Enemy Aliens During WW2

[LizzieMaine]

Technically, but by 1942 the draft boards were tightening up the rules considerably. Sole support was interpreted to mean no other source of income for the family -- which, in turn, would be interpreted as the wife being incapacitated from going to work, no relative able to provide support, etc. Once they started to take a hard line, it became very difficult to get such an exemption. Interestingly, DiMaggio's only rival as the top player in the American League, Ted Williams, spent most of 1942 trying to avoid service by the same argument -- and he, at least, had some justification for it: his mother was ill, and he was supporting her, along with his wife and baby daughter. But too bad, said the draft board, into uniform you go. And despite the fact that Williams went on to be a Navy fighter ace, he also held a deep grudge against Selective Service for the rest of his life. And while the papers were rough on DiMaggio, they absolutely savaged Williams -- and he never forgot it.

 

[jamespowers]

Technically, but by 1942 the draft boards were tightening up the rules considerably. Sole support was interpreted to mean no other source of income for the family -- which, in turn, would be interpreted as the wife being incapacitated from going to work, no relative able to provide support, etc. Once they started to take a hard line, it became very difficult to get such an exemption. Interestingly, DiMaggio's only rival as the top player in the American League, Ted Williams, spent most of 1942 trying to avoid service by the same argument -- and he, at least, had some justification for it: his mother was ill, and he was supporting her, along with his wife and baby daughter. But too bad, said the draft board, into uniform you go. And despite the fact that Williams went on to be a Navy fighter ace, he also held a deep grudge against Selective Service for the rest of his life. And while the papers were rough on DiMaggio, they absolutely savaged Williams -- and he never forgot it.

Like Williams ever liked the press in the first place.

The draft meant just that. They took every able bodied man and even some less than able. They drafted my uncle with flat feet and high blood pressure---nothing mattered much then but warm bodies. lol lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yes, he was between a rock and a hard place there. He should have known better than to pull that though. What did he expect would happen?

What really made him look like a weasel was the fact that his older brother Vince, when he wasn't leading the National League in striking out, was 4-F, and working full time in the off season in a precision-parts factory. And younger brother Dominic went into the service in 1942 without a bit of complaint. So maybe Joe really was just being an entitled jerk over the whole business.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Like Williams ever liked the press in the first place.

The draft meant just that. They took every able bodied man and even some less than able. They drafted my uncle with flat feet and high blood pressure---nothing mattered much then but warm bodies. lol lol

When Williams was managing the Senators in 1969-71, at the height of the anti-Vietnam-draft movement, he shocked the press by coming out in support of the marchers, calling Selective Service every kind of dirty racket, etc. This didn't endear him to the baseball establishment, but he was TEDDY BALLGAME, after all, and what could they do about it?

 

[jamespowers]

What really made him look like a weasel was the fact that his older brother Vince, when he wasn't leading the National League in striking out, was 4-F, and working full time in the off season in a precision-parts factory. And younger brother Dominic went into the service in 1942 without a bit of complaint. So maybe Joe really was just being an entitled jerk over the whole business.

Yes, I had forgotten about his brothers too.:eusa_doh:

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

To bring other "draft dodgers" into the spotlight, I read John Wayne's biographies. He wanted to go, but the studio wouldn't let him saying that they would sue etc.

I was in Panera's and met an old Vietnam draft dodger just before Thanksgiving. That's not one of those things I'd tell a stranger, but hey, I ain't him...

Later

 

[jamespowers]

Hi

To bring other "draft dodgers" into the spotlight, I read John Wayne's biographies. He wanted to go, but the studio wouldn't let him saying that they would sue etc.

I was in Panera's and met an old Vietnam draft dodger just before Thanksgiving. That's not one of those things I'd tell a stranger, but hey, I ain't him...

