OBTAINING
MILITARY RECORDS
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Obtaining
military records can be, let's say, a pain in the butt. The
reason I started having an interest in my uncle's military
service was do in part to my father, a former Army paratrooper,
who had often talked about his brother and the fact that he knew
little about what had actually happened to him, or even where in
France he was buried. My father reasonably thought that the first
and best place to go would be the local VA office in Herkimer,
NY. After much waiting they provided him with one, yes one, page
of information which was very generic stuff. Basically, name,
rank, and serial number with a few other minor details. That's
when I decided to see what I could find. The internet was an
amazing resource, however the things that I was looking for were
scattered all over the web. With this page I hope to help anyone
who is trying to get information. I have been told what to do and
where to write by many other people and have shared what I know
as well. Remember to be patient when waiting for any government
records.
National
Personnel Records Center: Military
Personnel Records - NPRC(MPR)
The
National Personnel Records Center administers a large portion
of US military records, but not all of them. If you write to
them asking for the personnel records of a World War 2
veteran, the very first thing you are going to hear is that
80% of all World War 2 personnel records maintained were
destroyed in a fire in 1973. You will hear this over and over
again. Now, I don't have a mathematics degree, but correct me
if I'm wrong, that leaves 20% that weren't destroyed. With
16,354,000 serving by the end of the war, that's a big 20%.
NPRC wasn't all that helpful to me. When I requested all of
my uncle's service records they managed to fit them on a
single sheet of paper. Basically what I got was information
that I already knew. Things to remember:
Be
as specific as you can, with unit name and bring it
down as far as you can. For example: 44th Infantry
Division, 324th Infantry Regiment, Company D, 2nd
Platoon, 1st squad, last foxhole on the left - you
get the idea.
Include
the individual serial number if you know it, date of
birth, full name, and your relationship to the
soldier.
NPRC is also
the place to have military medals replaced. They don't issue
medals, they only replace lost medals for living or deceased
veterans. For information about obtaining replacement medals
go here - Military Personnel Records -Military
Medals and Awards
Another great
resource that NPRC provides is individual morning reports for
individual units. Again you need to know the unit that you
are looking for and you have to request which reports you
want. For example: " Could you please provide me with
the morning reports for Co. D, 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th
Infantry Division covering the periods of 15 Nov. 1944 to 10
Dec. 1944." Again make sure you include the "I am
willing to pay" line in your request. The above request
ended up costing me $19.05 because all of these records are
kept on microfilm and have to be copied for you. Below is
what a morning report looks like:
This isn't a
very good image, depending on your browser you might not be
able to make it out at all, but it shows that my Uncle and
Pfc. Buddy Coffey were both KIA on December 3rd. These
reports also show who was wounded, on sick call, and shows
new replacements to the unit. This resource was the only way
that I was able to find out when my uncle arrived in the unit
and from where. These are worth getting.
Remember,
persistence is key. Send all inquiries to:
National
Personnel Records Center
Military
Personnel Records
9700 Page
Avenue
St. Louis,
Mo. 63132-1547
For relatives
of deceased veterans a soldiers Individual Deceased Personnel
File (IDPF) has a lot of information in it. The file contains
information on the location of death, initial burial
information, as well as copies of all army correspondence
that were sent to next of kin. It also contains a list of
personnel effects that were with the deceased and the
location of final burial. Again you will need to know as much
information as possible, but especially name and service
number. Information on how to obtain these records can be
found here: GENERAL INQUIRIES
For anyone
looking for information on the burial location in an American
Cemetery the American Battle Monuments Commission is the place to go. Just recently
they developed a searchable database where you can enter a veterans name
and find out the cemetery and exact grave location. Also, and
this is kind of nice, if you write
to them with the location inquiry they will send you a large
color photo of the cemetery which will have a black and white
photo of the grave stone affixed to the upper right hand
corner. I must say, that of all the agencies that I dealt
with, this one was the best. They also have a floral order form where you can have fresh flowers
placed at the grave of your choice. You have to fill out the
form, pay the fee, and they will do the rest. They will also
send you a polaroid photo of the floral arrangement in place
(weather permitting).
The last way,
and probably the hardest, boils down to plain good ol'
investigative work. Surf the net like crazy, post messages on
military message boards, write letters, and (this is
important) don't forget to share what you find. Give a little
and take a little. A good example of this last advice is the
hallowed ground portion of this web site. I posted my uncle's
information on a purple heart listing. A wonderful woman by
the name of Joyce Taylor saw it and E-mailed me. Her father,
S/Sgt. Henry A. McNemar, was killed in action on 10/25/44
while attempting to save the Regimental Commander, Col.
Thacher Nelson, who had walked into a mine field. S/Sgt.
McNemar was killed attempting to save him. Joyce provided me
with the entire list of 324th KIA's. So, the moral of the
story is, that information as old as this is hard to come by,
and we should all share it with each other before it is lost
forever.