Can you tell me how to find the service record for my uncle in WW2?

[grasswire]

His grandchildren are asking about his ship, where it went, etc. They have a few photos of him on a tropical beach, but that's all they know.

Any help would be appreciated.

U.S. Navy.

[Gman]

1. I believe you can write to the DOD

and they'll send you the info. My brother did it for my dad.

[rucky]

2. Here you go...

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/

[CountAllVotes]

6. thanks for this link

I see you can get medals replaced if you are next of kin. My late father was a sargent in the Marine Corps. during WWII and his medals disappeared after my brother died. He was highly decorated having served in the South Pacific fighting the Japanese. I tried to find them but no one seemed to care except for me and they are forever lost I had thought.

As for finding records -- I wrote to the VA where my grandfather lived and the local VA office had a huge file on him (including medical records) from WWI (he was in the Army and totally disabled after being sent to Germany). The discharge record didn't tell a whole lot and the military cemetery where he is buried had some info. on him but not much as far a military activities went. You might check the cemetery too.

I was shocked by the amount of documentation they had on my grandfather. He died in 1957. :wow:

[grasswire]

7. here are the clues

He was said to be on Palau after the Japanese left. He was a SP (F) 3C -- they think he was stationed on the island as a firefighter, not assigned to a ship.

[MineralMan]

3. If they know the name of the ship, there are probably numerous

resources on the Internet about that ship. It should be possible to follow it pretty closely. As far as official paperwork, the grandchildren can probably request a copy of their grandfather's DD Form 214, which will have a little information. Beyond that, they can explore the Internet with his unit information, if they have that and find out a great deal. It's amazing how much info is out there. some creative Googling will get a lot of it.

As an example, I was stationed at a tiny base in Turkey during the 1960s. I started a nostalgia site about the place, and it now has lots of photos and stories and other information. This base was open for only 10 years and had less than 600 personnel at it at any given time. There are such sites for most ships and units and other groups, all started by people with an interest in a particular subset of information. I'm sure they can find out a lot. They won't find much officially from the government, but the people who were there and their families will have posted a lot.

[Historic NY]

4. If you know where he lived the town or county clerk should have ..

a copy of his DD214 (service history) They filed them when they came home for lots of things.

[Rabblevox]

5. Here ya go....but be warned...

A huge number of military records from WW2 were lost in a warehouse fire in the 70's. The gov't is actually really good about helping where they can, but a lot of stuff from WW2 and Korea is simply gone.

Good luck!

http://www.archives.gov/research/military/veterans/

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/milrecords.htm