Before and during WWII, the United States had eight draft registrations;

Draft Registrations:

Registration	Date	Birth dates	Note
1	Oct. 16, 1940	Oct. 17, 1904-Oct. 16, 1919	Men 21-35 years old
2	Jul. 1, 1941	Oct. 17, 1919-Jul. 1, 1920	Men who had turned 21 since the last registration, and men who were of age but had failed to register in the first registration
3	Feb. 16, 1942	Feb. 17, 1897-Oct. 16, 1904 and Jul. 2, 1920-Dec. 31, 1921	Men 20-21 and 37-44 years old
4	Apr. 27, 1942	Apr. 28, 1877-Feb. 16, 1897	Men 45-64 years old (not liable for military service)
5	Jun. 30, 1942	Jan. 1, 1922-Jun. 30, 1924	Applicable 18 year old men
6 (I)	Dec. 11-17, 1942	Jul. 1-Aug. 31, 1924	Applicable 18 year old men
6 (I)	Dec. 18-24, 1942	Sept. 1-Oct. 31, 1924	Applicable 18 year old men
6 (I)	Dec. 26-31, 1942	Nov. 1-Dec. 31, 1924	Applicable 18 year old men
6 (II)	Jan. 1, 1943-Mar. 31, 1947	Jan. 1, 1925-Mar. 31, 1929	Men were to register as they turned 18 years old
Extra	Nov. 16-Dec. 31, 1943	Jan. 1, 1899-Dec. 31, 1925	Men 18-44 years old living abroad. Beginning Jan. 1, 1944, men were to register as they turned 18 years old
Special	Oct. 23-31, 1944	Nov. 1, 1899-Oct. 31, 1926	Men 18-44 years old living in the US Virgin Islands. Beginning Nov. 1, 1944, men were to register as they turned 18 years old

These registrations, until the second part of the sixth one, only involved the Army and the Army Air Forces. The Navy and Marine Corps chose to be all-volunteer forces until early 1943. The Navy complained enough to the Selective Service and the government that they received an exemption from the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, and the Selective Service even refused to provide the Navy with lists of men classified I-A in early 1942! The Navy realized it would not escape the draft much longer, and re-established a relationship with the Service in September 1942.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9279 on December 5, 1942, which prevented men who were aged 18 to 37 from voluntarily enlisting in the military, unless they had submitted an application which would be completed within ten days after the date of signing of the act. This was to preserve the nation's industrial manpower. Men who were 18 to 37 now could only enter the military by being drafted; the only ones who could voluntarily enlist were those who were 17, and 38 to 45. This order was in effect until September 7, 1945.

The Marine Corps sent out its first quota for drafted personnel on January 1, 1943. The Marine Corps had been expecting to be "snared up" by the Selective Service sooner or later, and, two weeks before Executive Order was signed, had been discussing ways of how to best utilize the draft. They developed a system of liaison officers that would be sent to the various state Selective Service offices.

The liaison officers had the authority to identify those who wished to serve in the Marine Corps at draft registration, and allow them to postpone their eventual induction in order to do so. After February 25, 1943, they had the authority to discharge men from the Selective Service System and allow them to re-enlist voluntarily into the Marine Corps. Out of a total of 224,323 Marine Corps inductees, less that 70,000 kept their "drafted" status.

The Selective Service set a goal of drafting 200,000 men per month. Every month, the armed services delivered to Selective Service headquarters paperwork that included the number of men needed. The Selective Service used this paperwork to create a quota that was divided up among the various state and local draft boards, a certain number of men administratively selected by the boards being inducted into each service. The "Navy" component of the quota was further broken down into "Navy," "Marine Corps," and "Coast Guard" components. A man (supposing that he did not express an intent to serve in the Marine Corps upon his registration) assigned for induction into the Navy could choose to join any of these components if vacancies existed.