The Number of Troops Georgia Sent to Fight in WWII

Before formally entering World War II in December 1941, the United States established itself as “the arsenal of democracy,” supplying overseas allies with weapons to confront the fascist threat posed by the Axis powers. By war’s end, the U.S. not only produced nearly two-thirds of Allied military equipment, but it also mobilized over 16.3 million troops – more than any other Allied country except the Soviet Union.

In 1945, the final year of WWII, an estimated 12.2 million Americans served in the military, up from only about 334,500 in 1939, the year the war began with Germany’s invasion of Poland. The mass military mobilization – including both draftees and volunteers – was the largest in U.S. history and drew thousands of men and women from all 48 states, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, neither of which had been granted statehood at the time of the war.

About 229,174 Americans residing in Georgia enlisted to fight in World War II, the 11th most among states, according to Army and Army Air Forces enlistment records from The National Archives, adjusted to account for reporting gaps.

Against a population of 3,123,723 at the time, according to records from the 1940 census, this means that about 7.3% of Georgia’s entire population enlisted during WWII, the 20th largest share among states.

All state-level enlistment data is from The National Archives. State residents who enlisted in the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps were not considered. About 13% of records could not be scanned and are missing from the database. To account for this shortfall, we added 13% to the number of each state’s reported enlistees to calculate our final estimates.

RankStateEst. Army enlistment in WWIIShare of 1940 pop. who enlisted (%)Total casualties from state
1New York1,052,2687.831,215
2Pennsylvania583,1325.926,554
3California579,0528.417,022
4Ohio492,7357.116,828
5Texas452,1597.015,764
6Massachusetts342,4017.910,033
7New Jersey324,9567.810,372
8Illinois304,3033.918,601
9North Carolina261,6137.37,109
10Tennessee238,0398.26,528
11Georgia229,1747.35,701
12Indiana222,4366.58,131
13Alabama209,2617.45,114
14Missouri206,2525.48,003
15Michigan180,1393.412,885
16Kentucky174,6126.16,802
17Mississippi168,7447.73,555
18Connecticut163,4629.64,347
19Oklahoma154,4116.65,474
20Virginia153,0895.76,007
21Wisconsin152,4984.97,038
22Florida144,8397.63,540
23South Carolina129,7886.83,423
24West Virginia125,5516.64,865
25Washington124,9957.23,941
26Iowa109,5914.35,633
27Louisiana107,0994.53,964
28Maryland95,4695.24,375
29Minnesota92,9903.36,462
30Oregon84,5657.82,835
31Arkansas83,3794.33,814
32Maine72,3618.52,156
33Kansas70,8973.94,526
34Rhode Island64,2569.01,669
35Colorado51,5094.62,697
36Utah46,2058.41,450
37Montana43,8447.81,553
38New Hampshire41,7528.51,203
39Idaho41,1527.81,419
40Nebraska40,5533.12,976
41New Mexico39,0057.32,032
42Arizona34,3996.91,613
43Vermont27,1447.6874
44North Dakota20,6353.21,626
45South Dakota20,5983.21,426
46Delaware20,1547.6579
47Hawaii15,9653.8689
48Nevada11,78410.7349
49Wyoming11,3424.5652
50Alaska2,0682.991

Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square

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