During World War I there were three
registrations for the draft.:
- June 5, 1917 - for all men between the
ages of 21 and 31.
- June 5, 1918 - for those who attained the
age of 21 after June 5, 1917. Also included in this second registration
was a supplemental registration held August 24, 1918 for those becoming 21 years
old after June 5, 1918.
- September 12, 1918 - for men age 18
through 45.
We have obtained the two rolls of
microfilm containing Acadia Parish draft registration cards for WW I,
transcribed the data elements from microfilm to a database, and published the
date in two volumes. The focus of these two volumes is to make available
in book form the information collected from individuals of Acadia Parish
registering as part of the World War I Draft Registration process. These
two volumes are arranged alphabetically by surname.
- Vol. 1 includes A - J
- Vol. 2 includes K - Z
A recently published companion
project provides information from military discharge records on approximately
1,000 WW I veterans from Acadia Parish who actually served during the WW I
era.
Nationwide, approximately 24
million draft registration cards were filed - about 23% of the population in
1918. The cards were microfilmed alphabetically by name within each state
and parish/county. Not all who registered for the draft served in the
military. The registration card layout and content changed somewhat over
time, but typically attempted to capture information, such as: Name, Age,
Date of Birth, race, citizenship, employment information, dependency
information, color of hair and eyes, body build.