WW I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD on 5 June, 1917

WW I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD 

on 5 June, 1917

*Henry  (age 21 @ time of draft) DOB 25 Dec1895 in Brooklyn, NY

Resided on Forest Ave in NY, NY

Worked @ Burns (?)  Bros @ 103 Park Ave as an iceman.

Was never in any Armed Service prior to the draft

He tried to get out of being drafted saying his Mother (43) & Father (49) were his dependents

Physical Features:  Tall, medium build, with blue eyes and brown hair.

MY THOUGHTS

I was thrilled to find this document for it gave his exact birth date.   There are many Henry's in our family and 3 born in the same year!  It took me 3 days of investigations to piece together which document went with which Henry.   

The draft card also narrowed down his town of birth as well as giving a general physical description of him which I enjoyed finding out.  

I was surprised to see that he claimed his fairly young parents as dependents.   I wonder what his siblings were doing during this time?  His brother George was 17, his other brother Christian was 15, & his sister Bertha was 16.  Didn't  at least 1 of them help out?  Maybe Henry was just scared or had high moral principals regarding war.  It wouldn't be uncommon.

*I'm trying to find out if in fact he did go in the service.  Will post findings. 

Short Synopsis of WW I


Jan 1917 Germany sent a telegram to Mexico. It said they would back Mexico's war & help it get back Texas, New Mexico & Arizona. In exchange they would be German allies against the US.

The Germans then proceeded to sink 7 US merchant ships & together with the the information about the telegram, war was declared on Germany on 6 of April 1917.

By the summer of 1918, 2.8 million men had been drafted.  

On the 11 Nov 1918 an armistice was signed by & with Germany  Subsequently a ceasefire was called thereby ending the war.