Editing Gene Kelly (section)

==== Military service ====
Kelly was deferred from the [[Conscription in the United States|draft]] in 1940<ref name=":1" /> by the U.S. [[Selective Service System]] at the request of his employers, but was classified 1-A, eligible for induction, in October 1944 after an appeal to President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] by the head of the Selective Service in New York City.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 15, 1944 |title=Gene Kelly 1-A |page=2 |work=The Greenville News |agency=International News Service |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110322272/gene-kelly-1-a/ |access-date=September 27, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927235927/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110322272/gene-kelly-1-a/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Roosevelt personally upheld the appeal.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |title=Gene Kelly Made 1A on President's Order |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110322865/gene-kelly-made-1a-on-presidents-order/ |access-date=September 28, 2022 |work=Star Tribune |agency=United Press |date=October 14, 1944 |pages=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=September 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928000535/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110322865/gene-kelly-made-1a-on-presidents-order/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In November 1944, he was inducted into the armed forces, and at his request he was assigned to the U.S. Navy.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 21, 1944 |title=Gene Kelly Is Inducted |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/11/21/archives/gene-kelly-is-inducted.html |access-date=September 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927233821/https://www.nytimes.com/1944/11/21/archives/gene-kelly-is-inducted.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=November 16, 1944 |title=Gene Kelly Drafted |pages=11 |work=The Tennessean |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110321872/gene-kelly-drafted/ |access-date=September 27, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927234751/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110321872/gene-kelly-drafted/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He served in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Naval Air Service]] and was commissioned as [[lieutenant, junior grade]]. He was stationed in the Photographic Section, Washington, D.C., where he helped write and direct a range of documentaries – this stimulated his interest in the production side of filmmaking.<ref name="Hirschhorn" /><ref>According to Blair, p. 111, he directed [[Jocelyn Brando]] in a semidocumentary about war-wounded veterans.</ref> He was discharged in 1946.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 5, 1946 |title=Gene Kelly Makes It Clear He's a Serious Young Fellow |pages=27 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110408514/gene-kelly-makes-it-clear-hes-a/ |access-date=September 29, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=September 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929163317/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110408514/gene-kelly-makes-it-clear-hes-a/ |url-status=live }}</ref>