Frank Murphy

“ In the light of the very clear purpose which Congress had in mind in adopting the Veterans' Preference Act, we are constrained to define the term 'ex-servicemen,' for the purposes of this particular statute, as relating only to those who performed military service on full-time active duty with military pay and allowances, thereby dislocating the fabric of their normal economic and social life. ”

“ Veterans' preference rights by their very nature do not accrue until one has become a veteran through separation from the armed forces. On June 27, 1944, when the Veterans' Preference Ac became law, neither of the respondents had as yet disenrolled from the Volunteer Port Security Force. In fact, respondent Hubickey had not even enrolled by that date. Thus they could not be classed as veterans or ex-servicemen, whatever definition be given those terms, on June 27, 1944, and they could not have earned any veterans' preference rights prior to that date. ”

“ The Veterans' Preference Act was enacted in 1944 to aid in the readjustment and rehabilitation of World War II veterans. It was felt that the problems of these returning veterans were particularly acute and merited special consideration. Their normal employment and mode of life had been seriously disrupted by their service in the armed forces and it was thought that they could not be expected to resume their regular activities without reemployment and rehabilitation aids. ”