trying to find my fathers military records

[bjr]

I'm trying to find my father military records. My goodness there's bunch of scammers trying to get money for something that should readily accessible and FREE. He was a WWII veteran and served in the navy up in the Aleutians on what he called a sub chaser. I would like to know the names of the ships he served on and his ratings. Does anyone know of a NO BS site I can get this information? I'm now 70 years old and would like some information/history to pass along to his Great Grand Children. bjr

 

[jeff9366]

There was a giant government warehouse in St. Louis that archived paper service records for WW2 and Korean War veterans. It burned to the ground around 2009.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Contact your nearest American Legend. Thats one of the things they do best. No scams either

 

[Molalla1]

Contact your nearest American Legend. Thats one of the things they do best. No scams either

Great answer and you can also contact the VFW.

 

[AWSubie]

Www.archives.gov

 

[kcflhrc]

There was a giant government warehouse in St. Louis that archived paper service records for WW2 and Korean War veterans. It burned to the ground around 2009.

My Dad's records were there and not destroyed. Korean Vet. lots of records destroyed but not all.

 

[cqaigy2]

There was a giant government warehouse in St. Louis that archived paper service records for WW2 and Korean War veterans. It burned to the ground around 2009.

That's as far as i was able to get when looking for my dad's records. Seems they went up in smoke unfortunately. I have a few flight training books used for recording flying lessons. Hopefully you will have better luck.

 

[Alan W.]

Same when I was looking for my Grandfathers records. Burnt. But I was lucky to have most of his navy service documents that had been saved by my Grandmother.

 

[dmccarty]

Yeah, I think my family members records got burnt up too. What little I did find, did not make much sense, and created more questions than answers. It really is sad because the family members had extensive military service, including combat, and we know nothing. Course, the family members kept all of this to themselves and did not discuss anything with anyone in the family. It seems to have been all lost to history.

Later,
Dan

 

[JCoastie]

I used the archives.gov site listed above to get my father's records about a decade ago. Being military myself I could understand the records, but the records back then are probably not what you'd be expecting. They are good to have, but they are not a detailed account of military service. You may see things that were signed at a specific unit, or awards earned at a specific unit, but you won't find anything like a chronological history of units or locations. My DD214 from 5 years ago doesn't even have that.