occupations, etc.
Have you ever wondered what color eyes your grandfather had? How much he weighed? How tall he was….etc? Below I have printed the WWI Registration cards for many of our ancestors. If you do not see someone, please let me know and I will try to locate their card and add it to the list.
Remember, you can right-click on any image to download it to your computer and then you can enlarge, crop, print and store the image. There are two images for each person – front and back of their card.
In no particular order:
WWII Draft Registration Card database also exist. We shall publish those in the future.
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