Posted on 12/01/2011 2:21:45 PM PST by MistrX
I also had some relatives on my father's side who fought for the Canadians, one of them died as a result of a gas attack.
Thanks for bringing this subject up. I’ve always wanted to know what my grandfather was in the Army.
Guess he made it to Master Sergeant.... Pretty cool! Wish I was able to meet him more than once in his lifetime. I bet he had some great stories!
You will probably not get much besides a “Certificate of Service” because of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_National_Archives_Fire
bump
What was his unit? Some FreePs here are “pretty” smart and may be able to assist you.
Start here:
https://vetrecs.archives.gov/VeteranRequest/home.asp
That’s what I did last year and I got my granspas entire service record, and 2 pictures. The picture I got is posted in my profile.
My uncle died in WWII. I began 10 years ago researching his time in the war and his death. He was with the Army Air Corps, 8th Air Force, stationed in England. I had his service number and the local vet center requested his military records for me. Unfortunately, his records were burned in the St. Louis fire, but they were able to obtain some very basic info for me from other areas of the government.
Since I knew his bomb group and his bomb squadron numbers, I was able to go on-line and connect with that group of veterans. Through this group I was able to obtain the official Combat Diary of his squadron. Since I also knew the dates of the missions he had flown, I was able to match that up with the combat diary and learn more about the 19 missions he flew.
I noticed on the link provided in post 2 above that it said the records of the Marines were not affected by the fire so maybe you can obtain his records through that link. I had not heard this before, but it said in that link that only the AAC and Army records were burned.
Since my uncle died in the war and I am the next of kin, I was able to obtain his IDPF (Individual Deceased Personnel File), which is supposedly everything the government knew about his death - it was very enlightening. Also I obtained the MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) of his final mission.
Good luck in your search. I hope you can find info on your grandfather.
My dad died in Korea in 53 and had a terrible time finding out anything (did all the stuff already mentioned) somehow I found on the internet someone who could get me all the records for about $50..I can’t remember the website but if you google war records I bet you ‘d find it. In the meantime I will look around tomorrow and see if I can get an address or something from what I have.
Hey, I just got a message on FB from ancestry.com. It said the site has the records of Navy people on ships during that time period. Might be worth checking into. Good luck.
I can take a look on ancestry.com for you if you’d like. You can FReepmail me the information.
Vets ping
I have an uncle who was at Okinawa. To this day he will only say “I had some good friends and lost a few too.” He won’t elaborate on the battle and despises the Japanese still. He refuses to go back to Hawaii even because he went in the ‘60’s and said “too damn many Japs there now.” I’ve read a lot about the battle but got nothing firsthand. I’d like to hear more about it all before he dies. He’s in his late ‘80’s now.
The vast majority of Army and Air Corps personnel files were lost in the ‘73 fire. There are folks that specialize in reconstructing the records of individual veterans, tracing their steps through the war and showing where they were and what they did during the war. Here is one such group: www.goldenarrowresearch.com
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