{"id":94007,"date":"2023-08-23T09:23:49","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T13:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=94007"},"modified":"2023-08-23T09:24:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T13:24:30","slug":"genealogy-tips-researching-wwii-veterans-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-tips-researching-wwii-veterans-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Tips: Researching WWII Veterans (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article \u2013 the second of two \u2013 Katie Rebecca Garner gives tips for researching your WWII veteran ancestors. Katie specializes in U.S. research for family history, enjoys writing and researching, and is developing curricula for teaching children genealogy.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the previous article in this series<\/a>, we learned what we could discover about our ancestors in their WWII records. In this article, we will learn what kinds of documents to search for to find your WWII ancestor\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: General Douglas MacArthur returns to the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte, 20 October 1944. Credit: U.S. Army Signal Corps officer Gaetano Faillace; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Record Types and Record Loss<\/strong><\/p>\n

As mentioned in the previous article, discharge papers are an excellent place to start researching a WWII veteran ancestor. This form is given to someone upon leaving the military, so it is only available for an ancestor who returned from WWII alive. For an ancestor that died in WWII, the record to obtain is the Individual Deceased Personnel Files.<\/p>\n

The first place to check for discharge papers is to see if it\u2019s in the veteran\u2019s or any immediate family\u2019s possession. The next place to check is the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).<\/p>\n

Note that many records housed at the NPRC were lost to a fire in the 1970s. Many of the records not destroyed by fire were destroyed by the water that put out the fire. When a request is made to the NPRC, they will either send what records they have or a statement indicating the records were destroyed.<\/p>\n

You could also try getting the discharge papers from the federal or state Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). If the veteran applied for benefits, they would have had to submit a copy of their discharge papers. The drawback is that some states have privacy restrictions on who is allowed access to the records. In this case, the children of the veteran are usually given access.<\/p>\n

Finally, check the county register of deeds. After WWII, veterans were encouraged to register their discharge papers with the local register of deeds \u2013 the discharge papers of the veterans that did that are housed with their county.<\/p>\n

If your ancestor died in WWII, you would want to obtain the Individual Deceased Personnel File instead of discharge papers. For this, you must write to the unit your ancestor served in. The information in these files varies from unit to unit; some contain minimal information, while some contain detailed reports of the action the ancestor died in. The tricky part of this can be finding the current address of your ancestor\u2019s unit because some of the units often change addresses.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, you can search for obituaries and newspaper articles about the soldier\u2019s death. The obituary or newspaper article may state his unit and other details about his service. Some communities\u2019 newspapers published lists of soldiers who died in the war. Be sure to check out GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> for this.<\/p>\n

Whether your veteran ancestor died in WWII or long after, burial records are a good source of information. For those who died in war and are buried overseas, look for information in the American Battle Monuments Commission. Also, check out the Federal VA gravesite locator and Find-A-Grave.<\/p>\n

Photos of your ancestor in uniform, letters they wrote, and family lore can also lend helpful clues to your research. Photos might portray awards or decorations your ancestor received, which you can then look up to gain additional information. The return address of letters they wrote home would include unit information. Family lore should always be treated as a clue rather than as a fact.<\/p>\n

The following is a list of databases for WWII military research:<\/p>\n