Nov 10, 2002 By Glenn Tunney 10 min read

Those who attend a Veterans Day ceremony tomorrow may note the dwindling number of World War II veterans in attendance. It makes one wonder how young some of these men were when they were called to action in a war that ended 57 years ago. In an article I wrote in August, I shared with readers a letter I received from Kirby Davis of Searcy, Ark. He wrote, “I was wondering if you could find out how many boys were drafted into the service before they graduated from school. I have a brother who was drafted in September 1943 during his senior year at Brownsville High School. His name is Parker Davis.

“My brother started his senior year of school,” Kirby explained, “and went to football camp up in the mountains. My father had to go up to camp just before they came home and tell ‘Park’ that he had been drafted into the Navy.

“My father went to the draft board and tried to get him deferred so that he could finish his senior year, but they said no. Park came home from camp, played his final game, and went off to the Navy in September 1943.”

The story prompted me to find out when the United States first used a military draft. I discovered that the practice began during the Civil War and was resurrected during World War I. Then in 1940, with World War II under way in Europe and the United States not yet officially at war, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, creating the country’s first peacetime draft.

Within months of U. S. entry into World War II in December 1941, it became clear that there was a large untapped reservoir of young Americans whose services would be needed by the military. The group consisted of 18-and 19-year-old boys, who were not then eligible to be drafted. In October 1942, the War Department proposed drafting from this pool of young men.

On Oct. 10, 1942, the Brownsville Telegraph informed its readers, “Congressional leaders today reported that the War Department has submitted a letter to President Roosevelt, recommending legislation to draft 18-and 19-year-old youths. Administration chiefs predicted that the proposal would be endorsed by the President and sent to Congress. The War Department was said to be awaiting clearance of its proposal by the President.”

Roosevelt wasted no time letting his feelings be known on the matter.

Three days after he received the War Department’s proposal, the Telegraph reported that “President Roosevelt’s declaration of the ‘inevitable’ and ‘important’ need for lowering the draft age to 18 years gave Congress the signal today for action on this military phase of the pressing manpower problem. Both Senate and House leaders predicted speedy action on the proposal to lower the draft age.”

This new policy made men between 18 and 45 liable for military service, and it required all men between 18 and 65 to register for the draft. The terminal point of service was extended to six months after the war, which officially ended with the surrender of Japan in the autumn of 1945.

One local draftee who was discharged from the military six months after the war ended was my uncle, Melvin Tunney, who grew up in Blainesburg. He had remained in school until he graduated, but he had actually undergone military training during much of his senior year.

“For my last half year of high school,” Melvin told me, “I had my choice of regular school or eighteen weeks of Radio and Communication School at California State Teachers College. I chose the radio school, and so did other male students in my class. I completed this course on May 21, 1943. Even though I did not attend regular high school the last half of my senior year, I did receive my high school diploma just as if I had attended high school.

“I was drafted into the Navy on June 28, 1943,” Melvin continued, “became a radioman, and served in the Pacific theater until discharged in February 1946 [six months after the cessation of hostilities]. So even though I wasn’t drafted while still in school, I was trained to be drafted and used as a radioman as soon as I had completed this course.”

Herb Elias of Miami, Fla., wasn’t even able to finish his senior year before Uncle Sam called.

“I was a senior at Brownsville High School,” Herb told me, “when I was called to active duty in April 1945. I had enlisted in the air cadet program at the beginning of the school year. The recruiters had hinted that all enlistees would be able to graduate and attend the graduation ceremony, but they were wrong.

“That’s the way the ball bounces,” Herb observed. “I tried to get the government to delay duty until after graduation, but no soap. My dad did the honors, representing me at graduation and receiving my diploma.”

The first full year in which 18- and 19-year-olds could be drafted was 1943 and many young men from Brownsville High School entered the military service that year. The 1944 edition of “On The Mon,” the Brownsville High School yearbook, included a full-page tribute to these boys, accompanied by a montage of some of their pictures. The tribute read as follows:

“A number of the young men of our student body, along with the youth of the community, were directly affected by the war. Some were inducted during the summer of 1943 and others left after school began; while others will leave before the term draws to a close. Many boys have volunteered for duty not waiting for Uncle Sam to call them to the colors. Some others, having been called, were permitted to complete their class work before being inducted. . . .

“During the course of the present school term, the Army and Navy V-12, Army Air Cadets, and Radio Technician tests were administered to those students who desired to further their education through a military career. A number of our boys, who successfully passed these examinations, are now on reserve lists waiting to be called.

