The CenSoc WWII Army Enlistment Dataset is a cleaned and harmonized version of the National Archives and Records Administration’s Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (2002). It contains enlistment records for over 9 million men and women who served in the United States Army, including the Army Air Corps, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and Enlisted Reserve Corps. We publish links between men in the CenSoc WWII Army Enlistment Dataset, Social Security Administration mortality data, and the 1940 Census. The CenSoc Enlistment-Census-1940 file links these enlistment records to the complete 1940 Census, and may be merged with IPUMS-USA census data using the HISTID identifier variable. The CenSoc Enlistment-Numident file links enlistment records to the Berkley Unified Numident Mortality Database (BUNMD), and the CenSoc Enlistment-DMF file links enlistment records to the Social Security Death Master File. For enlistment records in the Enlistment-Numident and Enlistment-DMF datasets that have been independently and additionally linked to the 1940 Census, we include the HISTID identifier variable that can be used to merge the data with IPUMS census data.

We investigated fitness, military rank and survival of facial phenotypes in large scale warfare using 795 Finnish soldiers who fought in the Winter War (1939-40). We measured bizygomatic facial width vs. height - a trait known to predict aggressive behaviour in males - and assessed whether facial morphology could predict survival, lifetime reproductive success (LRS) and social status. We found no difference in survival along the phenotypic gradient, however, wider-faced individuals had greater LRS, but achieved a lower military rank.