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I (Harley Tuck Jr, son of the Veteran whose experiences are
described in this website) have gotten many requests from people
who saw this website and emailed me saying, '...My father was on a B-17
in England, his name was GI Joe. He died last year without telling
me anything about his war experiences. Do you have any
information about him? "
Aside from being heartwrenching, requests like these are fated to get a negative response. But I've gotten enough of them that I put together this page to help interested people search for information on the war experience of a Veteran family member. Of course, most of these methods also work for nonrelatives, but many of the Government- maintained records are only open to the Vet or the official next of kin.
[Disclaimer! Thousands of women served our country in many capacities, both near-combatant and non. I mean no slight to them when I refer to the Vet as a male. It's just a matter of keeping the writing simple that I do so, not out of disrespect or ignoring their contribution to America's freedom.]
The first thing to remember is that, like so much of life, what you'll get out of the search is proportional to the amount of effort you put in. The fact that there are people who do these searches for pay implies that it can take quite a bit of effort to get a thorough enough result that somebody'd be willing to pay for it. If, for whatever reason, you want to go this route, get on your web browser and look for "Geneology Research" or "Family Research Service", or other similar phrases. I have never dealt with any of these people so I have no recommendations, except to BEWARE! This area of endeavor is ripe for scams and you must watch out for people who'll take your money and give you little or nothing.
That said, let's move on to how to do it yourself.
What I have assembled here is a general overview of the process I followed
myself, then some specific resources I've come across to use in your search.
Like I mentioned, you put some time and effort into your search and you will
come away with at least satisfactory results. Armed with a few facts
about the Vet, a bare minimum of an evening's search of the web will net
you information you never knew before. If you have little or no
information besides the Vet's name it'll take longer, but be patient-
the information is out there!
This process results in a geometric growth in results coming back- each
new return will mention new things to look up at the library, surf
the Web for or ask relatives about. Your search will start out slow
then grow and pick up speed, eventually getting more interesting and capable
of taking up as much time as you want to put into it. But man, can
it be rewarding!
1. First you gather your information.
You start with the Vet's full name as he was known when he went into the Service. Then get his Social Security Number, date of birth, place of residence when entering the Military. Every detail may be important- interview relatives, family friends, ex- spouses, anybody who might have known the Vet or gotten letters from him or have recieved paperwork about him. For years one of my sisters possessed the only official paperwork proving my dad had been a POW, but she never thought to mention it until somebody asked her.
INTERVIEW THE VET, for cripes sake! The most common statement made by Vets when they finally start talking about their experiences is "Well, nobody asked me, I thought nobody cared." Talk to him before he dies and it's too late.
Interview your relatives, ask to see any old newspapers or paperwork or souvenirs they may have gotten from or about the Vet.
The very basic, most primitive search you can do on your Vet is to go to
a web search engine like www.google.com (there are dozens of others) and
type in the Vet's name. Surround the name in quotes (e.g., "Joe Veteran")
and use what he was usually called at the time in question. For example,
during the war my Dad was known as simply "Harley Tuck"- I, the Junior, had
not yet arrived on the scene. This works pretty well if the Vet's
name is fairly unusual. Note that not all of the search results will
relate to the Vet in question. The search results are simply the URL's
(web addresses) of web pages on which that name appears. If the Vet's
name is "John Smith", then every web page containing those two words next
to each other will be returned. One might try a pair of quoted search
terms, putting them both in the search term text area: "John Smith" "447th
Bomb Group". This will return URL's of pages that mention both sets
of search terms on the same page.
The next thing to find out is what Service was he in, the Navy, the Army, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Coast Guard or Merchant Marine? That'll determine what kind of info you look for and what you can ignore. For example, if your Vet "John Smith" was in the Army Air Corps, a "John Smith" mentioned on a Navy Unit site can probably be ignored. Keep in mind that military Units grow and evolve on large and small scales: what is now called the Air Force was part of the Army until part way through WWII. Also, units of fighter (a.k.a., "pursuit") planes converted to the Air Force before the bomber units! The Seabees were formed by the Navy early in the War; before that their work was performed by collections of sailors who had construction experience, or civilian contractors. The Merchant Marine served as a civillian subcontractor to the Navy and handled convoys of military materiel and even saw combat through much of the War so during certain periods they had actual military status, but not at other times.
What was the name of the Unit he was in? A Unit's full and complete
name tells exactly where in the military it is. There are what might
be considered high, medium and low level designations (though not formally
called that), each reflecting an organizational subdivision. Each
Service uses different terms and organizational structures and I am only
familiar with the Army but the principle is the same in all Services.
