Enlisted VS Inducted

[MT247]

Alright a friend of mine and I were having a discussion about WW2 records and couldn’t come to an agreement on these two terms as listed on records we had. I was under the impression that if you enlisted it was voluntary and if you were inducted, you were drafted. He said everyone was inducted and called involuntary men draftees. Can someone help us settle the bet? Thanks

 

 

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[Allan H.]

Typically, inducted is used for those who were conscripted into service. That being said, I know that there were lots of instances of men volunteering for the draft. This was evidently done so that their service would be counted against the quotas put out by the National Draft Board for local boards. Enlistees did not count against the quota, so if someone volunteered for the draft, they potentially kept someone else from being forced to serve.

 

One guy who told me that he had done this had a mother who forbade him from enlisting. She even made him promise her that he wouldn't enlist. The only way he could join the military was to have the draft board call him up, so he went to the board and volunteered for call up. He was called up a couple of weeks later. His mother couldn't stop that.

 

Allan