Where can I get info on my dad who fought it WWII?

Question

Well I will show my ignorance here but here it goes. My father fought during WWII in the pacific. I wasn't born till almost 20 years later 1960. Dad died 20 years ago and I never did ask him any of these questions. And he never really spoke too much of his time there. Here is what I do know, He was a medic in the army, he was about 5 years older than most the other guys who where fighting there, he was 23 when he went in, most the others were 18-19 they called him pop. He faught in The Phillippean and New Gueane. My question is, is there anyway I can get more details about him, like what was the number of the (hear where I will show my ignorance) plattoon or battalean or whatever it is or is called, What battles he fought in, what medals he earned if any. My mom says he had medals but she doesn't know what happened to any of them or to his uniform. Said it just never occured to her to save any of it! By the way I still have my mom, she is 87. She however doesn't remember

Answer 1

You can request his records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Be aware though, that in 1973 a huge fire wiped out the majority of Army records they were holding. You can also find out a lot about him by anything you have on hand. Any photographs, letters, patches, etc. can be clues. And don't give up if they tell you his file was destroyed. Ask them for a reconstruction of his records. Also, if a claim was filed with the VA, there is a chance his file is there. Another place to check is the county courthouse where he lived when he was discharged. Many returning servicemen registered their discharges with the county clerk.

If you need help, feel free to email me.

Answer 2

Okay I did this for my father.While the Veteran's Administration is usually a good place to start there is a problem with WWII service records most don't exist anymore.

In 1975 there was a fire in the place in St Louis Mo where they store all service records of inactive veterans the seventh floor where all WWII records were stored were had a fire that destroyed most of the records of WWII Vets. While the Veteran's Administration has attempted to salvage the records there may not be anything to salvage but try them first!

What I can tell you by the information that you have given me is that your father served in the the Eighth Army under General Eichelburg start at ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_United_States_Army for more info. They were the most engaged army in MacArthur's theater of Operations the army was involved in some of the hardest fighting Southwest Pacific. The Divisions that he could have been in are the 24th, 32nd, 41st (California National Guard) or the
43rd Divisions . Look for the history of these units they will tell you if they were in the Eigth Army. From my quick study try the 24th, 32nd and 43rd Divisions frist they all served in the New Guinea and Phillipine Campaings.

Look in your garage for boxs that haven't been opened for a long time open them you might find your fathers uniforms and medals. They last for a long time . Now lets say you find them look on the right sleeve you will see a patch that would be his division patch take a picture of it or note down what it looks like . Go to the Library and get a book on units in WWII they will diccribe or show the patch a couple of good books I've found are English Doughboy to GI by Kenneth Lewis , it's a book for collectors and there are four pages of patches for WWII alone, and US Army Handbook 1939-1945 by George Forty ,a complete study of the Army in WWII . With this information ask veterns groups for help. You might find people who can tell you about your father in the war.

Now let me say this to you it's not suprising that you never learned much about your father inthe war. I never knew anthing about my father's war experiances. He got rid of his uniforms as soon as he got out of the army. Most Vets don't talk about the war because most people can't relate to their experiances also they may suffer from forms of PTSD. I knew a man who had been a B-17 Pilot in WWII no one had ever heard his stories of flying missions over Germany in 1943-45. One night there was a party and I saw him with his grandson . The grandson was wearing an Air Corp Overseas Cap and I saw that it had the pilots pin from WWII . I asked him about it and he told me that he had been a pilot in England in WWII. I just ask some questions and he just opened up and for two hours he told ne all about his experiances. He told me things that nobody else knew. He never had told his daughter ,his wife, his son in law or his grandson. But he told me because I had mentioned one day that I had to deal with the fact that I had seen mendie violently while I was in the service. I just reciently read Flags of our Fathers and I understood why the man told noone about the war. Pain.

So you see it not unusual that no one knows about this will take work but after you do you will be suprised and amazed at what those young guys did so long ago.

Good Luck and Good Hunting. If you need help please feel free toemail me if you need help.

Answer 3

My Grandpa was stationed in the Phillipines and New Guinea. My dad was able to find out where he was during his tour by contacting the Dept of the Army. If you have his soldier ID number (I think it's called an ISN number...something like that) you can give it to them and they will tell you where he went. But they won't have a detailed idea because we were told, due to a fire at the Dept. of War back in the day a lot of the file information for that time was lost.

Answer 4

My Uncle Andrew became in the USA Marine Corps for the duration of international conflict 2. He enlisted on the age of 17 the day after the jap attack on Pearl Harbor ,Hawaii.He left his job on the Western electric powered telephone cable production facility which he were working in on the grounds that he graduated the 8th grade and left college. He observed action in many of the island hopping battles of the Pacific Ocean as an infantryman.He back to his domicile and job with purely some superficial injuries on the top of the conflict. The worst legacy that he carried different than his memories of conflict became a case of malaria that reoccur ed each few years and probable shortened his existence. My father became deffer-ed from the draft in the months between Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan because of the fact his father mandatory him to assist in his dairy employer. That became excusable as a "mandatory service". of direction some years later he became between the 1st adult adult males drafted to bypass to the Korean conflict.

Answer 5

There must be something inyour dad's memorabilia, in the attic, papers, etc. Try calling the Veterans' Administration in the area you're in and asking for help. With your dad's Soc. Security # and perhaps your birth certif (to prove you are who you are to him) they will probably be happy to help

Answer 6

you need to go to the musem about the world war ll and they will have the signatures of the people who fought in this war go to google.com and search the people who fought in this war find yo father's name

Answer 7

You can get copies of his records here: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/index.html

I'm not sure if it includes specific assignments, but it does list awards and medals and such.

Good luck.