2. Researching Military Service Part 1

While there are many things to know about military research, we are providing you with the basics to start your research journey.

A.1. What You Need to Know to Begin. Military research, regardless of branch, from World War I through Vietnam, is conducted in two parts. Part 1 is to obtain essential records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. Primarily the OMPF, and if your veteran died while in military service, the IDPF. Additionally, you can search online for more information.

After obtaining records you can create a timeline of service to reconstruct the footsteps of your veteran. Then you can proceed to Part 2 of the research process, which is to learn the context of your veteran’s service. This research journey begins at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland.

It is never a good idea to use a final unit or list of units, ships, or stations from a death record or discharge paper as the absolute truth of military service. Most individuals served in multiple units or moved through Replacement Depots. Sometimes the Naval discharge papers can’t accommodate all the ships and stations someone served. For other branches, the final unit listed may be a unit they moved through for discharge. Always do your homework and put a timeline together using the information below. Once you do this, then you will save time and money in Part 2, learning the context of service.

A few things to know. In 1973 there was a fire at the NPRC which destroyed approximately 80% of the Army and Army Air Force/Air Force OMPFs. The Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine OMPFs were basically unaffected. This means if you submit a request for these branches, you will be able to obtain a copy of your veteran’s OMPF. If you are searching for other family members who were in the Army or Army Air Force, there is a possibility their OMPF did not survive the fire. In that case, you will need the information listed in the getting started section in addition to a unit at some point in time. More on this below.

Using the OMPF and other records you may locate within your family’s archives or online, you should construct a timeline of service to help you reconstruct the footsteps of your veteran. This can be as simple as a three-column table. Column 1 contains the date of the record you are viewing, like a Discharge Paper. Column 2 contains the unit or ship or station in which someone served on that date plus their location. Column 3 contains notes and information from the document.

The timeline of service allows you to see where gaps are in your research, where there are errors, and where you may have new questions to answer. It also allows you to Google Map the footsteps or ports at which your Armed Guard veteran docked.

As an option to help you keep track of where you obtained the information, you can put a footnote in column three and document the source of the information. This can be helpful because military records sometimes contain errors or conflicting information. Knowing where you originally obtained the information can help you quickly compare what you have located. We strongly recommend that you source your entries because should you later decide to write a story or a book, the timeline of service may serve as a basic story or book outline.

Important! The OMPF will provide you with the outline of service to learn the unit/ship/station, where someone may have been, illness, death, Prisoner status, and training. It does not provide the full documentation of your veteran’s service but it is a start point to help you locate more information.

A.2. Federal Government Resources. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), Military Personnel Records is the repository for the personnel, health, and medical records of all discharged and deceased veterans (all branches of the armed forces) who served after 1900. NPRC serves as the current home for all IDPFs.

Request the OMPF.

Please note: There is a myth you must be the next-of-kin to retrieve any military records. This is incorrect. If a service member died or was discharged by 62 years ago today, those OMPFs are available to anyone. Unredacted. This is a rolling date.

If your veteran did not die or was not discharged 62 years ago until let’s say, next month, then it’s better to wait until the 62-year deadline has passed before submitting a request. If you choose not to wait, you may get a one-page outline of service or a redacted file.

Veterans and their next-of-kin may now use the online “eVetRecs” service to request records from the Center. Veterans and next-of-kin without Internet access and all others may submit their requests in writing to:

National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

If possible, use a Standard Form 180 for the mail-in request. The form may be downloaded, completed and mailed to the NPRC.

If you cannot obtain a Standard Form 180 for this request, you can write a letter. Include in your inquiry the service member’s complete name, Service Number or Serial number, branch of service, and dates of service as well as your return address. Date and place of birth for the veteran would be helpful too, as would be place of discharge, last unit of assignment, and place of entry into service, if known. Include a copy of the discharge paper if you have one. Never send original documents. You must sign and date your request.

