‘Aussies’ get phony ideas about us through movies
They think this is a nation of glamor girls and swaggering cowboys
…
He’ll supply second front
Meet ‘SOS’ Lee – he greets our troops in Great Britain
By C. Patrick Thompson, special to the Pittsburgh Press
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Huge mountain of scrap rises over all U.S.
Thousands of mementoes from past wars help to win this one
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Fighting family’s tradition to be continued in WAVES
Kin of Dorothy M. Armor fought in every U.S. war
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Army task unit braves storm to occupy remote mountainous island in Aleutians
Troops land by surprise, and without opposition; base set up fast
By Russell Annabel, United Press staff writer
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‘Hit foe now,’ Willkie urges
Gen. Chiang also talks at Chungking dinner
By George Wang, United Press staff writer
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Caribbean convoy finds floating bodies of Nazis
Resting in harbor, Navy officers tell of beating off U-boats sniping at merchant ships
By Nat A. Barrows
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Donora gunner downs 3 German planes as 6 Fortresses fight off 35 aircraft
U.S. fliers down 13 fighters over France; Coudersport copilot among men who blasted airfield
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News writers send protest to President
Letter cites ‘creeping censorship’ undermining public confidence
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Possessive and emotional women analyzed in penetrating novel
Females of 1920s took advantage of freedom
By Harry Hansen
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Marriage and children –
‘War babies’ not dependents, national draft ruling says
Man who married in 3-A can claim wife as dependent
Draft registrants who married while classed 3-A may claim their wives as dependents if they continue supporting their previous dependents, National Selective Service Headquarters reports.
National headquarters said:
If the registrant married while deferred because of other dependents and has continued to maintain his original status substantially unaffected by his marriage, then he is absolved of imminence.
In other words, a man who married while in 3-A – provided the marriage occurred prior to Pearl Harbor – married at a time when his selection was not imminent and he therefore is entitled to be deferred until married men without children are called up.
This latest interpretation of draft regulations was supplied by national headquarters in a letter to the home front editor of The Press.
Not after Dec. 8
Men who married before Dec. 8, 1941, while classed in 1-H, 4-F, 4-C or 4-A may also claim deferment on the basis of such marriage. This ruling has been handed down by state draft headquarters.
However, men who married while in 1-B, 2-A or 2-B cannot claim their wives as dependents, for officials have decreed that such men had ample reason to expect an early call to service.
Under no circumstances can a man claim deferment on the basis of his wife if marriage took place on or after Dec. 8, 1941.
The question of whether youths under 21 (those who registered last February and June) are entitled to claim their wives as dependents if they married before Dec. 8 has yet to be formally decided.
Ruling necessary
State draft headquarters has expressed the opinion that the selection of such men was not imminent until the day war was declared but considerable doubt still remains on this point and a presidential ruling will probably be necessary before a definite policy can be established.
In the case of a man who was unclassified at the time he was married the draft board must decide whether his selection was imminent on the basis of his order number, whether he had been sent his questionnaire, the state of the national emergency and all other factors that would lead a “reasonable man” to believe he would be called soon by the Army. In general, unclassified men and those in 1-B, 2-A and 2-B who married after May 27, 1941, when the President decreed an unlimited national emergency, find it difficult to obtain deferment on account of marriage. Those who married before that date may be deferred on the basis of individual circumstances presented to the board.
Men who married when their selection wasn’t imminent may retain their deferments, regardless of whether their wives are working, so long as they are maintaining a bona fide family relationship.
Q&A:
A man married in June 1940. He and his wife are to adopt a child. Will he be called along with men without children?
Yes.
My husband drinks and works only from time to time as he pleases. He refuses to support the family. Can I have him drafted?
So far as we know, no. Yours is a problem for the courts, not the Army.
If I work, will it affect my husband’s classification?
Not under present regulations.
We were married six years ago and have a young child. Our board had run out of 1-A men. Will he be called soon?
He will not be called until after men without children have been reclassified.
My husband works in an office of a war plant. He is classed 3-A. Should he be shifted to 3-B?