“The boys pictured below were among those who left for the services before they completed their work at Brownsville Senior High. It was impossible for the staff to picture all the boys who enlisted or were inducted for the entire year due to the necessity of meeting engraver’s and printer’s deadlines. Therefore these 10 boys who left in 1943 or early in 1944 represent only a portion of our seniors who are now serving Uncle Sam.

“Since the plates have gone to the engravers, these additional boys have joined the ranks of the Armed Forces:

(Army) Ernest Christopher, Albert Fanara, Hobert Herron, Walter Knight, Robert McMahon, Walter Oakley, John Savona, John Shunk, Howard Starr, and Nick Vecchio.

(Air Corps) Will Berwick, Frank Dankovich, William Klosky, Joe Fortuna, Miles Springer, Clarence Stevenson, George Wenick, Andrew Kozup, and Martin Weston.

(Marines) Frank Zeek.

(Navy) Homer Crawford, Parker Davis, Fred Diederich, Walter Famularo, Harold Gue, Martin Pintar, Chester Porzucek, Richard Rohm, William Semock, David Somers, Gerald Twigg, James Vance, and Harold Wellings.”

The ranks of the student body were not the only ones depleted by war.

Many faculty members were also called to join the military, and the 1944 yearbook dedicated a page to these men.

“It seems such a long time,” wrote the yearbook staff, “since these members of the faculty have walked through our halls, yet it is only two years since our former principal, R. E. Austin, left for the air corps. Lt. Austin is now in Florida. A year ago, Paul Carson was in the midst of the Band Concert preparations; now he is in England playing in an army band, as well as performing other army duties. A year and a half in the navy has given Smith Coldren, now stationed in Texas, the rank of Lieutenant, Senior Grade. Pfc. Thomas Easton of the army air corps is also in Texas. First Lieutenant Samuel Jacobs, who has been in the army for two years, has just recently arrived in the British Isles.

“Bernard McCormick, who left the B.H.S. English department for the Quartermasters Corps is now a 1st Lieutenant and is located in Mississippi. Our former assistant coach, Pvt. J. McCune, has been in the South Pacific for some time. J. R. Swearingen, who has been gone from the manual arts department for two years, is now an aviation machinist’s mate, first class, at the naval station, Chicago. Yeoman second class H. Walter, assistant principal in 1942-43, is now at a naval station in Mississippi. Lieutenant Matthew Wasko, a Marine, is stationed near San Francisco.

“In addition to these Senior High School teachers, there are ten members of the Junior High School faculty in the armed forces. They are Ernest Knapp (army), James Chalfant (merchant marine), Paul Campbell (air corps), Theodore Blasius (army), Samuel Francis (air corps), Frances Swan (navy), Morton Klein (army), George Rehe (navy), Merle Labin (army) and Carl Hough (air corps).”

When the war finally ended, some former students who survived the war came home and re-enrolled in high school. I spoke with a retired Brownsville teacher who now lives in Uniontown. She remembers teaching those veterans.

“I taught for over 40 years,” she told me over the telephone, “and the best class of students I ever taught was in 1946, when I taught a class of over 30 veterans. All of them had left high school for the military and were now back to complete their high school education.

She paused. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “when they returned, each of them had a new perspective on life, and on what they hoped to achieve in life.

“Just last year, an older gentleman came up to me at the mall and thanked me for being his teacher. It had been nearly 50 years since I taught him, and I did not recognize him, but it is still nice to hear those words from a former student. It lets you know that you did have some effect on the lives of your students.”

And those former students, by making the youthful sacrifices they made so many years ago, had a tremendous effect on our lives as well. Tomorrow, generations of Americans, many of them born after those great sacrifices were made on their behalf, will gather at sites throughout Fayette County to honor all veterans.

To those veterans who are still with us from World War II; to those who have served their nation from Korea to Vietnam, and from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan; and to those who are at this moment in harm’s way, America owes a debt that can be repaid in only one way – by remembering them, and by fighting to preserve the democratic principles which they defended, and for which many of them made the ultimate sacrifice.

Comments about Glenn Tunney’s columns may be sent to day editor Mark O’Keefe, 8 – 18 East Church Street, Uniontown, Pa. or e-mailed to mo’keefe@heraldstandard.com . Glenn Tunney may be contacted at 724-785-3201, glenatun@hhs.net or 6068 National Pike East, Grindstone, PA 15442. Past articles are on the Web at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~glenntunneycolumn/