Basic Research
Basic research can help you learn about a veteran, a unit, a base or airfield, individual ships, or something else. If you want to know more about the unit(s) your veteran served in, basic research can help you. If you want to know more about where he/she was stationed, basic research may be able to help you. For example, ship’s logs contain information about daily occurrences when your veteran was aboard. Army morning reports detail the status of a unit on a daily basis. Station reports can do the same for bases, airfields, and other military installations. After action reports provide information about any engagements/battles in which the unit was involved.
Basic Research
Basic research can help you learn about a veteran, a unit, a base or airfield, individual ships, or something else. If you want to know more about the unit(s) your veteran served in, basic research can help you. If you want to know more about where he/she was stationed, basic research may be able to help you. For example, ship’s logs contain information about daily occurrences when your veteran was aboard. Army morning reports detail the status of a unit on a daily basis. Station reports can do the same for bases, airfields, and other military installations. After action reports provide information about any engagements/battles in which the unit was involved.
Personnel Files
Much of what I do centers on personnel files. If you have some basic information about your veteran, his/her personnel file may be available. Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs) provide capsule information about a veteran’s enlistment, training, duty stations, promotions, transfers, discharge, and more. Many files contain a photograph taken during basic training. Please be aware that a massive fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis in 1973 destroyed millions of Army and Air Force personnel files. Approximately 80% of Army personnel files from 1912 -1960, and 75% of Air Force personnel files from 1947-1964 were destroyed. However, some 6.5 million fire and water damaged records were recovered and preserved. To learn more about the fire and file recovery, you can read this information from the National Personnel Records Center: https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/fire-1973?_ga=2.154878974.77837564.1685560013-698095071.1682954359
Deceased Personnel Files
When a service member is killed in action or dies from other causes, a deceased personnel file is generated. In World War I, this was called a Burial Case File. In the 1940s, it became known as an Individual Deceased Personnel File and by the 1960s such files were called Mortuary Files. Deceased personnel files also exist for those listed as missing in action. I work mainly with World War I and World War II files. Generally, those contain official reports and correspondence regarding the death of the individual, correspondence with next of kin, documents related to any search for missing personnel, and information on burial location and repatriation of remains.