In this article I am looking into the Immigrant Status of the Swedish born soldiers who were drafted to the US Army before it’s entrance in the Great War and the advance towards Europe, with the American Expeditionary Force.(AEF)
In this case the delimitation is that I have looked into the registration cards of those who served and fell for the AEF in the Great War.
Introduction
I have found it very interesting to read about the different levels of Immigrant status and the meaning of them.
In this quite small and basic study I have used the Registration cards the soldiers filled in during the three differents draft periods.
First Registration (June 5, 1917): Covered men aged 21 through 30 (born between June 6, 1886, and June 5, 1896).
Second Registration (June 5, 1918 and August 24, 1918): Covered men who had turned 21 since the first registration on June 5, 1917. A supplemental registration on August 24, 1918, added those who turned 21 after June 5, 1918.
Third Registration (September 12, 1918): Expanded the age range significantly to include all men aged 18 through 45 (born between September 11, 1872, and September 12, 1900).
The majority of the Swedes in this study were drafted in the first registration, on June the 5th, 1917.
Below an example of the registration card of the Swedish soldier John A Carlson, who were an “Alien” at the time, and also claimed exemption from draft, with the reason that he was an “alien”, on of the four options you had to fill in on your registration card, regarding you citizen status. I will come back to the different citizen statuses later in the article.
The different immigrant statuses
Declarant Aliens vs. Non-Declarant Aliens (Draft Classifications)
For the purposes of military conscription under the Selective Service Act of 1917, the U.S. divided all non-enemy immigrants into two critical legal pathways:
- Declarant Aliens: Immigrants who had formally filed their “first papers” (a Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen). The U.S. government viewed them as future citizens and subjected them to the draft just like natural-born Americans.
- Non-Declarant Aliens: Immigrants who had not yet initiated the naturalization process. They had to register for the draft but could apply for relief from military service, though doing so carried heavy social and future legal consequences.
The other two options on the registration card were:
- Natural Born Citizen, meaning that you were born in the US.
- A naturalized citizen, meaning that you have passed all the stages to become a citizen in the US.
An enemy alien was any non-naturalized resident, native, citizen, or subject of a country at war with the U.S. (primarily Germany and its allies like Austria-Hungary), who held allegiance to that hostile nation.
Before the War
Before World War I and the introduction of the military draft, the standard naturalization process was regulated by the Naturalization Act of 1906.
- Five Years Residence: Applicants had to reside continuously in the United States for at least five years.
- Declaration of Intention (“First Papers”): Applicants went to a court of record to file a sworn statement declaring their bonafide intention to become a U.S. citizen and renounce foreign allegiance. This could be done as soon as they arrived or after a short initial period.
- Petition for Citizenship: Between two and seven years after filing the declaration, the applicant filed a formal petition with the court.
- Witness Testimony: The applicant had to provide the personal testimony of at least two credible U.S. citizen witnesses who could swear to the applicant’s residency and good moral character.
- Exams and Hearing: Applicants had to undergo a formal investigation and court hearing, prove they could speak English, and pass basic tests on U.S. history and civics.
During the War
During World War I, foreign-born members of the U.S. armed forces could use an expedited one-day process to become naturalized citizens under the Alien Naturalization Act of May 9, 1918.
The Expedited WWI Military Steps
Unlike the standard peacetime rules requiring five years of residency and extensive exams, the wartime process for enlisted service members involved simplified steps:
- Proof of Enlistment: Provide official proof of active service in the U.S. armed forces.
- Witness Testimony: Secure the oral testimony of two credible civilian or military witnesses who could verify the soldier’s identity and service.
- Petition for Citizenship: File a direct petition for naturalization at a local court, federal court, or through temporary examiners dispatched directly to military bases.
- Oath of Allegiance: Immediately take the formal oath of allegiance to the United States.
- Certificate Issuance: Receive the Certificate of Naturalization on the same day, completing the process in as little as 24 hours.
Requirements Waived During WWI
To fast-track citizenship before troops shipped overseas, the 1918 law exempted soldiers from:
- The standard 5-year U.S. residency requirement.
- Filing a preliminary Declaration of Intention (“first papers”).
- Demonstrating the ability to speak English.
- Passing history and civics examinations.
Method & Result
I have manually read through all the registration cards of those 389 Swedish born soldiers who served and fell for the AEF during the Great War, and noted the result into my database. These individuals are the present number of individuals in my database.
In this first step I have only compared the amount of the differents citizen statuses and connected them to if they had any reasons for exemptions filled in, in their registration card.
I will later continue to compare other values such as where they were born in Sweden, when they emigrated, where they lived in their new country, and if they did any Swedish military Service.
The result as follows:
The figures above are based on what they wrote on the cards at the specific moment. Some of the individuals who wrote that they were “Aliens” later declared intention, just before they went over to France.
- 281 individuals (89 Aliens + 192 Declarants) of those 389, were not citizens of the United States when they fell in the Great War. Although, the Declarants were subject to Military Draft.
- 95 individuals were Naturalized Citizens of the United States when they fell in the Great War.
- 13 Unknown status, as I haven’t been able to find their registration cards
What choice did they have?
Rules for Declarants and Aliens (World War 1 Centennial Commission)
- Declarants: Immigrants who filed their first papers (declaration of intention) were treated similarly to U.S. citizens under the Selective Service Act of 1917 and were eligible for military service.
- Non-declarants: Resident aliens who had not declared their intention to become citizens were initially exempt from the draft, though they had to formally claim their exemption. Claiming exemption as an alien, however, permanently barred them from ever becoming U.S. citizens.
Exemptions
The 89 Aliens in the study above were not forced to participate in the War, but it is clear that they did.
- 10 of the 89 Aliens above claimed exemptions to be drafted. The reason for why they ended up to serve anyway, is not known.
- 19 of the 192 Declarants above claimed exemptions to be drafted.
- 11 of the 95 Naturalized above claimed exemptions to be drafted.
- 40 of the total 389 individuals claimed exemptions.
The reasons were mostly connected to support of the family or their parents, in the US or in Sweden.
Some of them stated the reason to be that they were Aliens, and not obliged to participate.
Discussion
In my earlier article about Swedish Immigrants in the Great War I have looked into reasons and motivation of the Swedish immigrants. The majority of the Swedish immigrants had a positive attitude to participate in the war for their new country, although the reasons varies from a wide range of options, such a strive for adventure, unemployment, what does the new community think, and commitment to a loyal attitude to do good things against the bad things, as maybe a genetic thing that they brought over from their old country, Sweden.
I find it interesting to see that those individuals who claimed exemptions ended up in the war anyway. It would be very interesting to find more information about the process of how they sorted out individuals who claimed exemption, and the reasons for it. The link below will take you to a webpage where you can read more about the boards which were setup to clear out the conditions for those who claimed exemption.
Link to Conscientious Objectors
There are other content which discuss if the Swedes knew that they could have claimed exemptions as aliens, such in the case below about Fred G Ekstrom (Fredrik Gustav Arvid Ekström) from Ramkvilla, Småland, Sweden, now buried at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery.
I hope this small study gave you a first insight about the Immigrant status of the Swedes who fought and fell for AEF in the Great War, and what those different statuses meant for the American Draft to the war.
A much larger project is to compare this to all the registration cards of the Swedes, of those who survived the war, and of those who never had to serve in Europe. One day I may look into that as well.
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