U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

This database contains World War II draft registration cards from multiple registrations filled out by men in select states aged 18–44.

Historical Background

The U.S. officially entered World War II on 8 December 1941 following an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. About a year before, in October 1940, President Roosevelt had signed into law the first peacetime selective service draft in U.S. history because of rising world conflicts. Multiple registrations held between November 1940 and October 1946 signed up more than 50 million American men aged 18–45 for the draft.

Cards in This Database

This database contains images and indexes for registration cards filled out by men born between the years of 1898 and 1929 from for all states with the exception of Maine. The draft cards from the state of Maine were destroyed before they could be digitized.

The cards are potentially valuable sources of genealogical and family information, with details that can include:

• Name
• Serial Number
• Address and/or Mailing Address
• Telephone
• Age
• Place of Birth
• Country of Citizenship
• Employer’s Name
• Place of Employment (address)
• Name and Address of Person who will always know Registrant’s Address, Relationship to Registrant
• Description: race, eyes, weight, complexion, hair
• Year of Registration

The collection includes some replacement cards for registration cards that were destroyed. These cards list a name.

Updates:
27 Feb 2019: Added new records from the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Washington and Georgia.
24 May 2019: Added new records from the states of Michigan, Mississippi and Rhode Island.
7 Nov 2019: Added 4,651,830 new records from the states of New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Vermont, Illinois, Kentucky and New Hampshire.
18 Feb 2020: Added new records from Massachusetts, New York City, Ohio, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
22 May 2020: Added missing records from Louisiana and missing characteristics from the back side of the cards in NYC.
3 Jun 2021: Corrected transcription errors. No new records were added.
15 Mar 2023: Corrected transcription errors. No new records were added.