bigpigeon.us webpage WWII US > WWII Personnel > Service Numbers, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 2 Oct 2023.
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 for those living, are public information.
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 for those living, are public information.
During World War II, the Army, including the Army Air Force, was under the War Department, while the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard were under the Navy Department. During WWII:
- The Air Force, being part of the US Army branch of service, used the same service number system as the Army.
- The US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard service branches all used different service number systems.
Part 1 - US Army and Army Air Force Service Numbers
Military records often lack the hyphens that I use, both for enlisted and officer personnel service numbers.
US Army Enlistees before 1 Jul 1940:
Prior to 1 Jul 1940, an Army enlistee was assigned a seven-digit service number.
US Army Enlistees after 1 Jul 1940:
Starting 1 July 1940, an Army enlistee was assigned an eight-digit service number beginning with 1. The second digit was the Service Command number from the following list.
US Army Draftees:
Following enactment of the 16 September 1940 Selective Training and Service Act, 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.
The Army Service Commands:
After the German Blitzkrieg overran France in the late spring of 1940, the Roosevelt administration in Washington realized that the United States required a major military buildup. Among the changes preliminary to this buildup was the division of the United States into nine Army Service Commands thusly:
Notes:
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 Northern 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 digit 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).
Officer’s Service Numbers:
An Army/AAF officer’s service number consisted of 0 (zero) 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.
Service Number Prefaces:
Certain US Army members during WW II were assigned service number prefix letters, followed by six digits. I haven't been able to find an accurate and complete list of prefixes. These are the prefixes relevant to Pottawattamie area deaths:
Women's Army Corps:
Army Nurses:
All WWII army nurses were commissioned 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 behind 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.
==> Part 2 - US Navy Service and Serial Numbers
During WW II, US Navy enlisted men were assigned a service number of seven-digit service number, often hyphenated as xxx-xx-xx.
WWII era US Navy officers had a service number of no more than seven characters. Sometimes the letter O was prefixed.
US Army Enlistees before 1 Jul 1940:
Prior to 1 Jul 1940, an Army enlistee was assigned a seven-digit service number.
- Roster member 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.
US Army Enlistees after 1 Jul 1940:
Starting 1 July 1940, an Army enlistee was assigned an eight-digit service number beginning with 1. The second digit was the Service Command number from the following list.
- Roster member 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 16 September 1940 Selective Training and Service Act, 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.
- Roster member Walter Reinig, who was drafted from Harlan, Shelby County, Iowa in March 1941 and was killed at Anzio Beachhead in Italy in January 1944, had a service number of 37-035-972.
The Army Service Commands:
After the German Blitzkrieg overran France in the late spring of 1940, the Roosevelt administration in Washington realized that the United States required a major military buildup. Among the 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
- Iowa was in the 7th Service Command, which was headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
- Although Alaska Territory appears on the above list, Hawaii Territory is strangely missing.
Notes:
- In late 1942, enlistment into any branch of the US Armed Forces was suspended, except in special cases. Subsequent inductees were drafted and then assigned to a military branch. Thus, if your family member served in the US Army or Army Air Force during WWII and had a serial number beginning with 1, meaning he enlisted, he probably joined before late 1942.
- To confuse matters further, draft records and enlistment records are sometimes lumped together.
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 Northern 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.
- Roster member 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. Earl's 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 digit 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).
Officer’s Service Numbers:
An Army/AAF officer’s service number consisted of 0 (zero) 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, a future senator from Hawaii, was assigned a service number of 30-106-416. After Inouye received his battlefield commission in the Vosges Mountains in France in 1944, his service number became 0-1-998-638.
Service Number Prefaces:
Certain US Army members during WW II were assigned service number prefix letters, followed by six digits. I haven't been able to find an accurate and complete list of prefixes. These are the prefixes relevant to Pottawattamie area deaths:
- A: Women's Army Corps enlisted.
- L: Women's Army Corps officers.
- N: female nurse officers.
- O: Army officers; changed to 0 (zero) in 1942. I will use zero throughout for Army & Army Air Force officers.
- T: flight officers appointed from an enlisted status.
Women's Army Corps:
- Margaret F. Olesen of Avoca, IA enlisted as a private in 1943 with service number A-703-453 and died as a first lieutenant in 1947 with service number L-703-453.
Army Nurses:
All WWII army nurses were commissioned officers.
- Roster member Second Lieutenant Margorie G. Morrow of Audubon County, service number N-733-475, died during an accidental enemy bombing of an army hospital at the Anzio Beachhead in Italy.
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 behind 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.
- Roster member Flight Officer Clyde C. Finley Jr. of Missouri Valley, IA, service number T-004-898, was the co-pilot of a Curtis C-46 Commando that crashed on a flight from Kumning, China to Assam, India shortly after hostilities ended in 1945.
==> Part 2 - US Navy Service and Serial Numbers
During WW II, US Navy enlisted men were assigned a service number of seven-digit service number, often hyphenated as xxx-xx-xx.
WWII era US Navy officers had a service number of no more than seven characters. Sometimes the letter O was prefixed.
- Roster member Arnold J. Isbell was raised in Logan, Iowa, and remained on active duty from 1920 (his graduation from the US Naval Academy) to 1945 (his death on the USS Franklin). I have seen Captain Isbell's service number given as 56866, O-56866, and O-056866.
Part 3 - US Marine Corps Service Numbers
Most Marine Corps enlisted men were assigned a six-digit service number, which was sometimes called a serial number. I have read that starting in 1943, some seven digit numbers, starting with 1, were used; I have not seen examples.
Part 4 - US Coast Guard Service Numbers
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.
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 called 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 Big Pigeon's WWII US > WWII Personnel > 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.