How Can I Find Out Details Of My Father’s Army Career During Wwii?

February 7, 2010 – 10:53 am

My father fought at the tail end of WWII in the Army in Germany, and was there during the liberation of the concentration camps. He refused to talk about it, and now that he’s passed away, and after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, I’m inclined to get more information about what his experiences may have been. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave much information behind, and I don’t even know the details of his enlistment. Is there a way I can research that information on my own?

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  1. 2 Responses to “How Can I Find Out Details Of My Father’s Army Career During Wwii?”

  2. You can get a kind of synopsis of his service record from “Archives.” It’s called a DD-214. But just request his service records… everything you can get.http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrec…
    You might have to get your mom or dad (whichever is his next of kin) to request them since archives tends to require proof of relationship because service records are protected by the Privacy Act.
    There will be no detail, but it will indicate the medals and ribbons he was entitled to wear. When a medal or ribbon is awarded, it is usually accompanied with a description of what he did to earn it. But these are presented with the medal/ribbon, and if he hasn’t the medals, the ribbons, or the presentation folder, I’m afraid those are lost.
    The records should list the unit(s) to which he was attached. Many of the units have Web sites. These might provide information or have a contact phone or link where you an go for more assistance.
    That’s all the official resources I can think of.
    However, there are two sources of information that might help you… stress “might”… the VFW and a Veterans Home. There may be Veterans of some of the same campaigns who’ve earned the same ribbons/medals.

    By gugliamo on Feb 7, 2010

  3. Good luck, me and my family are in the same situation, all we have is my grandfathers discharge paper. It contains very little info. You can try here for more info.http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrec…

    By Justin on Feb 7, 2010

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