More than one request may be submitted per envelope but policy requires that you submit a separate form/letter for each individual whose records are being requested. Please allow several weeks to several months for a reply. If you need assistance, telephone the Center at (314) 801-0800 or contact them via email at stl.archives@nara.gov.

Casualty Information.

Request the IDPF.

Military personnel who died while in military service will have an additional record you can request at the NPRC. The Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF). This file was created for anyone who died while in service or anyone who was declared Missing In Action (MIA) and never recovered. MIAs were eventually declared deceased. The IDPF exists for all military branches and also the Merchant Marine, even though they were not an official military branch during World War II.

In the IDPF you will learn details about a service member’s death, burial locations, and basic military service information. It may also contain letters from family members, (rarely) a photograph, Prisoner of War information, maps and brief unit history details concerning individuals who were declared Missing In Action (MIA). These files range from 20 pages to over 350 depending on the circumstances of the death and recovery.

Service members who were considered MIA may have another piece of information in their files. A Finding of Death or FOD. The FOD was issued one year plus one day after someone was declared MIA. This date is the military’s official death date of that service member. It may not be the actual date he was killed or died. The military issued the FODs to allow families to close estates, receive death payments, and begin to move on with life. If you have information that your service member died a certain date but their official death date you discover on Ancestry or Fold3 is a year or more longer, then it’s possible there is a FOD involved.

Finally, if you lost someone in World War I, the NPRC has a file called a World War I Burial File. It is a more basic death file than the World War II/Korea/Vietnam IDPF. Both the World War I Burial File and IDPF can be ordered through the NPRC using Form-180 or by sending in a request.

Additional Places to Locate Casualty Details

Many databases and websites exist to locate casualty and grave information. Some may provide you with the serial or service number you will need to conduct research. These include but are not limited to:

American Battle Monuments Commission (For those interred in an overseas American Military Cemetery or still MIA and listed on a Tablet or Wall of the Missing).

Ancestry Databases

• S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S., Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949
• S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
• S., World War II Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualties, 1941-1945
• S., World War II Military Personnel Missing In Action or Lost At Sea, 1941-1946

Fields of Honor Database

FindAGrave

Fold3.com

A.3. State Archives. State agencies may be valuable contacts as well. The Military Records and Research Branch of the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs, for example, contains more than 300,000 discharge documents for Kentucky veterans beginning with individuals who served in World War I through modern day.

State Archives may also hold Veterans Compensation Files, also known as Bonus Applications. Not every state participated in this compensation plan, but it is worth checking the state in which your veteran lived after the war to see if this exists.

After World War I and World War II (and in some states more recent wars), veterans were allowed to apply for a bonus payment in the state in which they lived after discharge. Each veteran, or if the veteran died in service, their beneficiary, was allowed to apply. These applications contain basic biographical information, work and education details, and basic service details (service or serial number, enlistment and discharge dates). Often you will find information on family members, a discharge paper and other materials.

Ancestry.com has available two sets of Veterans Compensation Applications. One for Iowa veterans (application only). Pennsylvania is also available in what appears to be a full application file (application and corresponding records). Even if you are able to obtain the application online, it’s a good idea to contact the State Archives and request a copy of the full application packet with discharge paper.

A.4. County Records. Although the federal government is the primary source for military records, other sources may be close at hand. Local governments, for example, merit a researcher’s attention. After all wars, veterans were encouraged to file a copy of their discharge papers (later DD-214) with the County in which they lived. Most often you will find these held by the County Recorder or County Clerk. Every county and state has different access rules so be sure to inquire.

A.5. Military Records are Everywhere. While we begin our research at the NPRC and NARA, it’s important to note that military records can be found all across the country. A few places you might search include: Presidential Libraries, university libraries and archives, local libraries, genealogy and historical societies, ethnic libraries and museums, branch-specific museums, the National WWII Museum, even those tiny libraries, archives, and museums that barely have a website may hold information helpful to your research. Additionally, you may find records, photographs, maps, and diaries at archives in Europe, Australia, the Pacific Islands on which we fought, and many other locations around the world.