Draft Registration Card, 1940

Draft Registration Card, 1940

World War II Draft Registration Card

World War, 1939-1945

Veterans--Florida

The draft registration card for Sheldon Paul McCloskey (1919-1996). The card contains the demographic information for the soldier including name, home address, telephone number, age in years, date of birth, place of birth, name of person who will always know your address, their relationship to applicant, their address, employer's name, race, height, weight, complexion, and other obvious physical characteristics. The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was the first peacetime conscription in United States history. Men between the ages of 21 and 36 were required to register with local draft boards and were selected by lottery.

Born to James and Dessie McCloskey on April 15, 1919, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, Sheldon worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company with his father as a railcar builder after graduating high school. He registered for the World War II draft on October 16, 1940, but eventually enlisted in the United States Navy on June 3, 1944. During his time in the Navy, he served on two submarine tender ships: the USS Orion and the USS Sperry. McCloskey left the Navy on February 15, 1946. After the war, he retuned to Washington DC and joined the Marine Corps reserve squadron VMF-321, achieving the rank of Sargent. McCloskey died on November 1, 1996, and is memorialized in Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.

In 2017, the University of Central Florida was one of three universities selected to launch the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Program Project. The program engaged a team of scholars to make the life stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery available to the public. The project engages UCF students in research and writing and fosters collaboration between students, faculty and local Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculum for k-12 students. The corresponding website exhibit uses RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive of related data. The public can use the project-developed augmented-reality app at more than 100 gravesites at the Florida National Cemetery, where they can access the UCF student-authored biographies of veterans.

War Department, Office of Provost Marshal General, Selective Service System

Digital reproduction of original draft registration card.

War Department, Office of Provost Marshal General, Selective Service System

1940-10-16

Veterans Legacy Program Collection

image/jpg

328 KB

1 draft registration card

eng

Text

Washington, D.C.

Donation

History Teacher

Originally created and published by the War Department, Office of Provost Marshal General, Selective Service System.

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Campbell, Tyler

Cravero, Geoffrey

Veterans Legacy Program Project

Abney, Barb. "VA Selects UCF Historians to Archive Stories of Deceased Veterans Veterans." UCF Today, March 13, 2017. Accessed August 9, 2017. https://today.ucf.edu/va-selects-ucf-historians-archive-stories-deceased-veterans/.

Black, Jeremy. World War Two: A Military History. London [u.a]: Routledge, 2003.