I get a lot of mail from people asking for help in finding service related information for their dad/granddad/uncle/ etc. In most cases this is going to be a long hard road. Sadly, there is NO easy way. I can really only be of help if you are looking for info on a guy from Company L, 28th Infantry Regt. WW2. I plan to start adding info here as I have time.
The first thing you have to understand is that the Government considers most service related info from WW1 and WW2 (and Korea and Nam) private. You cannot just have anyone's service record sent to you. Technically, you need to be the "next of kin" (i.e. closest surviving relative).
Finding the basic info on a service person:
You need their Serial Number. This can be had from almost any document - discharge, dogtags, etc. This allows you a shot at sending in a request to the Military Personnel Records Center. Go look there for info on this. However, the sad thing is that they had a big fire a while back and lost most of the WW2 era records. information on this fire can be found here. You can send in a request to have them constitute the burned records, but I warn you- this is a long and sometimes irritating process.
Here's a good tip. Try checking the town that the vet first returned home to after the war. See if they have a town veterans office. In many cases vets got special tax breaks or bonuses if they registered with the town, and these records can be a gold mine!
Finding Unit information
Before you even start you really need to understand the structure of the army. Otherwise you'll find yourself looking for records of "Company K" only to find that there were scads of Company K's all around the world.
The second key piece of information you need is their unit. Anything above divisional level is generally useless (i.e. Patton's Third Army). You need Division/Regiment/Brigade/Battalion. If you know he was in the Xth Infantry Division, then you can find out a rough idea of where he was. Most divisions had printed unit histories at some time, but the problem is they range from very good to poor. The second problem is that they are mostly out of print and hard to find (i.e. $$$). A handful of the more popular ones have been reprinted by The Battery Press. An even smaller number are popping up on web sites. Otherwise you'll have to pay a book dealer a high premium for an old copy. Be warned- some are not worth the price you'll pay. Best to see it first- Try your local public library's interlibrary loan!
If you can get down to Regimental level, then some, but not all, regiments also printed unit histories. This can give you a more detailed view of what he did. DO NOT ASSUME you will find your target's name listed in any book! There were lots of people passing through these units, and most books list KIA's, MIA's and award winners. Of special caution is that many WW2 awards were not issued until AFTER the war so no listing in a 1945-47 book does not mean an award was not later made. Also note that anyone that won a CIB in WW2 was automatically awarded a bronze star later on by a misguided congress. I think the CIB is award enough, and handing out Bronze Stars cheapened the medal, but I digress.
OK, If you live near Pennsylvania you can always go to the library at Carlisle Barracks which has one of the best public collections of unit histories. You can check their unit history listing here.
But, for most of you, you are going to have to break down and go to the National Archives at College Park, MD. This is where all WW2 records are help (well not all, some are scattered around the country, but all UNIT records except for Navy CB are supposed to be here). The archives can be a painful and frustrating experience. Anything will take three times as long as you expect. Again, there is no main record of what every man ever did in a unit- you'll have to sift through seemingly endless papers looking for award General Orders, etc.
Finding someone that knew your dad in the service
Good luck. This can be done, but is very, very tough.
1. Contact the veterans association for the unit and ask they post a note in their unit newsletter (assuming they have one). You normally really need to know what company he was in, so they can ask: " anyone know Charlie Smith from B Company?"
2. If you can find a record of his buddies serial numbers, you can call the V.A., tell them you are trying to track down some vets, and they will check their computers to see if the numbers have a listing. If so, and many do not- or the guys have passed, then they can forward a letter to the vet for you.
3. Or you can go to unit reunions and ask around. Best to contact the reunion organizer first as they can sometimes help.
BE WARNED, many vets will just plain not remember people from their wartime years. Most guys really only were involved with about 15-20 men in the unit. Some replacements were killed or wounded before anyone in the unit even knew their name. In many cases vets are hesitant to talk about men they knew, out of fear for what your dad may have told you as a "war story" and them not wanting to contradict him.
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