ABSTRACT
An unwillingness to join the army certainly extended beyond men who held moral or political qualms, but such resistance was rarely voiced at exemption hearings in the division. In fact, it was the voluntary system that allowed individuals to postpone a decision on whether they were willing and able to perform military service. Produced by the Defence Department after the war, reservists resource gives details on every balloted European man, including the outcome of any appeal. To determine what the figure of 32,445 appellants includes, each reservist was categorised according to his final medical classification and whether the final outcome of his appeal was a verdict or withdrawal. The actual rate was much lower. Of 134,632 European men, 43,544 or 32.34 percent became appellants, which, when expressed as a proportion of the eligible male population, equates to 17.77 percent.
