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The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis is the right place to go. But be aware that there was a fire there some years ago that destroyed many of the WWII records. Two of my great -uncles who served then were in that section.

But all is not lost - they still have skeleton records, including mustering out reports, etc, available.

A couple of things to consider - if you know what outfit he served with, there are websites dedicated to them. Ancestry.com and its sister site fold3.com have compendious records. I found my Dad's enlistment papers in Ancestry. If you have any senior relatives still living, ask them. They may have information that can steer you in the right direction.

Good hunting, and thanks very much to your Father for his service.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

Hi all, thanks for the advice!

It took 5 weeks - even with some expediting help from my Senator's local office - but we finally got an eCopy today of my Dad's separation papers from the US Navy!

Only thing is ... there was no DD-214 for him. That's because it turns out there were no DD-214's until 1/1/1950. And he separated from Active Duty Service in July of 1946. (He separated from Reserve Duty in 1952, but DD-214's were only for Active Duty separations at that time).

What we did get was one of the older predecessors to the DD-214's - the NAVPERS-553 - which should do just as well for him getting his 10% Veteran's Discount.

At least, I hope so. I hope nobody says, "Sorry, but my store's policy says here you must provide a DD-214 or else forget a discount".

Nice present to receive today, his 94th Birthday! (My Mom turned 94 in June; she really robbed the cradle, eh? Does 5 months difference qualify her to be a "Cougar"? Or maybe not until she reaches 100 and he's still in the double digits? :-) )

Interesting stuff in there. "CNO-ONI OP-23 F-5" as near as I can tell breaks down as: CNO = "Chief of Naval Operations" ... "ONI" = "Office of Naval Intelligence" ... OP-23F = "Assistant Chief of Foreign Branch" and "5" must be some subsection of OP-23-F.