The Prunepicker registered for the Draft (WW II) in Portland, Oregon.

I was researching on Ancestry.com the other day. They had listed some draft information since I was last on the site. There was the surprising information that I had registered for the draft in Portland. This was startling to me! I was born and raised in Pomona, California. Portland, Oregon is 990 mile north of Pomona! What was a 17 year old boy doing 990 miles from home registering for the draft? Let me explain. Here is the draft card information.

Notice that I weighed 190 pounds. Also that I had lied about my age. I was born in 1925 not 1924. I was hoping to be drafted. I was. I went in the Army on the 10th of April 1943. It took four months. I was drafted from Pomona. I had tried to enlist several times, since Pearl Harbor, but my Dad would not sign for me. He loved me and did not want to see me get hurt. I could not enlist without my Father's consent, but I could be drafted with out it.

I was working in in a plant in Emeryville, California. The city is adjacent to Oakland and Berkeley. I heard that there were good paying jobs in the shipyards located in the Portland, Oregon area. I went there and applied for work. My prospective employers must have wanted to see my draft card.

So that is why I was in Portland on 12 Dec 1942. Do you know where you were on 12 Dec 1942?