Our Fathers

I had often wondered over the years why some of our fathers were not fighting in the second world war. Why was my father, Jess Foust, Charles White and others sitting at home while others were dying "for their country". An interesting and sometimes humourous quote from a book by Rick Atkinson helps to clarify it.
"Physical standards remained fairly rigorous:soon enough, the day would come when new recruits claimed the Army no longer examined eyes, just counted them. A conscript had to stand at least five feet tall and widgh 105 pounds: possess twelve or more of his natural thirty-two teeth: and be free of flat feet, venereal disease, and hernias. More than forty of every hundred men were rejected, a grim testament to the toll taken on the nation's health by the Great Depression. Under the rules of conscription, the Army drafted no fathers, no felons, and no eighteen-year-olds: those standards, too would fall. Nearly two million menhadbeen rejected for psychiatric reasons, although screening sessions sometimes went no further than questions such as "do you like girls"? The rejection rate, one wit suggested, was high because "the Army doesn't want maladjsuted soldiers, at least below the rank of major.