(Vanity) Finding out about a family member's military service record?

4 November 2008 | me

[Moose4]

Yeah, I know, posting a non-election vanity on Election Day...I've been here over eight years, I figure I can do stuff like this every now and then, right?

My dad was a World War II veteran. He didn't talk much about his service. All I know was that he was drafted while working at the Newport News Shipyards in Virginia, ended up in the Army, and was a sergeant in a motor pool on Leyte or Luzon in the Philippines in 1945. He never told me anything about seeing combat, and he was demobilized and came home sometime in 1946. I don't even know what unit he was a part of, he never said.

All I've got to go on is his name. Do any FReepers have any suggestions for starting to find out more details about exactly what he did in his military service--unit(s) he served with, where he was stationed, what his job(s) were, things like that? I'm interested out of a combination of my own curiosity, and having the information handy for my daughter when she gets older, so I can tell her about the grandpa she never knew (he died in 1996 at the age of 77).

Thanks.

}:-)4

[Soliton]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XIV_Corps_(United_States)

I did this with my dad. Turns out he was with the 66th infantry division. I have his division patch on my hunting vest. There is a group in Carlisle, PA that has company year books, etc. They sent me there ONLY copy for the 66th provided I returned it! I have it all coppied. The 66th even had a book about it.

[cbkaty]

Sadly, many of the records stored at the St. Louis records center were destroyed in a fire.

On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at NPRC (MPR) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The affected record collections are described below.

Branch Personnel and Period Affected Estimated Loss

Army Personnel discharged November 1, 1912, to January 1, 1960 80%

Air Force Personnel discharged, September 25, 1947, to January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) 75%

No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Nevertheless, NPRC (MPR) uses many alternate sources in its efforts to reconstruct basic service information to respond to requests.

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html

[mass55th]

"or example, I don’t remember my dad’s SSN, and my mom’s in no shape to give it to me."

You may be able to find your father's SSN number by searching the Death Index for SS:

SS Death Index

If you put his name in the appropriate boxes, you should get a listing which should include his SSN.

[Shadraq]

The fire was in 1973 and MANY military records were destroyed. However even if the full military record was burned, there will be a skeleton records available. Only family members can request records so make sure you state your connection to the Veteran.

[Hawthorn]

> I don’t remember my dad’s SSN <

Very easy to find. All you need is to consult the Social Security Death Index. If you can’t find a free source on the Internet for this Index, and if you don’t want to subscribe to Ancestry.com, then ask the reference department at your local public library. They should be able to help.

[mass55th]

"Only family members can request records so make sure you state your connection to the Veteran."

Immediate family members are entitled to whatever records are available. As a niece, I was only entitled to get limited information on my uncle's WWII service. Even though my aunt and uncle are both dead, and they had no children, because I wasn't a sister, brother, or child of the soldier, I wasn't allowed access to his full records.

[Moose4]

FReepers are awesome.

Thanks to your link to the SSDI, five minutes of searching dug up my dad’s SSN. Using that, I went to eVetRecs and filled out an online request to get his Report of Separation, printed it, and it’s stamped and sealed on my desk ready to hit the mailbox this afternoon. His records (since he served 1943 or 1944 to 1946) stand a good chance of having been destroyed by the 1973 fire, but hopefully they can at least provide some information.

Thank you all VERY much!

}:-)4

[Psalm 73]

When my dad died 8 years ago, my brother and sisters let me have all of his WW II photos (N. Africa, Italy) with the agreement that I would piece his war story together - still working on it.
I am dying to see what kind of answers you get on this post.
I was hoping to find a sympathetic Research librarian to help.

[mass55th]

Glad to be of help, and good luck!!

[Hawthorn]

If you want to learn about more than just his WW II service, you should familiarize yourself with some standard genealogical tools.

For example, you can consult the 1920 and 1930 censuses to find the names and ages of his parents, siblings and anybody else who lived in their household during those years.

(You’d need a subscription to Ancestry.com. But maybe your local library already subscribes.)

You might also find some info about the family on the genealogical mailing list for the county where they lived, and/or on the mailing list for the family’s surname. You can locate these mailing lists at www.rootsweb.com.

Good hunting!

[Shadraq]

You can also find military information in the state where he enlisted.