This List of World War II military service football teams includes all those top-level American football teams consisting of active duty military personnel of the United States Armed Forces that played against College football, collegiate or National Football League, professional opponents during the seasons of 1942 college football season, 1942, 1943 college football season, 1943, 1944 college football season, 1944, or 1945 college football season, 1945.

Background

During the years of World War II the American military saw a rapid expansion of its system of military bases as the number of young men skyrocketed through Military service, enlistment and conscription. Many of these included former collegiate and professional stars of the football gridiron. Some 19 active or former players of the National Football League would ultimately die in the American war effort, in addition to an uncounted number of former collegians. Early in the war effort one football writer said about the applicability of the formation of football teams with military training:

Football is a body-toughener. Football lights the fighting spark in fighting men. It develops aggressiveness, teamwork, stamina, physical and mental coordination under active stress, and therefore it holds a foremost place in our national wartime training program. Teams by the hundreds are in formation at various Army camps and posts and Navy bases. The greatest participation in the history of the sport will be entered in the records of 1942.Eddie Dooley, "The Service Teams," ''1942 Football Illustrated Annual.'' New York: Fiction House, Inc., 1942; page 21.

Beginning in the fall of 1942, the United States Department of War, War Department began to promote organized football exhibitions involving select teams from its military bases that played full schedules against the depleted squads of regional universities.Jack Byrne, "The Service Teams USA," ''1943 Football Illustrated Annual.'' New York: Fiction House, Inc., 1943; pg. 16. These elite teams are included in the following list. These were further distilled into military All-Star Teams which played against collegiate and professional opponents. In 1942, the U.S. Army named two "All-Army teams" of approximately 60 players per unit, located in the East and West.Dooley, "The Service Teams," pg. 22. These were informally known as the "Million Dollar teams" — their purpose being to raise upwards of $1 million for the Army Emergency Relief fund through a series of exhibition clashes with the professional teams of the National Football League. The Eastern Army All-Star team was led by Lt. Col. Robert R. Neyland, and played September 1942 games against the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL), Brooklyn Dodgers, and Chicago Bears. The Western All-Stars, coached by Major Wallace Wade of Duke University, played a slate including games beginning late in August 1942 against the Washington Redskins, Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Giants. By the end of the exhibition games, it had raised $241,392.29 for the fund. By the time that the war had ended, various service teams had been coached by such legends as Bernie Bierman (Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football, Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks), Paul Brown (Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football, Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets), Don Faurot (Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks and Jacksonville Naval Air Station Flyers), Tony Hinkle (Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets), Jack Meagher (Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks), and Joe Verducci (Coast Guard Island, Alameda Coast Guard Sea Lions)—as well as the aforementioned Neyland and Wade. Even with the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, however, the times still remained uncertain to an extent with the Allies of World War II, Allied occupation forces facing possible pacification campaigns in the defeated Axis powers, Axis countries, not to mention increasingly strained relations with the Soviet Union. As a result, much of the American war apparatus remained intact, at least initially, during peacetime—including many service football teams. The State fair, State Fair of Louisiana, which normally sponsored a series of college football games as part of its annual Red River State Fair Classic, State Fair Classic, found itself without its regular host schools at times during the war when they were forced to drop their football programs. The locally based Barksdale Air Force Base, Barksdale Field Sky Raiders were invited to play in two of the classic's October games, one against the Monroe Regional Airport (Louisiana), Selman Army Airfield Cyclones and another against the Chennault Air Force Base, Lake Charles Army Airfield Flying Tigers; the Camp Swift, Texas, Camp Swift Dragons ended up filling in for Lake Charles Army Airfield. The fair's "Negro Day" game featured Wiley College paired against the Randolph Air Force Base, Randolph Field Brown Bombers (the African American counterpart to the Randolph Field Ramblers). Barksdale Field had also previously competed in the 1934 classic, against Texas Military College. Even the Military academy, service academies remained strong through 1945, with Army Black Knights football, Army and Navy Midshipmen football, Navy's Army–Navy Game, annual game featuring the two top teams of the 1945 NCAA football rankings, 1945 AP Poll and the game being declared the "Game of the Century (college football), Game of the Century," with President of the United States, Pres. Harry S. Truman himself attending. Army's Doc Blanchard even won the Heisman Trophy that year. After encountering no significant resistance in the occupied countries over the subsequent year (save for a few, isolated efforts at sabotage by Edelweiss Pirates or Japanese holdouts), most American servicemen were then quickly Demobilization of United States armed forces after World War II, discharged, and the service football teams essentially left with them. Truman issued Proclamation 2714 formally ending the war on December 31, 1946. One noteworthy post-war game (which may have typified just how far the few remaining service teams had fallen since 1943 Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football team, Iowa Pre-Flight’s magical run at 1943 NCAA football rankings, #2 in the 1943 AP Poll) pitted Central State University of Ohio against the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Wright Field Kittyhawks; despite it being CSU’s first season as a 1947 Wilberforce State Green Wave football team, new four-year institution in 1947, CSU still won the game by an astonishing score of 101–0.

