Existing comment:
Citizen Soldiers:
"... I was sent to Camp Fann in Texas outside the city of Tyler, where I received my infantry basic training. The early weeks of training on the dusty Texas plains in 100-degree temperatures were hell, but realizing that my life would be on the line one day, I adapted, accepted my duties, toughened up, and became a good infantry man."
-- Pfc. Harry Parley; 116th Infantry Regiment, US 29th Division
The primary task facing America in 1941 was raising and training a credible military force. Concern over the threat of war had spurred President Roosevelt and Congress to approve the nation's first peacetime military draft in September 1940. By December 1941 America's military had grown to nearly 2.2 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.
Now that number had to increase dramatically. The army, which numbered 1,657,157 at the time of Pearl Harbor, expanded to over 8 million by 1945. Naval and Coast Guard personnel jumped from 364,124 to almost 7.5 million. And the Marine Corps grew from a force of just 28,364 to 485,333. At its wartime peak, the United States military included 16 million men and women.
America's armed forces consisted largely of "citizen soldiers" -- men and women drawn from civilian life. They came from every state in the nation and all economic and social strata. Many were volunteers, but the majority,roughly 10 million,entered the military through the draft. Most draftees were assigned to the army. The other services attracted enough volunteers at first, but eventually their ranks also included draftees. |