WWI on the Home Front

Raising Funds and Troops

When congressed passed the Selective Service Act, it changed my life forever. I was twenty-three at the time. The Selective Service Act of 1917 or the Selective Draft Act of 1917 required all men from the ages 21 to 30 to register for the draft, but was later changed to accept men from the ages 18 to 45 in 1918. About 2.8 million troops were drafter during The Great War and I was one of them. I had to go through all the training and boot camps to prepare for war, although I never did go overseas. Many of my friends they I had trained with went to Europe to fight in The Great War. They were called the American Expeditionary Forces. They fought along the sides of British and French soldiers in the last year of the war. The convoy system is how the supplies and soldiers were brought to Europe. Because of the Germans U-boats, the merchant ships could not safely cross the seas, so they form convoys with armed boats as escorts. A main way in which America raised money for the Great War was by encouraging citizens to buy war bonds. Bonds are when someone gives the government money and the government will pay you back when they can.