Complete text of "Thomas A. Scott"

Reprinted from The Homefront: America during World War II.

Published in 1984.

"One of our responsibilities as an air raid warden was to make sure everybody had their lights turned out at night and that people weren't wandering around without any place to go."

Thomas A. Scott, a young American stockbroker, was eager to serve his country in the military during World War II (1939–45). However, after a required physical examination, he received the classification of 4-F. Doctors usually gave the 4-F classification to people who had a medical condition or physical disability that would make it difficult for them to perform military duties. In Scott's case, he had a circulatory blood flow problem in his legs. Anyone with this classification would...