Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 57 Part 2.djvu/351

 57 STAT.] EL SALVADOR-MILITARY SERVICE-APR. 3, MAY 14, 31, 1943 dent in the United States, of the Selective Training and Service Act of the United States of 1940. 540Stt. 885. My Government has studied with all attention the content of Your 302-315; Supp. II, Excellency's kind note, in which is detailed a proposed arrangement 5Ante, pp. 164, 391, which can solve completely the problem of transfers of nationals of our respective countries to the army of their own flag, in substitution for the service which they might render, or are already rendering, in the army of the country in which they reside; and I have received instructions from my Government to accept in all its parts the arrange- ment proposed in Your Excellency's kind note. The procedure suggested in the said note to which I refer rests on the following bases: "The Selective Training and Service Act of the United States of 1940 provides that, with certain exceptions, every male citizen of the United States and every other male domiciled in the United States, between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five, must be reg- istered. The Act provides, further, that, with certain exceptions, males registered between certain specified age limits, are subject to active military service in the armed forces of the United States. "The Government of the United States of America recognizes that from the point of view of the morale of the individuals men- tioned and the primordial military effort of the nations at war with the Axis powers, it would be desirable to permit certain nationals of the co-belligerent countries, who are now registered or who may be registered under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, to enlist in the armed forces of their own country, if they so desire. It will be recalled that during the World War the United States Government signed conventions with various associated powers on this subject. The United States Govern- ment believes, nevertheless, that under the present circumstances, the same purpose may now be attained by a(dliniiistrative action, thus avoiding the delays resulting from the signing and rattitica- tion of conventions. "The United States Government is prepared, consequently, to initiate a procedure to permit aliens who have registered under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, and who are nationals of co-belligerent countries and who have not declared their intention of becoming United States citizens, to choose to serve in the forces of their respective countries instead of serving in the forces of the United States, on any date anterior to their enrolment in the armed forces of the United States. The Government of the United States is also prepared to offer to nationals of co-belligerent countries, who have not declared their intention of becoming citizens of the United States and who are now serving in the armed forces of the United States, an opportunity to elect their transfer to the armed forces of their own country. The details of the arrangement are to be agreed upon directly between the War Department and the Selective 987

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