My dad served in WWII, somewhere in New Guinea, for some period of time. He died before I knew that I should have asked him more detailed questions about what he did over there.
Is there an easy way to find out what units he served in, where he was stationed, when he was there, things like that? I do not have any military paperwork from him from back then, just photos.
Yes there is for next of kin. I’ll be able to find the link in a few. However, be prepared to be disappointed. A lot of those records literally went up in smoke in a 1972 fire.
This link walks you through the process.
The fire was in 1973. Files that were affected were recreated as best they could.
It may be difficult unless you know his service number. You can request information, but it’s kind of a Catch-22 because they will ask for his dates of service etc in order to obtain it.
More information is here. Next of kin can request information but this requires providing proof of death.
The information they ask for includes:
The veteran’s complete name used while in service
Service number
Social security number
Branch of service
Dates of service
Date and place of birth (especially if the service number is not known).
I don’t know how to do a link, but go here:
www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-recordsThank you all! I have most of the required information (I think even his service number), so I will try to see what I find.
(I had heard about that fire, but never realized it could have destroyed his records, too.)
About 80% of the Army records of those discharged between 1912 and 1960 were lost.
In order to obtain VA benefits for my mother I am researching the same thing. Thanks for asking the question OP.
Dad served in the Pacific, by his accounts he had a good time ,never saw action, snorkeled and hung out on the beach. He said he was a very lucky man.
Wow! The part of that article that fascinated me:
That’s a lot of water.
I have a short-term subscription to Fold3 via Ancestry; if you’d like, I can search. PM me.
You can also submit a FOIA request on anyone who has ever been in the military.
I’ve obtained records on service members from NARA without service numbers, and on one occasion even without knowing all of the serviceman’s branches. I did have the SSNs and DOBs, though, and it took a long time - over a year.
British WW1 personnel records also suffered a similar amount of loss of data due to an air raid in 1940. You are lucky if your subject’s file has survived.
If you do find out his units and if he was in a combat unit you may be able to find out more specifics through the unit’s after action reports. Those documents were not stored wherevthd fire occurred and many are online.
Do you have any of his old patches or uniforms?