Seeking WWII Army Processing Center near Brooklyn

Dear Ms. Moyes,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched online and located The Personnel of the Army of the United States: Information Regarding the Appointment, Enlistment, and Induction of Commissioned Officers, Army Nurses, Warrant Officers, Cadets, Officer Candidates and Enlisted Men, March 26, 1942 that provides some information about the various ways that a person could enter the military and the procedures used.  The main induction/recruiting station for New York City was at 39 Whitehall St. in Manhattan, and there was an Army recruiting substation in Brooklyn at 536 Post Office Building (see page 23). After the initial induction, the next step for new recruits was to be sent to a reception center. The nearest one to Brooklyn was Camp Upton. Where they went afterward for basic and technical training depended on the assignments they received at the reception center.

We searched the National Archives Catalog for 1940s records pertaining to “induction center,”, “reception center,” and “Camp Upton” with a number of results. Please note that not all these results will be responsive to your inquiry, as the term “reception center” was also used for other purposes, and Camp Upton had additional uses.  For more information about specific records, please email the reference unit listed in the Catalog description.

There may be additional records concerning this topic that are not part of the results from the searches.  Most World War II era military Army records are located at the National Archives at College Park. For textual records, please email archives2reference@nara.gov; for photographs, please email stillpix@nara.gov; and for motion pictures & audio records, please email mopix@nara.gov. Plus, there may be records specific to the New York area in the custody of the National Archives at New York City. The staff may be contacted via email at newyork.archives@nara.gov.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from these units. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

We also located these sources online that may be of interest.

• WWII INTRODUCTION TO THE U.S. ARMY 1944 INDUCTION OF SOLDIERS FILM Part 1 (YouTube)
• WWII INTRODUCTION TO THE U.S. ARMY 1944 INDUCTION OF SOLDIERS FILM Part 2 (YouTube)
• The history of military entrance processing (United States Military Entrance Processing Command)
• New York, NY Military Entrance Processing Station  (United States Military Entrance Processing Command)
• The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops (Center of Military History)
• The New York Times Complete World War II: The Coverage of the Entire Conflict
• CAMP UPTON TO EXPAND; Reception Center Facilities to Be Increased by 50 Per Cent (New York Times)
• Military Installations (World War II Lecture Institute): This is missing at least a few installations, but does covers many of the major camps and forts
• Camp Upton (Brookhaven National Laboratory)
• The History of Camp Upton, World War I through World War II (Amazon)
• Essential It's a Wonderful Life: A Scene-By-Scene Guide to the Classic Film  (Google Books)
• Reference to Camp Upton in “Verbal Behavior” (Google Books)
• CAMP UPTON: U. S. ARMY RECEPTION CENTER (Long Island During World War II)
• The Armorer: My Experiences as a Martin B-26 Marauder Ground Crewman In World War 2 (Google Books)
• Camp Upton Photograph Collection (Patchogue-Medford Library)

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!