IBM Employees Volunteer for Military Service
IBM Employees Answer the Call to Service
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Date Published: August 30, 2021
Date Modified: January 10, 2024 |
Twenty-Seven Percent of IBM Employees Hear the Call to Service
From IBM Annual Shareholders Report: April 25, 1944 - Status of IBM Military Men and Women in the Service of their Countries.
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"As of March 31 this year, we had 4,147 members of the United States and 152 members of the Canadian organization or a total of 4,299 in the Armed Forces of the United States and Canada.
"That represents 27 per cent of our men, and of these men 22 per cent have received commissions, which is a very high percentage. We have 54 women from IBM who are now in the service. We are proud of the record they have made. "Twenty-one of our men have given their lives in the service of their country and 13 are reported missing. I ask you to stand in silent tribute to the men who have made the supreme sacrifice." Thomas J. Watson Sr., IBM Annual Shareholders' Meeting, 1944
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Replica of the Letter Sent from Thomas J. Watson to IBM Employees Who Entered the Service of their Country
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As documented above, 4,299 IBMers from the United States and Canada left the service of their company and their customers to serve their country. This means that Tom Watson sent out over 4,000 letters similar to this one below that went out in 1944.
The name has been removed for reason of privacy. 
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This is a 1954 benefits document that provides: military leave of absence conditions, pay provided for pre-induction physical exam, military induction pay of two week's salary, IBM payments while in the service, and other items like life insurance, family hospitalization, and retention of seniority credit.
Each page can be viewed in turn. |