List of teams

United States Army teams

Teams associated with the bases of the United States Army included: * Camp Davis (North Carolina) Camp Davis Fighting AAs, Fighting AAs * Camp Grant Warriors football, Camp Grant Warriors, Camp Grant, Illinois * Fort Douglas, Utah, Fort Douglas (Utah) * Fort Dupont (District of Columbia) * Fort Knox, Fort Knox Tankers (Kentucky) * Fort Monmouth (New Jersey) * Fort Riley Centaurs football, Fort Riley Centaurs (Kansas) *Fort Warren Broncos Wyoming, (Wyoming)

United States Army Air Forces teams

Teams associated with the bases of the United States Army Air Forces included: * Albuquerque Army Air Base Flying Kelleys, Albuquerque, New MexicoDaye, ''Encyclopedia of Armed Forces Football,'' pg. 114. * Fort Pickett, Camp Pickett, Blackstone, VirginiaDaye, ''Encyclopedia of Armed Forces Football,'' pg. 115. * Greensboro Tech-Hawks football, Greensboro Tech-Hawks * March Field Flyers football, March Field Flyers * Randolph Field Ramblers football, Randolph Field Ramblers :: The 1943 Randolph Field Ramblers football team played the 1943 Texas Longhorns football team, Texas Longhorns to a 7–7 tie in the 1944 Cotton Bowl Classic played on January 1. :: The 1944 Randolph Field Ramblers football team finished the season 12–0 and was 1944 NCAA football rankings, ranked #3 in the AP Poll. * Second Air Force Superbombers football, Second Air Force Superbombers :: The 1942 Second Air Force Bombers football team won the 1943 Sun Bowl, played on January 1, over the 1942 Hardin–Simmons Cowboys football team, Hardin–Simmons Cowboys. * Third Air Force Gremlins football, Third Air Force Gremlins

United States Navy teams

Teams associated with the bases of the United States Navy included: * Bainbridge Commodores football * Bunker Hill Naval Air Station Blockbusters football, Bunker Hill Naval Air Station Blockbusters * Camp Peary Pirates football, Camp Peary Pirates * Corpus Christi Naval Air Station Comets football, Corpus Christi Naval Air Station Comets * Del Monte Pre-Flight Navyators football, Del Monte Pre-Flight Navyators * Fort Pierce football, Fort Pierce * Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers football, Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers * Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football, Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets :: The 1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team, 1942 and 1943 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team, 1943 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football teams were coached by former Butler Bulldogs football, Butler University coach Tony Hinkle. The 1944 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team, 1944 and 1945 Great Lakes Navy teams were coached by former Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio State coach Paul Brown. * Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football, Iowa Pre-Flight :: The 1942 Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football team was coached by former Mississippi State Bulldogs football, Mississippi State, Tulane Green Wave football, Tulane, and Minnesota Golden Gophers football, Minnesota coach Bernie Bierman. The 1943 Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football team, 1943 Iowa Pre-Flight team finished the season 9–1 and was 1943 NCAA football rankings, ranked #2 in the AP Poll; they were coached by former Missouri Tigers football, Missouri coach Don Faurot. The 1944 Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football team, 1944 Iowa Pre-Flight team was coached by former Rice Owls football, Rice and Auburn Tigers football, Auburn coach Jack Meagher. * Jacksonville Naval Air Station Flyers football, Jacksonville Naval Air Station Flyers :: The 1944 Jacksonville Naval Air Station Flyers football team was coached by former Missouri coach Don Faurot. * Lakehurst Naval Air Station (New Jersey) * Norman Naval Air Station Zoomers football, Norman Naval Air Station Zoomers * North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters football, North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters * Ottumwa Naval Air Station Sea Flyers football, Ottumwa Naval Air Station Sea Flyers * Pensacola Naval Air Station Goslings football, Pensacola Naval Air Station Goslings * Saint Mary's Pre-Flight Air Devils football, Saint Mary's Pre-Flight Air DevilsByrne, "The Service Teams USA," pages 20-21.

United States Marine Corps teams

* Marine Corps Outlying Field Camp Davis, Camp Davis Blue Brigade, Wilmington, North Carolina * El Toro Flying Marines football, El Toro Flying Marines

United States Coast Guard teams

Teams associated with the bases of the United States Coast Guard included: * Alameda Coast Guard Sea Lions football, Alameda Coast Guard Sea Lions, Coast Guard Island, Governors Island, California ::The 1942, 1943, and 1944 Alameda Coast Guard Sea Lions football teams were coached by future Saint Mary's Gaels football, St. Mary's and San Francisco State Gators football, San Francisco State coach Joe Verducci. * Manhattan Beach Coast Guard Depth Bombers football, Manhattan Beach Coast Guard Depth Bombers