WWI

[darkerhorse]

It appears that Italian aliens in the U.S. had to register with the military during WWI, but what was the policy about drafting them? What about WWII?

[MarcuccioV]

It appears that Italian aliens in the U.S. had to register with the military during WWI, but what was the policy about drafting them? What about WWII?

I can't answer the question directly, but my grandfather was naturalized in Battle Creek, MI (he lived in Detroit at the time) in April of 1918 -- he was in the US Army (based in SW MI) and departed from NYC to France as an Army Pvt in Jun 1918.

Whether he was drafted or not I don't know, nor whether he was still an alien when he entered the Army, or if his naturalization was a related act.

He returned from France in April 1919 and was honorably discharged as a PFC in either 1919 or 1920.

He DID have to register for WWII, but he was an American citizen then.