http://ifunny.co/fun/7if2W49k3
From what I've observed, the most popular way to bash this generation is to compare them to the young men that fought for US in WW2. However, this somewhat implies that all the men willingly enlisted. I feel that that is incorrect, however, given that US mass conscription in WW2 is not documented or referenced like Vietnam for example, I want to know the validity of such a claim.
The United States began its first peacetime conscription in October of 1940 with the signing of the Burke-Wadsworth Act. It made subject to military service for 12 months all eligible males 21 to 36, selected piecemeal through a lottery system. The first men began to be inducted a month later. With war raging in Europe, many men eschewed being passed over by the draft call and instead rushed down to the recruiting office to do their duty. This term was later extended indefinitely; many drafted men were quite peeved because the US was not involved in a war, and threatened to desert (go "over the hill in October") after their original 12 month term was up.
As you can imagine, Pearl Harbor changed that sentiment. Men, both conscripts and volunteers, flooded to recruiting offices.
By signing Executive Order 9279 on December 5, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did several things:
Eliminate nearly all voluntary enlistments (see below)
Adjust the age for conscription from 21 - 36 to 18 - 37
Transfer the Selective Service System to become an agency of the War Manpower Commission
Men who were aged 17, and those who were aged 38 to 45 were exempt from being drafted, but they could still choose to enlist voluntarily into the military if they met its requirements for service.
Taking into account Executive Order 9279, about 6.3 million (38.8 percent) US servicemen who served in WWII voluntarily enlisted, and about 11.5 million (61.2 percent) were conscripted. All servicewomen (WASPs, military nurses, and the like) voluntarily enlisted; the United States did not draft women.
Logically, the average age of all conscripted men (18-37) taken together would be about 26-27 years old. There were many young soldiers, and many older ones too, but the majority were not 18 years old. The average US conscript in WWII was born in 1918, and was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 144 pounds. He had a 33 1/2 inch chest and a 33-inch waist, wearing a size 9 1/2 shoe. In basic training, he would gain at least 6 to 9 pounds and add and inch to his chest.
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