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A little help from our military members

Roger63

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With my father's recent passing my sister and I realized how little we knew about his military service. There were no dog tags, no record of his serial number nor was there any military souvenirs in the house. All we know is he enlisted in 1945 and was given a hardship discharge in 1947. Do any of you have any access to service info? Any help would be appreciated.
 
What kind of info are you looking for?
 
Anything about his time in the army, we know nothing other than what I posted.
 
Nowadays everything is based off of our social security number. But there was a time when not everyone had one. His info may be a little harder to find, especially digital, but I'm sure that link will get you in the right direction. You may have to actually mail in for a hard copy.
 
It might be a challenge to get records. It was either late 60s or early 70s a huge storage facility that housed service records in the St. Louis area burned down. My father's records were some of those that perished.luckily he had his discharge papers at home. Not trying to be a dudely downer, but just letting you know if you cant find anything on his service history a possible reason why.
If you know where he enlisted (town) check with the library...go old school ( micro fische) and see if there is any reference to local newspaper having an article or two about people enlisting..it might be s starting place for you and your family.
Best of luck
 
He did have a social security number, the need for more information is more like curiosity. I spent a couple of hours talking to his brother, the last of 7 brothers. They all served, Merle Gene Jerry and Dale all in ww2. Jack my dad, immediately after ww2 Jim in Korea and John in Vietnam. I learned things that were taboo while they were all alive. It just made me curious.
 
A lot of people don't like to talk about it.
 
In your case I wish you find out more for the sake of family history
 
As posted, the National Records Center is the go to place.
Only part of the center that was in Pagedale, MO burned (or was it Overland). Some records were lost, some were salvaged. They still work on it.
They built a new facility north of STL a few years ago.
Be patient. A retired USAF friend worked there for a short time. Employees shuffled files around making it look like they were overworked. They even told him to slow down, he was making them look bad.
He told the admin and promptly quit.
That was at the old center.
 
They for some reason don't like to talk about things like that!
I guess I get it I didn't know much about my grandfather s service until he was near death then medal started appearing and take home bayonets from ww2 started coming out too!
My mother didn't know much she said he sat at a desk.... Witch obviously didn't happen you don't get shot at at a desk nor get cool bayonets and the metal s he got.
So ..... Army aircore!
Then there's my other grandpa no one but my uncle and father knew he was in the service not much info I found his foot locker one day that's why I found out he would have been to young for ww2 so not sure on him .

Couldn't find records on ether . only know what family knows . I did find another ww2 vet ended up living across the street from him he remembers my grandfather from the war he saw the picture I had and said his name out of thin air so maybe ask around at vfw's you might get lucky
 
I found some info on my father on ancestry.com. Including his military enlistment. Not much else there but the record.
 
Have a cousin that was an Army Medic in Nam in the mid 60's.....and never said a word about it. At least not to me. My x BIL did two tours in Nam and loved it. Even went down in a helo but made it out ok. He's a war monger and doesn't mind talking about any of it and said the best part was being on a swift boat. He loved 'wasting' ammo....
 
Go to your county Veterans Office, they will help you out and also help with a Military funeral if wanted. VSO, Veteran Service Office, every county has one.
 
Thank you all for your assistance, it will definitely get me pointed in the right direction.
 
It's one of those things. People on bar stools telling war stories are almost always fakes. Those who were there have to keep it inside and go nuts at night. Being killed in a war is bad, surviving one is infinitely worse. If you were really there, would you be telling everyone at Safeway how much fun you had, or would you be trying to forget?
 
I never wanted details from any of them, just the history. And yes I can pick out a fake .
 
I had an older friend many years ago who served in Vietnam for the NZ SAS...he never said much about his experiences there. I managed to get out of him one day that he was confronted by a child of around 12, with a rifle, and it was him or the child.

Another guy I worked with in the 80's (Colin), was also served with the NZ SAS in Vietnam - very similar, although he became a Mormon later in life to help heal the mental pain. He did enjoy telling me about the training camps here in NZ...boxing matches with other soldiers. Colin would fight with one hand tied behind his back....and still beat the crap out of other guys. I believe him too, because I could see how athletic he was working with him...Colin was like a gorilla the way he could swing through open-frame houses, while carrying drums of cable. :) A real gentleman and a pleasure to work with.
 
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