New & Recycled Research Tips

[connie]

In reply to individual quests there have been lots of helpful tips that should be recycled for use by others.

As I look over old posts I'll try to locate helpful research tips.

But, this should not just be the spot where I post. If you think of a helpful research tip, please post it here.

It doesn't matter whether you can find the old link, just go for recycling the idea!

And please feel free to converse to get more details!

[connie]

Locating DD-214

If you know where a soldier lived after discharge... Frank Grant has a suggestion for locating this document
106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1353/thread

And in the next post in the same thread Roger has some suggestions related to the using hometown newspapers as an info source.

[connie]

Honorable Discharge Papers[ (D D 214?)

I am suspecting that the DD-214 mentioned above is related to this document. I am looking at such a paper. Across the top in diploma-like bold and decorative words above and below an eagle symbol it says "Army of the United States Honorable Discharge"

The bottom left hand corner of this document bears a stamp from the hometown County Courthouse with some blanks filled in by hand. It states the state and county name & then notes "Recorded in the office for Recording of Deeds in the county of ... in Discharge Book No..."This is followed by the date copied and a signature.

If your records were among those lost in a fire at the national level, it sounds like the county courthouse in the county where the soldier lived on discharge a good place to go searching for name, ran, serial # and one unit served.

Frank Grant mentioned the city clerk in the link above. So maybe there were records there, too...

[floydragsdale]

Hello Connie:

Not many years after WWII there was a nationwide effort to encourage Veterans to go to their local courthouse and have their discharge papers (copied) recorded. Then, in case of any mishap in the future, the veteran could go there and get copies made & in most cases, at no charge to the Veteran. I did that in 1955 and to this day I can have copies made. I did that not too many months ago and as usual, at no charge to me.

Floyd

[connie]

Floyd,

This is very helpful info!

It's good to know that these papers may have been filed well into the '50's. I see Dad's were filed immediately after his return in 1945. Of course your return to the states was a bit later...

One distinction blurs for me. Dad's hometown was also the county seat so when he went to a courthouse in our hometown, it was a County Courthouse & the papers registered are stamped with a county seal. Is the courthouse where copies of your papers reside also a county courthouse?

Connie

[floydragsdale]

Hi Connie:

Yes, my discharge papers were copied & filed here in Knox County, IL (the county seat of Knox Co.). Yet, when I was discharged my home was in Indiana. I cannot remember for certain but I may ave had my Discharge papers copied & registered there also.

Floyd

[connie]

Floyd,

That makes sense. You probably have military papers filed at county seats in 2 different states!

[connie]

Discharge Paper Contents/ missing units

Several people have expressed dismay or confusion over the fact that discharge papers did not show all the units a soldier had served in. Floyd shed a little light on this fact with his experience with these papers in a post on June 7, 2013:
To read the post in context check here.
106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=looking&thread=795&page=2#2899

And here's what he said:
"While being discharged from the Army in April 1946, I was given the choice of what outfit would be named on the separation papers, the 106th Division, or the Organization that I had been transferred into in August 1945.

Of course, I selected the 106th Division."

[connie]

New Identity After OCS

One thing I hadn't realized until I began looking at Dad's papers is that apparently when a soldier graduated from OCS, it was as if he became an entirely new person. Dad received an honorable discharge from the old rank, serial #, and military history dated the day before his graduation. And he was issued a new serial number and rank (2nd Lt.) upon graduation.

The Honorable Discharge paper I described a few posts above was actually the one issued when Dad shed his old identity. It was issued at the Fort where he received his Officer Candidate School training. This first Honorable Discharge paper listed only his pre-OCS rank, serial, number, with a generic background as "Atchd Usgd OC Regt," It told nothing of the two years or so of service before OCS. There is an Enlisted Record which covers the history thru OCS including shots, campaign, ribbons, date of induction etc. but no unit numbers.

The paper releasing him post war (and also filed with the county) is entitled Army of the United States Certificate of Service. It gives dates of military service beginning the day he graduated from OCS and his serial number as an officer. And although he was moved around among several field artillery units within the 106th, this paper gives only the final unit.

