By . Paul Donnelley . American men have to register for the draft so if their country calls they can answer. There is, however, a limit to serving your country. A line that the Selective Service System seems to have overlooked by sending draft registration notices to 14,250 Pennsylvanian men born from 1893 to 1897. Failure to register is 'punishable by a fine and imprisonment' potential draft dodgers are warned. When puzzled family members began calling the agency realised its error. In this photo taken on Tuesday, July 8, 2014, Harold Weaver sits behind his wife, Martha, in their Nickleville, Pa, home. Martha holds a letter from the Selective Service for her late father, Fred Minnick, requiring him to register for the nation's military draft. The letter arrived too late for Minnick, who was born in 1894 and died on April 20, 1992. (AP Photo/The Derrick, Jerry Sowden) Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, revealed that he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a veteran of the First World War who was born in 1894 and died in 1995 at the age of 100. 'I said, "Jeez, what the hell is this about?" It said he was subject to heavy fines and imprisonment if he didn't sign up for the draft board,' he said. 'We were just totally dumbfounded.' Mr Huey tried calling the Selective Service but couldn't get through to a human being. That frustrated him even more because he wanted to make sure the agency knew that there had been a mistake. 'You just never know. You don't want to mess around with the federal government,' he said. The mistake, it turns out, originated with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the Selective Service. A clerk working with the state's database failed to select the century, producing records for males born between 1993 and 1997 — and for those born a century earlier, PennDOT spokesman Jan McKnight admitted yesterday. 'We made a mistake, a quite serious selection error,' Miss McNight said. The Selective Service did not initially catch the mistake because the state used a two-digit code to indicate year of birth, spokesman Pat Schuback said. The federal agency identified 27,218 records of men born in the 1800s, began mailing notices to them on June 30, and began receiving calls from family members on July 3. By that time, it had sent 14,250 notices in error. 'It's never happened before,' Schuback said. The men are almost certainly all dead, given that the youngest would be turning 117 this year. Families of those men who received the notices can simply ignore them, he said. Their files will be deactivated and they shouldn't receive additional communications from the Selective Service. The agency also posted a notice and an apology on its website. The state Transportation Department, meanwhile, said that it had taken steps to ensure its mistake won't be repeated. 'We're really sorry,' McNight said. 'We apologise.'
Selective Service System sent draft registration notices to Pennsylvanians born from 1893 to1897 .
Failure to register is 'punishable by a fine and imprisonment'
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation made error transferring 400,000 records.
By . Paul Donnelley . American men have to register for the draft so if their country calls they can answer. There is, however, a limit to serving your country. A line that the Selective Service System seems to have overlooked by sending draft registration notices to 14,250 Pennsylvanian men born from 1893 to 1897. Failure to register is 'punishable by a fine and imprisonment' potential draft dodgers are warned. When puzzled family members began calling the agency realised its error. In this photo taken on Tuesday, July 8, 2014, Harold Weaver sits behind his wife, Martha, in their Nickleville, Pa, home. Martha holds a letter from the Selective Service for her late father, Fred Minnick, requiring him to register for the nation's military draft. The letter arrived too late for Minnick, who was born in 1894 and died on April 20, 1992. (AP Photo/The Derrick, Jerry Sowden) Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, revealed that he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a veteran of the First World War who was born in 1894 and died in 1995 at the age of 100. 'I said, "Jeez, what the hell is this about?" It said he was subject to heavy fines and imprisonment if he didn't sign up for the draft board,' he said. 'We were just totally dumbfounded.' Mr Huey tried calling the Selective Service but couldn't get through to a human being. That frustrated him even more because he wanted to make sure the agency knew that there had been a mistake. 'You just never know. You don't want to mess around with the federal government,' he said. The mistake, it turns out, originated with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the Selective Service. A clerk working with the state's database failed to select the century, producing records for males born between 1993 and 1997 — and for those born a century earlier, PennDOT spokesman Jan McKnight admitted yesterday. 'We made a mistake, a quite serious selection error,' Miss McNight said. The Selective Service did not initially catch the mistake because the state used a two-digit code to indicate year of birth, spokesman Pat Schuback said. The federal agency identified 27,218 records of men born in the 1800s, began mailing notices to them on June 30, and began receiving calls from family members on July 3. By that time, it had sent 14,250 notices in error. 'It's never happened before,' Schuback said. The men are almost certainly all dead, given that the youngest would be turning 117 this year. Families of those men who received the notices can simply ignore them, he said. Their files will be deactivated and they shouldn't receive additional communications from the Selective Service. The agency also posted a notice and an apology on its website. The state Transportation Department, meanwhile, said that it had taken steps to ensure its mistake won't be repeated. 'We're really sorry,' McNight said. 'We apologise.'
sending draft registration notices to 14,250 Pennsylvanian men born from 1893 to 1897. Failure to register is 'punishable by a fine and Department of Transportation (PennDOT) during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the communications from the Selective Service. The