Research Starters: US Military by the Numbers

US Military Personnel (1939-1945)

Year	Army	Navy	Marines	Coast Guard	Total
1939	189,839	125,202	19,432		334,473
1940	269,023	160,997	28,345		458,365
1941	1,462,315	284,427	54,359		1,801,101
1942	3,075,608	640,570	142,613	56,716*	3,915,507
1943	6,994,472	1,741,750	308,523	151,167	9,195,912
1944	7,994,750	2,981,365	475,604	171,749	11,623,468
1945	8,267,958	3,380,817	474,680	85,783	12,209,238

*Coast Guard listed only as wartime strength

38.8% (6,332,000) of U.S. servicemen and all servicewomen were volunteers
61.2% (11,535,000) were draftees
Average duration of service: 33 months
Overseas service: 73% served overseas, with an average of 16 months abroad
Combat survivability (out of 1,000): 8.6 were killed in action, 3 died from other causes, and 17.7 received non-fatal combat wounds
Non-combat jobs: 38.8% of enlisted personnel had rear echelon assignments—administrative, support, or manual labor.
Average base pay: enlisted—$71.33 per month; officer—$203.50 per month

*Full Latino numbers are not known because Latinos, other than Puerto Ricans, did not serve in segregated units, like African Americans.

Women's Army Corps (WAC)	150,000
Navy’s Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES)	100,000
Coast Guard Women’s Reserves (SPARS)	10,000
Marine Corps Women’s Reserve	23,000
Army Nurse Corps	60,000
Navy Nurse Corps	14,000
Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)	1,074