In short, I don't know what military policy is on this paperwork today, but the WWII Army certainly did not make the work of a researcher easy. If other records were lost and you're depending on papers filed at the county level, you have a start, but there may be a whole lot of detective work awaiting you, even if the two identities as an enlisted man and as an officer are not part of the equation. If your relative did enlist and later go through OCS, be aware that there are probably two serial numbers and two separate sets of records involved.

May the force be with you!

PS. Question: Floyd, what you filed with the county... was it just a single paper (your honorable discharge or certificate of service?) or was there supporting documentation with more info?

[floydragsdale]

Connie:

My discharge certificate and Enlisted Record & Report of Separation papers were recorded at the County Court house way back in 1955.

Floyd

[connie]

Floyd,

Thanks. This helps. I don't know if everyone filed supporting documents, but it gives hope for at least more than a serial # and a unit.

Hometown Newspapers

Roger makes this suggestion as a research resource:
106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=looking&thread=404&page=1#1354
Quoting what he said there:

If your father was from a town where there was a "home town newspaper" you might want to check it out. Talk to the local library....they probably have the papers on micro-film. The information will probably be found in a "News of Our Boys in the Service" column or something similar. It is a tedious job to read through all of them (select the years your father was in the service)...but they turned up a great deal of information in my searching for info about my dad.

[floydragsdale]

Online Public Library/ Newspaper notes!!!

Connie

Not many days ago I was on the internet fooling around. Using a search engine (such as Google) I typed the name of my old hometown and public library. Holy cow, It worked. That library had the town news-paper (a weekly) on microfilm & on the internet. I was able to search papers dating as far back as one-hundred plus years ago.

Also, when I took my discharge papers to the local County Court House, the clerks didn’t ask questions such as “Did you bring all of your papers? “

It was up to the person bringing them in to do that. I’m not certain if the Courthouse people were trained in that sort of thing, or not. After all, the service was free to the veteran. I know that many local WWII veterans took advantage of the opportunity to have their Discharge papers copied & recorded at the Courthouse.

Floyd

[connie]

Long Distance Searches: Internet, Libraries & Museums
Wow!! That's an amazing tip, Floyd! It's certainly worth checking out before leg work has to be done!

I'm 3, 000 miles away from the local libraries, courthouses, and museums that might be of interest to me.

The last time I checked on the local newspaper I was not doing the slow job of checking for individual posts on hometown individual soldier news. I was looking for some front page headlines over a brief period. Long distance I learned that the microfilm copies of my hometown newspaper were housed, not in the library, but in the local museum. Nothing there was on line at the time, but through e-mail communication and check or credit card (forget the payment form) I was able to procure copies of the requested headlines (from microfilm) that were sent to me as e-mail attachments.

But to be able to view microfilm copies on line would really be slick...

[connie]

FINDING YOUR FATHER'S WAR- a book filled with research tips. 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/2853/thread

Highly recommended by one member of this discussion board.

[jrwentz]

Former POW Medical History
2900-0427 VA Form 10-0048

omb.report/icr/200610-2900-001/doc/565901

This link takes you to a four page form that former POWS may have filled out for the VA. If your father or grandfather lived past 1980 he may have filled out this form for treatment and benefit information. My Dad kept a copy of the form with answers with his medical records. There are 64 questions and many of them have multiple parts - up to 44 parts (Question #40). My Dad's form was created in April 1983 but appears to be the same questions as the current form at the above link. Very informative about the soldier's experience from the time he was captured to his liberation and experiences after the war related to being a POW. 

I would first try to find a copy of this form with your loved one's medical records if those have been saved. If not, you can contact the VA to see if you can obtain a copy. The VA provides this guidance:

www.va.gov/long-beach-health-care/medical-records-office/
You can get the records of a deceased patient if you have:

A copy of their death certificate
A valid photo ID for yourself
Any POA paperwork or will showing you have a legal right to their record

Many soldiers were interviewed by doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists at various times after the war if they were seeking or receiving VA benefits. I have found three copies of reports from the late 40s and early 50s. These are very informative about physical and mental issues they were experiencing, as well as how they were doing socially and at work.