Denied Benefits, Forgotten Heroes: The Hidden Cost of WWII Blue Discharges

In previous blog posts and during events discussing the Virginia WWII Separation Notices collection, I’ve provided some background on the history of this collection and the 17 different forms used as official discharge notices for military separation during World War II. While the various types and styles of forms may not seem significant to most people, I find them interesting. I organize all the forms in our separation notices collection by type to facilitate accurate and efficient transcription by volunteers.

World War II is a highly researched subject, with many nonfiction and fiction books published on the topic every year. Movies and television shows continue to be produced based on new historical discoveries or untold individual stories related to the war. Given the extensive research on this topic and the fact that separation notices are official federal military records, I expected to find a complete list of all the discharge forms used during World War II. However, I was surprised to discover that there isn’t a comprehensive list of these discharge record types available on any official government website.

One of the only lists found online was for honorable discharges related to a veteran’s request to be buried in a national cemetery or receive memorial items.

Twelve of the 17 different forms in the Library’s WWII Separation Notices collection were created and used by the Army. Many of the forms were labeled with the type of discharge a veteran could receive: Honorable or Dishonorable.

The blue forms (WD AGO Form 53-56) caught my attention because they did not include any type of discharge in their title or a field for discharge type. Most of these blue separation notice forms utilized the same legal code for the “Reason and Authority for Separation.” The legal code AR 615-68 classified service members as “unfit” or labeled them as having “undesirable habits and traits of character.” These undesirable habits or traits would have included alcohol or drug addiction, chronic lying or absenteeism, and “homosexual behavior.” These blue discharges, named after the color of the paper they were printed on, were used to issue “Other Than Honorable” discharges to military service members, avoiding a more formal court-martial and a potential dishonorable discharge.

During World War II, approximately 50,000 blue discharges (also known as blue tickets) were issued. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community and African American men were particularly targeted. This “other than honorable” discharge resulted in the denial of various military benefits, including mustering out pay, health benefits, access to the G.I. Bill for further education, and the right to be buried in a national cemetery. Many veterans were unaware of the consequences when they accepted the blue discharge, perhaps eager to leave military service quickly or avoid a court-martial. A veteran with a blue discharge could also face discrimination in civilian life. If an employer discovered that a veteran had a blue discharge, they may have been less likely to hire them.

In 1947, Congress abolished the blue discharge and mandated a review of all previous blue discharges. However, this review was never conducted, and veterans who had been denied military benefits did not have them reinstated.

Several legal cases were brought forth concerning discharge statuses, with some veterans successfully upgrading their discharges to honorable. Unfortunately, information on how to upgrade discharge statuses was not readily accessible or well-known.

Many veterans contacted their local newspapers, inquiring about the meaning of a blue discharge and whether they could still receive G.I. Bill benefits. This issue continued into the late 1970s, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to establish phone lines to assist veterans and their next of kin in submitting applications to the Discharge Review Board. Despite the opportunities for discharge review provided by Congress and the Department of Defense, clear guidance on how and where to apply remained lacking.

Information on how to apply for a discharge upgrade is currently available for all veterans; however, it does not specifically mention the World War II blue forms or the different types of “Other than Honorable” discharges. This omission may be related to the fact that, of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, only about 66,000 veterans are still alive today.