website bigpigeon.us, webpage WWII > Personnel > Service Numbers - © 2022 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated13 May 2022.
The United States armed forces introduced service numbers on February 28, 1918, and discontinued their use in 1974, switching to social security numbers. Service numbers, unlike social security numbers, are public information.
During World War II, the Army, including the Army Air Force, were under the War Department, while the Navy and Marine Corps were under the Navy Department. Thus, service numbers varied across branch of service.
==> Part 1 - US Army and Army Air Force Service Numbers
US Army Enlistees before 1 Jul 1940:
Prior to 1 Jul 1940, an Army enlistee was assigned a seven-digit service number. For instance, Robert Clark Pierce who joined the Army in 1933 from Council Bluffs and died in a Japanese prison camp in 1942 had the serial number 6-825-221.
The Army Service Commands:
After the German Blitzkrieg overran France in the late spring of 1940, it became apparent to the Roosevelt administration that the United States would soon experience a major military buildup. Among the 1940 changes preliminary to this buildup was the division of the United States into nine Army Service Commands thusly:
Army Service Command Notes:
Iowa was in the 7th Service Command, which was headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
During WW II, the service command number was used as the second digit in the eight-digit service number assigned to both enlistees and draftees.
Although the Territory of Alaska appears on the above list, the Territory of Hawaii is missing.
US Army Enlistees after 1 Jul 1940:
An enlistee after 1 July 1940 was assigned an eight-digit service number beginning with 1. The second digit was the Service Command number from the above list.
US Army Draftees:
Following enactment of the 1940 Selective Training and Service Act on 16 September 1940, the Army instituted a draft beginning in October 1940. A draftee’s eight-digit service number started with 3, with the second digit being the draftee’s Service Command number.
In late 1942, enlistment into any branch of the US Armed Forces was suspended, except in special cases – subsequent inductees were drafted. Thus, if your family member served in the US Army or Air Force during WWII with a serial number beginning with 1, he probably joined before late 1942.
National Guard:
After 1 July 1940, National Guard members from the various states were assigned eight-digit service numbers that began with 20 followed by the guardsman’s Service Command number as the third digit.
The National Guard entered Federal service in early 1941 and in early 1942 advance elements were sent to North Ireland and to New Caledonia and other locations in the South Pacific. In mid-1942, the 34th Infantry Division in Northern Ireland, which included the Iowa National Guard, provided half the members of the 1st Ranger Battalion, sometimes called Darby’s Rangers. Darby’s Rangers later provided cadre for other Ranger battalions.
Enlisted men from outlying territories:
The 30 code was reserved for those who had been drafted from outside the United States with the third number following the "30" determining the extra-US draft location. The extra-US draft codes which were established were 30 1 (Hawaii), 30 2 (Panama), 30 3 (the Philippines), and 30 4 (Puerto Rico). 30 was also used for enlistees from outside the United States, such as Daniel Inouye (see below).
Serial Number Prefaces:
Certain US Army members during WW II were assigned service number prefixes as listed below:
Flight Officers:
A flight officer, like a warrant officer, was intermediate in rank between an enlisted man and a commissioned officer. Bureaucracy, which restricted the number of commissioned officers, was one of the motivators behing the flight officer rank. Flight officers assumed flight crew duties, including piloting single-crew aircraft and co-piloting multi-crew aircraft. These duties were ordinarily performed by a commissioned officer.
Officer’s Serial Numbers:
An Army/AAF officer’s serial number consisted of O followed by six or seven digits.
An enlisted man who became an officer was released from service as an enlisted man, reentered service as a Second Lieutenant, and received a new service number, generally – maybe always – with seven digits.
==> Part 2 - US Navy and US Marine Corps Service Numbers
During WW II, US Navy enlisted men were assigned a service number of seven digits, often hyphenated as xxx-xx-xx.
Marine Corps enlisted men were assigned a six-digit service number until 1943, and thereafter a seven-digit number beginning with 1.
Officer service numbers were assigned in a manner like that used by the US Army.
Appendix – The World War II Draft System.
The Selective Service Administration supervised the WWII draft system. Under this system, the United States was divided into 6,443 districts, each under the supervision of an appointed draft board.
The WWII manpower pipeline was kept full by a series of draft registrations, as detailed below.
Sources for the WWII Service Numbers webpage:
During World War II, the Army, including the Army Air Force, were under the War Department, while the Navy and Marine Corps were under the Navy Department. Thus, service numbers varied across branch of service.
==> Part 1 - US Army and Army Air Force Service Numbers
US Army Enlistees before 1 Jul 1940:
Prior to 1 Jul 1940, an Army enlistee was assigned a seven-digit service number. For instance, Robert Clark Pierce who joined the Army in 1933 from Council Bluffs and died in a Japanese prison camp in 1942 had the serial number 6-825-221.
The Army Service Commands:
After the German Blitzkrieg overran France in the late spring of 1940, it became apparent to the Roosevelt administration that the United States would soon experience a major military buildup. Among the 1940 changes preliminary to this buildup was the division of the United States into nine Army Service Commands thusly:
- Connecticut Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
- Delaware, New Jersey, New York
- Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia
- Alabama, Florida, Georgia Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
- Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia
- Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
- Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
- Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
- Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington
Army Service Command Notes:
Iowa was in the 7th Service Command, which was headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
During WW II, the service command number was used as the second digit in the eight-digit service number assigned to both enlistees and draftees.
Although the Territory of Alaska appears on the above list, the Territory of Hawaii is missing.
US Army Enlistees after 1 Jul 1940:
An enlistee after 1 July 1940 was assigned an eight-digit service number beginning with 1. The second digit was the Service Command number from the above list.