Yes, if the plant is predominantly devoted to war production or war-supporting activity.
Can a 3-A man who believes he belongs in 3-B appeal now or must he await reclassification?
He may ask for a reopening of his case now on the basis of changed regulations. However, he will have his right to appeal at the time he is reclassified if he should feel them that the draft board’s decision has been unjustified.
A man I know was married Dec. 28, 1941. He was 21 in late July 1941, and registered last February. He was classed 3-A by his board last week. Is he entitled to such a classification?
Not on the basis of the marriage, but he may be so classified if he has proved he has a secondary dependent (mother, father, etc.) in need of his financial support.
We were married in 1939 and expect a child next March. My husband is classed 3-A. (1) Will he be called while I’m pregnant? (2) Should my condition be reported to the draft board? (3) Will he be called along with men without children or men with one child?
(1) Pregnancy doesn’t affect his case in any way. (2) Not necessarily; but report the birth of the child within 10 days even though it can’t be considered a dependent. (3) Men without children.
My husband is 46 and registered for the draft last April. We have no children. Will he be drafted?
No. Men who registered last April are not subject to military service under the present law.
I am married and classed 3-A. I receive milk from a diary and deliver it wholesale and retail with my own truck. I read that the dairy business is essential to the war effort. Am I entitled to 3-B?
No, all-inclusive list of essential industries has been issued by the Selective Service System. Draft boards still must decide for themselves which industries are “war-supporting.”
Will 3-B men without children be called immediately after 3-A men without children?
Yes. But if a 3-B man should hold a key job in a war industry, he would then be shifted to 2-B for additional deferment on the basis of occupation.
We were married February 1941, and had a child last December. My husband was 30 when he married, at which time it was known that men past 28 would not be subject for service. How could it be construed my husband’s selection was imminent then?
Men past 28 were not exempted from military service until July 1, 1941.
(1) Isn’t the wife a husband’s closest blood relative? (2) If he erred and listed his mother instead, how can he have it corrected? (3) Is the question asked because this is the person who’ll be notified in case of accident?
(1) Yes. (2) Through his commanding officer. (3) Yes.
New fathers to go when men without children are drafted
“War babies” have been ruled out as dependents by National Draft Headquarters unless conception occurred prior to Dec. 8, 1941.
The ruling means that married men who may now become fathers will not be granted extra deferment from military service on account of the birth of a child but will be drafted along with other husbands without children.
Furthermore, national headquarters explains that a child cannot be claimed as a dependent even where conception occurred before Dec. 8 if the father was married at a time when he had reason to expect an early call to the Army.
Pregnancy itself does not affect a man’s case in any way.
Dependency ceases
Incidentally, under current regulations, a child ceases to be grounds for deferment when it reaches the age of 18, and fathers whose children have attained that age will be regarded as “childless” in the eyes of the draft when reclassification begins.
Q&A:
I have two children by a former marriage. They haven’t been legally adopted by my present husband but we have raised them together for the past eight years. Do stepchildren qualify as dependents?
Yes, if the man assumed their support in good faith.
I am 27 and married May 15, 1941. Several months later, I was classed 1-B. We are expecting a child this month. Am I entitled to 3-A?
Not unless you prove to the satisfaction of your draft board or the appeals board that at the time you married, you had no reason to expect an early call to service.
My husband is 36 and works as an electric welder. We have six children, from 4 to 14 years old. Will he be called soon?
Not under present regulations.
How soon will married men without children be called?
Best official estimates say around December or January. But even this is only a guess.
How soon will men with one child be called?
Gen. Hershey says about October 1943. That too is only a guess.
How soon will men with two or more children be called?
No one will even guess on this one.
My husband has been supporting my son for seven years although he isn’t the boy’s father. He is classed 3-A. Will he be regarded as a man with or without children?
Since the boy is his stepchild, your husband will probably will be regarded as a man with one child. This, however, has not been made clear in the new regulations, which specify that the children must be “legally adopted” to qualify.
I have been classed 4-F because of bad kidneys. Could I get into any sort of special service?
