Selective service in Orange County, 1940–1946

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 17 dated events in the chronology →

1. by October 11, 1940 Governor Hoey appoints Orange County's draft board Under the new selective service law Governor Clyde Hoey named Clarence Pickard of Chapel Hill and Owen Robertson and Garland O. Reitzel of Hillsborough to Orange County's draft board, with Dr. Bryan N. Roberts as its physician and C. P. Hinshaw as appeal agent. Robertson became chairman; the members served without pay, worked from Hillsborough, and were to classify the county's registrants from their questionnaires. People: Clarence Pickard, Garland O. Reitzel, Owen S. Robertson, Clarence P. HinshawThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 11, 1940, p. 1
2. October 16, 1940 Orange County men register for the first peacetime draft On October 16 men aged 21 through 35 registered under the selective service law, with election officials and unpaid volunteers as registrars. In Chapel Hill 1,868 signed up: 966 University students at Woollen Gymnasium, 331 at the Town Hall, 203 at the elementary school and 368 at the Black Elks Lodge; Carrboro counted 275, and the south end of the county under C. P. Hinshaw 2,287. More than 3,800 registered across the county, about 3,000 of whom belonged to Orange. People: Francis Foster Bradshaw, Clarence P. Hinshaw, Kenneth JonesThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 18, 1940, p. 1
3. by November 1, 1940 The draft lottery puts a Carrboro man first on Orange County's order list After the national drawing in Washington, the Orange County board's order list of 3,067 registrants began with serial number 158, Ezekiel Otway (Bill) Hardee of Carrboro; number 3 was Garfield Watson, a Black man of Efland, and the first Chapel Hill man, at number 4, was Eaton Thomas Vickers of the A. & P. meat counter. The board began mailing questionnaires in batches of 50 and called for volunteer typists. People: Clarence PickardThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 1, 1940, p. 1
4. by November 22, 1940 Nine volunteers fill Orange County's draft quota for 1940 Nine Orange County men, six white and three Black, volunteered for military service after the draft registration, more than filling the county's 1940 call for two white men on December 10 and one Black man on December 13. James Lee Andrews of Hillsboro was the first registrant to volunteer; the county owed 136 men in the draft's first year. People: Owen S. RobertsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 22, 1940, p. 1
5. by November 8, 1940 The Orange County draft board names an advisory board to help registrants with questionnaires With the order list from Washington in hand, the county draft board named an advisory board, chaired by A. H. Graham of Hillsboro, with members in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsboro, to help registrants fill out the eight-page classification questionnaires. The board began mailing the questionnaires from its Hillsboro office in batches of fifty, with volunteers helping its clerk. People: Alexander H. "Sandy" Graham, Clarence Pickard, Garland O. Reitzel, Owen S. Robertson, Paul H. RobertsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 8, 1940, p. 1
6. December 10-13, 1940 Orange County sends three volunteers to Fort Bragg under the new draft James Lee Andrews of Hillsboro, Cecil Cabot Lloyd of University Station and Edward Day, a Black man from near Efland, went to Fort Bragg, the men the Weekly called Orange County's first soldiers in the new draft. More volunteers followed, among them five Black men from Chapel Hill and Cedar Grove, and the board had 28 white and 19 Black men classed as ready for service. People: Owen S. RobertsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1940, p. 1
7. April 10, 1941 Orange County draft board reports 62 men sent into the Army since October The county draft board, Owen S. Robertson, Clarence Pickard, and G. O. Reitzel, reported that 62 Orange County men had entered the Army through selective service and 15 more had been rejected after reaching camp; of the 77, 61 were white and 16 Black, and 32 were volunteers, 14 of them Black. A contingent of 14, four of them from Chapel Hill, left Hillsboro that day for Fort Bragg, and the board had mailed about 900 questionnaires. People: Mildred Johnson, Clarence Pickard, Garland O. Reitzel, Owen S. RobertsonThe Chapel Hill Weekly, April 11, 1941, p. 1
8. July 1, 1941 Orange County registers 188 men in the second draft registration In the second registration under the Selective Service Act, for men who had turned 21 since October 16, 1940, 188 men registered in Orange County, 117 at Chapel Hill and 71 at Hillsboro, the county's only two registration places. Of these, 73 lived elsewhere, 65 of them University students whose cards went to their home boards, and Robert B. House Jr. was the first Chapel Hill man to sign.The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 4, 1941, p. 1
9. February 16, 1942 Third draft registration enrolls 2,075 men in Orange County In the third wartime draft registration on February 16, 2,075 men registered in Orange County, 1,168 of them at Chapel Hill, where about 720 University students swamped the Memorial hall station and more cards had to be rushed from Raleigh by bus. In the village 254 white men registered at the elementary school and the Town Hall and 194 Black men at O'Kelly's dry-cleaning place on West Franklin Street. People: Luther James Phipps, George H. LawrenceThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 20, 1942, p. 1
10. April 27, 1942 Orange County registers 1,889 men aged 45 to 65 for selective service In the draft registration of men between 45 and 65, 1,889 men registered in Orange County, 530 of them in Chapel Hill, where George Lawrence and L. J. Phipps ran the registration, and Dwight Ray conducted it at the Carrboro school. People: Luther James Phipps, Dwight RayThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 1, 1942, p. 1
11. June 30, 1942 Chapel Hill registers 577 men aged 18 to 20 for the draft In the draft registration of men from 18 through 20, 171 registered at the Town Hall for Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the countryside around them, under George Lawrence, and the rest of the 577 at Memorial Hall, where University students registered under W. D. Perry. The Weekly said Black registrants outnumbered white ones at the Town Hall, among them a group just released from the C.C.C. camp.The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 3, 1942, p. 1
12. by June 26, 1942 A draft medical examining board is set up in Chapel Hill At the request of Clarence Pickard of the Orange County draft board, state Selective Service headquarters authorized a medical examining board in Chapel Hill, so that men in the southern part of the county no longer had to travel to Hillsboro for their physical examinations. Seven physicians under Dr. Ed Hedgpeth, serving without pay, were to examine white and Black registrants on separate days each month at the University infirmary. People: W. Reece Berryhill, Clarence PickardThe Chapel Hill Weekly, June 26, 1942, p. 1