Ancestry.com has updated their “U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942.” This draft registration is often referred to as the “Old Men’s Draft,” because of the age of the men who were registering. This fourth registration was conducted on 27 April 1942 and registered men who born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897–men who were between 45 and 64 years old and who were not already in the military. I’m not really certain how updated this database is as it’s been around for some time.
Don’t confuse it with registrations of men who were a more traditional age that Ancestry.com has titled “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.” That’s a more recent database and is still being updated. There are several states that are not included at this point in time.
FamilySearch has the “Old Men’s Draft” registration cards on their site at no charge.
Always know which one you are searching. I saw the update on Ancestry.com today for the “U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942“and thought it was for the “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.” That’s the one I’m waiting for as there are several relatives whose cards I’d like to find who would have been young men during the World War II era. I’ve already got all the draft cards for the “old guys.”
Kristy R. Gravlin says:
My dad was born in 1903. That made him too young for the first war. He was soooo disappointed!
Then when the second war came along he managed to be too old for it. He was far from disappointed.
But he said he was a lot smarter by then. Since he farmed he and his brother were both thought to be more valuable to the effort to be home and farming.
1903 birth dates are the only ones who were both too young and then too old.