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I personally handled research requests like yours for USAF/AAC/AAF veterans and their relatives. Because we had Army roots, I'm sure some of my observations apply to your case. You need to work both official and unofficial channels. Near the top of the Office of History food chain, you will find beltway academics concerned chiefly with publishing books and monographs on strategy or some obscure expedition no one cares about. You will likely get a nice form letter for your trouble. That's OK. Don't expect instant gratification from a government agency. The National Archives is a fantastic resource for photographs--I have no experience requesting anything else from them. It looks like they've evolved quite a bit in terms of records requests. Some services had an office of history that dotted lined from Washington right down to the majcom and combat unit levels; beneath that it was a volunteer/ancillary duty. Assigned personnel wrote and maintained the official record of their units, and copies were bound and mailed off to reside in permanent storage (Maxwell AFB, in the Air Force's case). These organizations generally maintained contact with their lineal predecessors, even if it wasn't an uninterrupted line between units and there were major changes in mission/weapon systems. That said, they also have access to unofficial histories written by self-appointed Mickey Spillanes either during the conflict, or years later through self-published works by reunion groups. Some of these veterans groups eventually took to the web as well. The 44th Bomb Group is one of a zillion examples. http://www.8thairforce.com/44thbg/ In your case, these might be a start: http://dg-adbc.org/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Apouu1ZLpN8cdGVOb2hsSUZVcXFHb3NRUlpfWDFpMEE#gid=0 The key to navigating this and plotting out your project (it is going to be a bit like genealogy) is, as you know, finding out what units he served in. From there, you hit the modern active duty descendants, AND the WWII veteran's group that bears the unit name/number, AND post to every relevant forum, AND ask the National Archives for any pictures pictures related to said combat units, etc. Believe it or not, letters to any of your relatives would hold key information--up through the 1980s, Service/Social Security numbers were ON THE OUTSIDE OF ENVELOPES. If you hit dead ends, make your congressman get off his fat rear end and do something useful. It's amazing what a piece of letterhead will do sometimes. Obviously, act quickly with the WWII vets. They're still sharp as hell, some of them, and have astounding recall. One of these people met or knew your grandfather. Also--in a lot of cases, the best information was kept in personal scrapbooks. They may not take the trouble to send them off to the right place before they check out, or as I've witnessed, they get strewn all over the floor by estate sale vultures. I've helped preserve a lot of this stuff in recent years--the thought of having it go to File 13 makes me want to put my fist through a wall. There is no need to throw money at anyone for this. The custodians of these memories will welcome the opportunity to share, and to receive even the small amount of info you provided here. Best of luck--it was rewarding for me, and it will be doubly so for you.
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Oct 8, 2014 02:23
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 07:57 |
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