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. 21st. 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 1st 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
