What was the process to join the army in WW2 England?
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In the early days of the war, it was possible to just try to join up. Thomas Firbank's memoir I bought a Star includes his experiences of joining the Coldstream Guards as an officer. This was definitely class-based; working-class men could not become officers until the War Office Selection Boards were created.
Once the arrangements had become systematic, the process was largely "wait to be called up" rather than being able to volunteer for service earlier. When you were called, there were individual interviews, and they tried to put men in branches that they had some interest and/or experience in.
My father, born in 1915, was definitely working-class. He'd qualified to enter university, but the family could not remotely afford to send him there, so he worked as an administrator for a local electricity supply company. His account of his call-up interview was that he wanted to be a motorcycle dispatch rider, but the recruiter, observing that he had imperfect sight and good grades in mathematics and physics, suggested being a radio operator instead, which he accepted. He was quite successful at that, being promoted to corporal after finishing the course and posted as an instructor for signals officers. He landed in Normandy on about D+15, and served out the war as a signaller at Second Army HQ. His twin brother became a PT instructor. Both did worthwhile service without ever being front-line soldiers.
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