Military Monday: Order to Report for Induction 1943

Editor's Note: this is another in a series of posts about re-creating my father's WWII military history.
The 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor is December 7, 2016.  That tragic event inspired this post - I wondered what my father was doing the year it happened and until he was drafted.

1941 was a notable year for my father, Robert M. Hibsch.  He graduated from Covina High School[1] in June and turned 18 years old on December 7th. Within five days, he likely registered for the draft.

And Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941.  Within days, Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan and Germany.  The United States had entered World War II.

Yep, quite a year.

Robert enrolled in the Chaffey College[2] Machine Shop program[3] after graduation.  I’m not sure where he worked in 1941 but in 1942 he worked for Thompson Products, Inc., in Bell[4].  He was a Machine Operator and operated a plane grinder, bench lathe, radiac saw, drill press and punch press.

During this time, he also looked after his grandmother, Ida May Brown Kendall, who was living at the family-built “shack” in Seal Beach, Orange, California.

Then on January 21, 1943 he received the proverbial letter from Uncle Sam.  It was titled “Order to Report for Induction”.  I’m fortunate to have his original letter which is shown below and transcribed.

                                 ______________________________________________

Prepare in Duplicate

Local Board No. 193       91                                                              Jan. 21^st. 1943

Los Angeles County        037,                 (Selective Service System seal)

Date stamped Jan 21, 1943  193

109 E. Main Street

Puente, California

(LOCAL BOARD DATE STAMP WITH CODE)

ORDER TO REPORT FOR INDUCTION

The President of the United States,

To Robert Martin Hibsch

Order No. 11927-V

Greeting:

    Having submitted yourself to a local board composed of your neighbors for the purpose of determining your availability for training and service in the armed forces of the United States, you are hereby notified that you have now been selected for training and service in the land or naval forces.

    You will, therefore, report to the local board named above at 109 E. Main St, Puente, Calif. at 7:30 a.m. on the 1^st day of February, 1943.

    This local board will furnish transportation to an induction station of the service for which you have been selected. You will there be examined, and, if excepted for training and service, you will then be inducted into the stated branch of the service.

    Persons reporting to the induction station in some instances may be rejected for physical or other reasons. It is well to keep this in mind in arranging your affairs, to prevent any undue hardship if you are rejected at the induction station. If you are employed, you should advise your employer of this notice and of the possibility that you may not be excepted at the induction station. Your employer can then be prepared to replace you if you are excepted, or to continue your employment if you are rejected.

    Willful failure to report promptly to this local board at the hour and on the day named in this notice is a violation of the Initial CAPS selective training and service act of 1940, as amended, and subjects the violator to fine and imprisonment.

    If you are so far removed from your own local board that reporting in compliance with this order will be a serious hardship and you desire to report to a local board in the area of which you are now located, go immediately to that local board and make written request for transfer of your delivery for induction, taking this order with you.

[Signed by] Member or clerk of the local board

[signature illegible]

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1942   16-18271-4

DSS Form 150

   (Revised 7-13-42)

___________________________________________________________

Sources

[1] Covina High School, Covina, Los Angeles, California

[2] Chaffey College is a community college in Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, California

[3] Army of the United States, Separation Qualification Record, Civilian Education, WD AGO Form 100, 1 Jul 1945

[4] In 1941, Thompson Products, Inc. in Bell, Los Angeles, California produced and sold aircraft engine bolts and miscellaneous engine and fuselage parts. Source:  Case 10383, National Labor Relations Board V. Thompson Products, Inc., Brief For The National Labor Relations Board (1943-06-12), page 2