Big Boys Hobbies

WWI Exempt Button

MTJosh

MTJosh

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
711
Location
Mesa, AZ & Deer Lodge, MT
Hit the old site in the forest the other evening. Not many targets left.
Found this Exempt US button. Research shows it was issued during WW1 for men to have so the general public didn't think they were draft dodgers. This area is a mining district so many men were exempt to stay and work in the mines. I read somewhere that 1 out of 4 bullets fired by the allies in WWI had Butte copper in it.
More fun history. Great time out in the forest too. Saw deer and elk.
 

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Thank you Josh. Now the U.S. History teacher in me has a few more bits of information to share during the WWI unit:D
 
Wow! What a find Josh. The home front, the support that was needed is often overlooked. On the lighter side would like to find a pin that said I burned my draft card or I didn't inhale.:laughing: Good luck. Mark
 
Great find and great history. Thanks for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Silverhorse65 said:
Thank you Josh. Now the U.S. History teacher in me has a few more bits of information to share during the WWI unit:D
Click to expand...

Cool a history teacher. You have my respect and thank you for the minds you have enlightened. In my troubled youth it was a history teacher who took up the search for me when at 15 when I ran away. He was a Korean war vet and many of his classes had to do with duty, honor of all those who had served and sacrificed. Not surprising At 16 the Navy turned me down but a week or so after my 17th the Army said come on in. At that time people were burning draft cards and protesting the war.
History, my all time favorite, was a guy name Teddy Roosevelt. Just an outstanding guy, President, his accomplishments would fascinate any hungry young mind. Good luck. Mark
 
markinswpa said:
Cool a history teacher. You have my respect and thank you for the minds you have enlightened. In my troubled youth it was a history teacher who took up the search for me when at 15 when I ran away. He was a Korean war vet and many of his classes had to do with duty, honor of all those who had served and sacrificed. Not surprising At 16 the Navy turned me down but a week or so after my 17th the Army said come on in. At that time people were burning draft cards and protesting the war.
History, my all time favorite, was a guy name Teddy Roosevelt. Just an outstanding guy, President, his accomplishments would fascinate any hungry young mind. Good luck. Mark
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that Mark. I happen to teach history at Theodore Roosevelt H.S. in Des Moines, Iowa. Of course, this means I've got plenty of Teddy stories to share with the students:D
 
Nice find, Josh, and some cool history! I seem to remember reading an archive about two guys from MT that were charged with sedition for opposing WWI. The authorities were about to go heavy handed on them, but after some jail time, they were released. If I remember correctly they thought if they used capital punishment against them, it would attract more to the cause and hinder the war effort. I think one guy was from the Roundup area.
 
Silverhorse65 said:
Funny you mention that Mark. I happen to teach history at Theodore Roosevelt H.S. in Des Moines, Iowa. Of course, this means I've got plenty of Teddy stories to share with the students:D
Click to expand...

Teddy was quite the man. It just so happens my grandfather's brother was the cook at Teddy Roosevelt's hunting camp in MT. I still have his chap's and Winchester rifle. And that is an awesome find.

Steve
 

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Thanks everyone. I like the history research on every old relic. I like finding something like this better than a rosie any day. Guess these exempt buttons are rare. Millions of military buttons were made but not many of the exempt ones. I have never heard of such a thing until I found it. I knew people and reletives that were exempt during WWII. My one boss wanted to fight and was even a pilot but they kept him to stay as a skilled engineer. He worked on the P-51 design.

Fun WWI history in Butte, MT. Butte was mostly Irish. When WWI started the local Irish of course wanted germany to beat Britain. US Govt had to install a psuedo marshal law in the town to force the miners to mine the much needed copper for the war effort. US Army had soldiers walking the streets of uptown Butte. The person in charge was none other than Omar Bradley. This was when he was a junior officer before he became a general in WWII.
Another odd Irish story from Butte. I knew locals who bragged about their grandparents seding arms to Ireland to fight British. When a person died instead of sending the body back in a casket to buried in Ireland, they would fill the casket with guns/ammo to get by any inspectors. I told current generation this would be considered supporting terrorists today. But back then guess it was common to smuggle guns into Ireland.
Butte is still very Irish. Butte had more Irish than Boston until the 60's. My buddy named his dog Winston. His grandfather had a fit and said to never name anything after that English ?#%$.
 
Now that is history saved.

My father was exempt in WWII because he worked for the Army Airforce designing and testing 50 Cal machine guns for the B-17 & B-24. My uncle helped design the famous Norden bomb sight. He worked on the optics. Nobody knew of his work because it was highly classified even after WWII. Later in the 70's there was an article in the newspaper about his work. They were both working at Dayton, Ohio during the War.
 
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