Boys 18-20 sign Tuesday in 5th R-Day
36,000 to register, but only 5,800 face immediate call
For the second time in American history, teenage youths will sign for possible military service Tuesday on the fifth R-Day since 1940.
An estimated 36,000 men, most of them only 18 and 19, will enroll in Allegheny County.
About 5,800 of them who have passed their 20th birthday face a call to service within several months under greatly increased draft quotas.
The others will not be liable for service until after attaining the age of 20, although plans are in the making to lower the military age by Congressional action.
The registration, third in the last four months, will be held at 168 stations throughout the city and county located mostly in schools and other public buildings, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Except for certain exempt classes, all men born between Jan. 1, 1922, and June 30, 1924 (both dates inclusive) must sign up.
Colleges, operating under speedup summer schedules, will remain in session despite Gov. Arthur H. James’ request that classes be suspended. Taverns must remain closed until 9 p.m. and state liquor stores will be closed all day.
Unlike previous draft eligibles, the latest registrants will not have to await a national lottery to learn their order numbers.
Instead, the men will be tacked on to the bottom of present lists in accordance with their birth dates – thus, a man born Jan. 1, 1922, will be placed first, one born Jan. 2, 1922, will be placed second and so on.
Under instructions received yesterday from national draft headquarters, no 20-year-old can be called to service until after the group which registered last February is exhausted of 1-A men.
Because most men in the older age bracket are married or have financial dependents, however, the 20-year-olds face early induction. When the list of all these men is cleared of 1-As, individual draft boards will then dip back to their 1940 ranks and begin general reclassification of unmarried 3-A men.
It takes 10 minutes
Aside from possible waiting in line, the process of registration will not consume more than 10 minutes a person.
Each man will have to give his full name, home address, present mailing address, telephone number, age and date of birth, address of someone who will always know his whereabouts, his employer’s name and address and his own place of employment or business.
Height, weight, color of hair and eyes, complexion and other distinguishing physical characteristics will also be recorded.
Men will be given certificates which they must carry at all times.
ROTC men exempted
Men in advanced ROTC courses at colleges need not register. Also exempt from registration are those already in service, including men now in inactive status with Army and Navy reserve units, and those studying at Army, Navy and Coast Guard academies.
Failure to sign up is punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 and five years’ imprisonment.