Veterans Day 2014

On this Veterans Day, let’s look at two pieces of Hugh Morton’s early military career: registration and enlistment through records from the National Archives located through a genealogical website.  Morton registered for the draft in Wilmington, N. C. at local board No. 2 on February 16, 1942:

Hugh MacRae Morton Draft registration card
Hugh MacRae Morton Draft registration card

Morton’s “Enlistment Date” in the United States Army is October 5, 1942. That information is captured in a database record without a digitized file card as above.  According to the database, Morton’s “Enlistment City” was Washington, and “Enlistment State” was District of Columbia. Though technically in his senior year at UNC, he listed his civil occupation as a photographer.
“Morton, Yackety Yack Head, Leaves Post for US Army” read a front-page Daily Tar Heel headline on September 23, 1942—the first issue for the school year.  The article notes that “Morton’s inability to return to the University is the first case of a student entering the army forces to hit Carolina publications.”  News of his decision had arrived on campus a few days before students started arriving for the new school year.  The article also noted that “Morton’s last batch of photographs, taken of the football team several weeks ago, arrived from Wilmington at the University News Bureau several days ago.”
On September 27th, another front-page headline: “Morton Back for Weekend; Photographs Game for DTH.”  This article stated Morton “was drafted by the Daily Tar Heel to take pictures of yesterday’s game.”  A “Photo by Hugh Morton” action shot from the Wake Forest vs. UNC contest, won by the Tar Heels 6-0, accompanied Sunday’s headline news story.  Come Tuesday, September 29th, Morton would be off to the army as a technical sergeant in the photography division.
Hugh Morton was in the Army now.

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