- Glen Bostedt of rural Council Bluffs who enlisted on 12 Sep 1940 and died with his brothers in a Japanese prison camp in 1942 had the service number of 17-011-361.
US Army Draftees:
Following enactment of the 1940 Selective Training and Service Act on 16 September 1940, the Army instituted a draft beginning in October 1940. A draftee’s eight-digit service number started with 3, with the second digit being the draftee’s Service Command number.
- Walter Reinig, who was drafted from Harlan, Shelby County, Iowa in March 1941 and was killed on the Anzio Beachhead in Italy in January 1944, had a service number of 37-035-972.
In late 1942, enlistment into any branch of the US Armed Forces was suspended, except in special cases – subsequent inductees were drafted. Thus, if your family member served in the US Army or Air Force during WWII with a serial number beginning with 1, he probably joined before late 1942.
National Guard:
After 1 July 1940, National Guard members from the various states were assigned eight-digit service numbers that began with 20 followed by the guardsman’s Service Command number as the third digit.
The National Guard entered Federal service in early 1941 and in early 1942 advance elements were sent to North Ireland and to New Caledonia and other locations in the South Pacific. In mid-1942, the 34th Infantry Division in Northern Ireland, which included the Iowa National Guard, provided half the members of the 1st Ranger Battalion, sometimes called Darby’s Rangers. Darby’s Rangers later provided cadre for other Ranger battalions.
- Earl Card, an orphan raised by his grandparents in Avoca, Iowa, was first a member of the 168th Infantry Regiment of the Iowa National Guard, then the 1st Ranger Battalion, and finally the 4th Ranger Battalion until his death near Venafro, Italy on 12 Nov 1943. His service number was 20-706-381.
Enlisted men from outlying territories:
The 30 code was reserved for those who had been drafted from outside the United States with the third number following the "30" determining the extra-US draft location. The extra-US draft codes which were established were 30 1 (Hawaii), 30 2 (Panama), 30 3 (the Philippines), and 30 4 (Puerto Rico). 30 was also used for enlistees from outside the United States, such as Daniel Inouye (see below).
Serial Number Prefaces:
Certain US Army members during WW II were assigned service number prefixes as listed below:
- A: Used by female members of the Women Army Corps
- F: Used by field clerks during the First World War
- K: Used by female reserve and specialist officers with service numbers 100 001 and higher
- L: Used by enlisted members of the Women's Army Corps
- N: Used by female nurse officers
- O: Used by Regular Army officers
- R: Used by Army enlisted personnel with service #s from 1 to 5 999 999 upon reenlistment
- T: Used by flight officers appointed from an enlisted status
- V: Used by officers of the Women Army Corps
- W: Used by Regular Army Warrant Officers
Flight Officers:
A flight officer, like a warrant officer, was intermediate in rank between an enlisted man and a commissioned officer. Bureaucracy, which restricted the number of commissioned officers, was one of the motivators behing the flight officer rank. Flight officers assumed flight crew duties, including piloting single-crew aircraft and co-piloting multi-crew aircraft. These duties were ordinarily performed by a commissioned officer.
- Clyde C. Finley Jr. of Missouri Valley, IA, service number T-004898, was the co-pilot of a Curtis Commando C-46 that crashed on a flight from Kumning, China to Assam, India shortly after hostilities ended in 1945.
Officer’s Serial Numbers:
An Army/AAF officer’s serial number consisted of O followed by six or seven digits.
An enlisted man who became an officer was released from service as an enlisted man, reentered service as a Second Lieutenant, and received a new service number, generally – maybe always – with seven digits.
- In March 1943, the enlistee Daniel Inouye of Hawaii was assigned a service number of 30-106-416. When the future Senator Inouye received his battlefield commission in the Vosges Mountains in France in 1944, his service number became O-1998638.
==> Part 2 - US Navy and US Marine Corps Service Numbers
During WW II, US Navy enlisted men were assigned a service number of seven digits, often hyphenated as xxx-xx-xx.
Marine Corps enlisted men were assigned a six-digit service number until 1943, and thereafter a seven-digit number beginning with 1.
Officer service numbers were assigned in a manner like that used by the US Army.
Appendix – The World War II Draft System.
The Selective Service Administration supervised the WWII draft system. Under this system, the United States was divided into 6,443 districts, each under the supervision of an appointed draft board.
The WWII manpower pipeline was kept full by a series of draft registrations, as detailed below.
- First Registration October 16, 1940: males ages 21 to 35 "within the continental United States"
- Second Registration July 1, 1941: males "who had reached 21 since the first registration"
- Third Registration February 16, 1942: between the ages of 20 and 45 "who had not previously registered"
- Fourth Registration April 27, 1942: between the ages of 45 and 65 "not eligible for military service". No one in the fourth registration was pressed into service, .
- Fifth Registration June 30, 1942: between the ages of 18 and 20
- Sixth Registration December 10-31, 1942: "those who reached the age of 18 after November 12, 1942"
- Additional Registration between November 16 and December 31, 1943: "citizens living abroad between the ages of 18 and 45"
Sources for the WWII Service Numbers webpage:
- The webpage header photo shows the 7th Service Command headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. During WWII, the 7th Service Command performed numerous rear-echelon US Army tasks over a nine-state area including Iowa. Headquarters was in the 1933 art deco Federal Building at 15th and Dodge in Omaha, which still survives as a hotel. Since Iowa was in the 7th Service Command area, the second digit of my 1954 service number was 7. Enlistee numbers from the 7th Service Command started with 17, draftees with 37.