In the early part of my research I was able to come across a few neat documents from various sources. I’ve used a few to make additional contacts and I’m waiting to see if they bear fruit.

This is my grandfather’s draft card. It’s pretty cool to see his actual handwriting on a document from 1942. My best guess is he would have signed this card sometime in November or early December of 1942 after legislation was passed that obliged 18 and 19 year-old men to register for the draft. Shortly thereafter (December 5), President Roosevelt signed an order that precluded men between 18 and 37 from volunteering so that there were sufficient able-bodied men in the US to defend the homeland.

I remember grandpa telling me a story about how he ‘became’ a medic and it was basically a sergeant going down the line of new draftees and saying “infantry, infantry, infantry, medic, infantry, infantry, infantry, support, infantry…” and he got ‘tapped’ as a medic and assigned to the Medical Detachment:

Hard to read, so here’s an enlargement from the center column:

According to his Report of Separation, he was formally inducted on February 19, 1943 so at least he didn’t have to sweat it too long between signing his draft card and actually getting called up. The odds at that time were about 1 in 5 and, if his luck wasn’t great before entering the service, he traded it in for divine protection once he was in.

I’ve mentioned his actions that earned the Silver Star being the catalyst for my research and I had more information sent to me by a member on one of the WW2 history forums I frequent. Below is the Awards Report for November of 1944 for the 71st IR.

There he is – Private McCarty earning the Silver Star. I currently have a full set of operations reports from the National Archives on its way to me and I’ll bet I come across this report there as well.

Last, but not least (for now anyway), is a clipping from the Chillicothe Constitution Tribune from July 13, 1945.

I’m hopeful I’ll hear something back from the Ft. Leavenworth Historical Society in the next few days about the time between when Grandpa was drafted and when the 71st left for Europe. If not, I’ll jump ahead and we’ll pick up his story as they landed in Cherbourg, France in September of 1944.

 

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