Later

The studio in fact appealed his new status as A-1 in 1944 after several deferments due to 2-A classification, "deferred in support of [the] national . . . interest."
He was sort of over the hill at 37 but he could have enlisted like Clark Gable did. It is sort of murky as to how and why he got out of the service but he wasn't as established a star at the time in 1941 as Gable. Some say he wanted to make a few more movies before he enlisted and then never did. Again, after making nearly 13 movies during the war you have to wonder how much was enough. maybe he serve his pupose as that of "national interest" as entertaining the troups via movie and USO tours.[huh]
He definitely wasn't an enemy alien though.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The thing with Gable was that he was desperately trying to get over his grief over Carole Lombard's death -- some said he enlisted with the specific hope of getting killed. There weren't too many movie actors with that*kind of motivation for joining up.

One of the things that Joe DiMaggio was upset about was that the Army immediately put him into Special Services, where he was made to play in service baseball games and paraded around like a traveling monkey show. He resented that they forced him to give up making big money playing ball to force him to play ball for $21 a day once a month.

 

[jamespowers]

The thing with Gable was that he was desperately trying to get over his grief over Carole Lombard's death -- some said he enlisted with the specific hope of getting killed. There weren't too many movie actors with that*kind of motivation for joining up.

You have a point there. Gable was either a case of revenge or suicide.
However, several actors lined up right after Pearl Harbor as the patriotic thing to do. They realized later when they were put into service that it was no joke.

 

[1961MJS]

...One of the things that Joe DiMaggio was upset about was that the Army immediately put him into Special Services, where he was made to play in service baseball games and paraded around like a traveling monkey show. He resented that they forced him to give up making big money playing ball to force him to play ball for $21 a day once a month.

Hi

That would have made me mad too. I could see joining up, but not joining up and doing my current job as an entertainer.

Later

 

[AmateisGal]

Did you also manage to fit into the report that some of the Italian internees were even relative of Joe DiMaggio? Amazingly, he could do nothing with his fame to benefit his family.

While I knew about this and read it in some of my research, I elected not to include it because I wanted to focus more on the ordinary people that this affected. There is a very strong group of former internees and relatives of internees who are making a very valiant effort to keep this history alive and get it in front of the public. I wanted to honor them more than anything. (Not that Joe DiMaggio's father isn't worthy of honor, as well, but I didn't want to include any celebrities in my take on the whole thing...).

 

[jamespowers]

While I knew about this and read it in some of my research, I elected not to include it because I wanted to focus more on the ordinary people that this affected. There is a very strong group of former internees and relatives of internees who are making a very valiant effort to keep this history alive and get it in front of the public. I wanted to honor them more than anything. (Not that Joe DiMaggio's father isn't worthy of honor, as well, but I didn't want to include any celebrities in my take on the whole thing...).

Sounds like a worthy effort.

 

[AmateisGal]

Sounds like a worthy effort.

Thanks. Let's hope so. I wrestled with it for two weeks to get it to where I could finally let it go to my editor.

If anyone is ever interested, this site has a wealth of info on the subject: www.gaic.info (German American Internee Coalition).

 

[vintageTink]

A small town of Tonkawa, OK, next to wear I graduated high school, still stands a WWII German POW/interment camp.

 

[vintageTink]

That should be "where", you darn ipad.

 

[Foxer55]

V.C. Brunswick,

When I was in high school that took up practically the entire section on WWII in our US history textbook.

You must be a young feller. That part of history was barely mentioned when I was in HS just 10-15 years after the war. It seems though some people have finally rewritten the war history and we are the bad guys after all because we attacked Germany and Italy and just dropped the bomb because we didn't like the Japanese.

 

[Foxer55]

vintageTink,

That should be "where", you darn ipad.

Women...! Clothes shopping on their minds all the time.

 

[jamespowers]

Thanks. Let's hope so. I wrestled with it for two weeks to get it to where I could finally let it go to my editor.

If anyone is ever interested, this site has a wealth of info on the subject: www.gaic.info (German American Internee Coalition).

Ok, so how is the effort going these nearly two months later? Where can we buy a copy?

 

[AmateisGal]

Ok, so how is the effort going these nearly two months later? Where can we buy a copy?

It's on newsstands now!

 

[jamespowers]

It's on newsstands now!

I need an Amazon link.