Not unless you have had exceptional training or experience in specialized technical or professional fields and even then, it’s doubtful if you’d be accepted.
Has the branch of Air Force Administration been closed to all commission applicants or only to those applying through the VOC?
Only to VOC men.
An Army friend of mine recently turned down an offer to go to an officer-training school, through a misunderstanding. Can he try again to get to officers’ school?
Yes. Through his own commanding officer.
If I turned someone in for falsifying his questionnaire to get a 3-A deferment, would he find out who reported him?
He may if you report the case to the draft board. He won’t if you report it to Assistant U.S. Attorney George Mashank, New Federal Bldg., Pittsburgh.
(1) I am 41 and have my thumb, index finger and third finger of the left hand off. Will the Army accept me? (2) If I’m classed 1-A and have a work deferment, can I marry or would it interfere with the deferment?
(1) No. (2) Marriage has no effect on work deferments, but if you’re classed 1-A, you have no deferment.
30-day leave per year has been revoked
The peacetime practice of awarding 30 days’ furlough per year to servicemen has been revoked by all branches of service except the WAAC.
For the most part furloughs are granted only if the men can be spared from his war training duties. They are granted at the discretion of a man’s commanding officer upon the man’s own application.
Ordinarily, the armed services permit a man to return on leave in case of family death or another serious emergency. For those overseas, however, such furloughs are out because of limited shipping facilities and possible disruption of training.
As for shipment to overseas posts, the government has the right, unless otherwise specified in the enlistment papers, to send its men anywhere at any time, regardless of the amount of training a man may have had. No one is guaranteed a furlough before leaving the country.
Awaiting Roosevelt’s signature –
Extension of debt-relief to protect many who fear property will be taken
Protection against property seizure for non-payment of debts incurred up to Pearl Harbor will be extended, possibly this week, to older draft registrants and others who had no reason to suspect being called for service until after the outbreak of war.
Extension of such debt-relief had been authorized by both House and Senate and the bill is now on President Roosevelt’s desk, awaiting only his signature to become law.
Under the old law, draftees and enlistees were protected against repossession only on debts incurred prior to Oct. 17, 1940.
The new law extends that date to Dec. 7, 1941, in the case of a previously-unregistered man. Whether it will extend similar relief to 3-A men and others who didn’t suspect an early Army call has not yet been made clear.
Men past 28 who incurred debts between July 1, 1941, and Dec. 7, 1941, while they were exempted by law from service, will also be granted protection.
In general, the law provides that creditors can’t seize a serviceman’s property without first obtaining court permission. The court may permit such seizure only if it’s convinced the man is able to pay although in service and that no hardship will befall him if he loses the property.
Wherever debts are frozen, with or without court sanction, interest will be limited to 6% regardless of contract provisions.
The new law will also give servicemen three years after the war, instead of just one, to pay off back insurance premiums. And interest on insurance policies will be held to 4%.
It does not affect the present status of servicemen in regard to income taxes. Although men in the service don’t have to pay income tax, they must file income-tax returns if they make sufficient money.
However, men at sea or overseas (including Alaska) do not even have to file a return unless they get back into continental U.S. If they do, then they do not have to file an income-tax return until the 15th of the third month afterward. If they should leave the country in the meantime, they don’t have to worry about the tax return.
Citizenship –
Census office will provide birth records
Record of registration in World War I can help prove claims
Persons lacking birth certificates can obtain a record of their World War I draft registration to help prove their citizenship claims.
The information available includes the date and place of a man’s birth.
Photostatic copies of a man’s registration record or a letter citing the information contained therein will be supplied at a nominal fee by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Services offered
The following services are offered:
FOR $1: A search of the records and a statement of the information found. The statement will be in the form of a letter.
FOR $2: A photostatic copy of the registration card, showing the man’s signature besides the other information.
FOR $3: A photostatic copy of the card, plus a government certification by seal.
Don’t send cash
In any event, $1 will be kept for the cost of the search.
Write to the Director of the Census, Washington, DC. Do not send cash. Money orders should be made payable to the Treasurer of the United States.