fortworthgal
Call Me a Cab
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My grandfather served in WWII and his records were also lost in the fire in the 70s. He was KIA in November 1944, and is buried in the cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. Very little of his information had survived - I had no paperwork, no service number, only a name and a couple of photos from basic training to go on. His wife, my grandmother, had passed on, and the only person who had any information about him (or cared) was my father, and he didn't like to talk about it much as my grandfather died when he was very young, so I felt uncomfortable asking. To date I have been unable to locate a single person that served with or remembers my grandfather.
Through much perseverance over a period of about 4 years, I have pieced together his service record and gotten copies of most of his service papers, entirely on my own. So, hopefully I can offer a little advice.
The first thing you need to do is fill out a form and mail it off to the National Personnel Records Center. List yourself as next of kin. It takes a while, but they are very helpful and will mail you the information you requested, or as much as they can. Even though my grandfather's records were also destroyed in the fire, they still had copies of several items they were able to mail me - including copies of letters my grandmother had handwritten to the War Department asking for his belongings! Be warned they are VERY slow - it was 6 months to a year before I got any response on this. This should help:
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/mil...-form-180.html
If he is interred overseas in a military cemetery, the ABMC will provide a photo of his grave and more information, free of charge. Their website is www.abmc.gov
I also found this website to be invaluable:
http://members.aol.com/dadswar/index.htm
You may also want to try the American War Orphans Network - http://www.awon.org/
I have also picked up a copy of his unit's service history during WWII (9th Division, "Eight Stars to Victory"), and there is also a website that sells reprints of WWII combat reports that may be helpful to you: http://www.militaryunits.com/
The first thing you need to do is fill out a form and mail it off to the National Personnel Records Center. List yourself as next of kin. It takes a while, but they are very helpful and will mail you the information you requested, or as much as they can. Even though my grandfather's records were also destroyed in the fire, they still had copies of several items they were able to mail me - including copies of letters my grandmother had handwritten to the War Department asking for his belongings! Be warned they are VERY slow - it was 6 months to a year before I got any response on this. This should help:
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/mil...-form-180.html
If he is interred overseas in a military cemetery, the ABMC will provide a photo of his grave and more information, free of charge. Their website is www.abmc.gov
I also found this website to be invaluable:
http://members.aol.com/dadswar/index.htm
You may also want to try the American War Orphans Network - http://www.awon.org/
I have also picked up a copy of his unit's service history during WWII (9th Division, "Eight Stars to Victory"), and there is also a website that sells reprints of WWII combat reports that may be helpful to you: http://www.militaryunits.com/