There has never been a census of the pharmacists and pharmacy students who served in the military during World War II, although estimates of pharmacists and pharmacy students in the military range from 10,000 to 14,000 and higher.
The Pharmacists in World War II Database contains the names of pharmacists, pharmacy students, and those who returned from the military and attended pharmacy school on the GI Bill. The database was compiled from a number of primary and secondary sources. A number of individuals or their families supplied personal information in response to solicitations carried in various media. State, regional, and national journals of the war period frequently contained the names of individuals in the military and sometimes fragments of information about college attended, year of graduation, promotions, wounds, and deaths. Some publications published a list of names of men and women in the service without identifying the branch. Sometimes a similar or same name appeared in different states with no evidence that they referred to the same individual. A similar problem arose when an individual was identified in one place by initials and in another by a nick name or full name. Use of the information in the data base, however, is always accompanied by the caveat that there are possible errors.
Where known, the branch of service (Army, Navy, Army Air Forces, Marines, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine) and whether the individual was commissioned is included. The state of residence given by the source is also included. In the case of the national and regional journals this information was frequently not given and, therefore, is not included in the database. Where possible, information on the pharmacy school and year of graduation is listed. Also noted are those who were killed in action (KIA), died in the service (DIS), wounded in action (WIA), or prisoners of war (POW).
The database and its contents are copyrighted by Dennis B. Worthen (2004).
Individuals who wish to provide additional information about those listed in the database or to add names to the database are invited to contact Dennis Worthen at dbworthen@fuse.net.
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