Harley Sr's Unit's full designation was, from the top down:
High: US Army
8th
Army Air Force
Medium: 4th Air Division
447th Bomb Group
Low: 708th Bomber Squadron
Crew
#5
(This 'High', 'Medium', 'Low' designation is not official military jargon...)
There will be more mentions of the higher level organizational units but
the information will be less specific to your Vet's experiences.
What country did he see action in? Get the names of any geographic locations he may have been in or passed through.
What kind of work did he do, radio operator, gunner, pilot, construction, ground crew, infantry? Remember, even though each specialty may have an administrative Corps that regulates it, not all specialists 'belonged' to that Corps. For example, even though I was a field medic in an Infantry unit and the Army Medical Service Corps regulates all Medics, I would look for information on my unit by researching the Infantry unit I was in, not the Medical Service Corps, at least not until I had run out of better leads.
2. Locate resources that you have access to, like libraries, and National Archives.
The Internet/ World Wide Web is a wonderful, massive repository of information but it does not contain all knowledge. There are 10 'National Archives and Record Administration' (NARA) locations around the US, each specializing in a certain area of Government documentation. They also store information outside their specialty. Indexes to their information is on the web but not the information itself. Go to the NARA website (http://www.nara.gov/) and check the map for the location of the one nearest you. They're awesome.
Your local library is the doorway to a vast treasury of information. Most libraries are part of a network from which they can request resources they don't have in- house. Even if you have incomplete information, librarians are usually REALLY helpful to people trying to find things if the the librarian isn't expected to do all the work.
Locate the Veterans' Affairs office nearest you. If your info about the Vet is scanty, this will be the place to start your search. Go down to the VA office and get the forms needed to obtain a copy of the Vet's DD-214, the discharge papers. You'll need the Vet to sign the papers, or if he's deceased, you'll need to document your status as his Next of Kin. The DD-214 can take a couple months to arrive, so in the meantime chase down other leads. See the NARA website above for complete information on getting the DD-214.
The local Disabled American Veterans' (DAV) Association will likely be physically located in or near the VA office. The DAV's mission is to help Veterans pursue any interactions they have with the US Government. They typically have deep and extensive knowledge of how to get information out of the Government. They or the VA office can help you find the Reunion Association of your Vet's Unit, for example.
3. Send out the first wave of requests for information.
Send off for that DD-214.
If you've read this far you know enough to find heaps of info on the World Wide Web. Surf the Web for your Vet's Unit. Just fire up your web browser, go to a search engine (Yahoo, Google, any of dozens of others, or just hit the 'Search The Internet' button on your browser) and type in the Unit's name. For example, I struck gold by searching on "447th Bomb Group". If you look at the Sources page of this website, you'll see that many military units have websites which typically have Unit histories, contact information, pictures of the old Station.
Surf the Web for the name of the ship he served on, or maybe the ship he sailed home from the war on. Look for shipping records in the library or on the Web. Look for the name of the nearest town to the Unit- many English towns have their histories, along with memorials and websites to honor the American military that served there. In any case you might get a glimpse of some of the non- combat activities the Vet saw.
Write a letter or email the representative of the Reunion Association for your Vet's Unit.
4. When all that comes in, you look at it for ideas on where to look for more
Ok, you found out that he was a Radio Operator in a B-17, and flew missions over Germany from a base in England. That's a start. Until you get that DD-214 you can research the B-17, WWII England, bombers in WWII and what they did, to get a background on the world your Vet lived and fought in.
If you already have a copy of the DD-214, or when you get it, it contains a wealth of information. Dates of service, branch of the military, rank at discharge, place of separation, medals earned, campaigns participated in, Military schools attended- tons of stuff! Most likely, a decent sized book- type library will have government reference materials where you can look up things like the campaigns, unit assignments, sometimes even unit rosters. Dang, seeing your Vet's name in a book that hasn't left its shelf in years is a real thrill. If your library is scanty, search for this stuff on the Web; there's probably more than you imagine, and you'll always find things you never expected. Or take a weekend trip to the nearest big city with a large library system and check out what they have.
5. Repeat from # 1.
Any time now, even if your Vet has himself contributed nothing to the history you're building, you should be able to write the Vet's story from when he entered the Military, where he went for training, when and where he was in combat and how he got home. You'll have stories of daily life in his unit or one just like his and you'll know what sort of things he experienced. If there are any gaps in the narrative, make note of them and go back to your sources and fill them in. By now you know how to do it.
If the Vet is still alive and willing to talk he will probably suffer
from at least some memory loss. After all, this stuff happened more
than 50 years ago and the memories may have not been stirred up since.
Go over your notes and information with the Vet and BE SURE you record it!
You both may be amazed at the memories that start to flow.
A hard reality here is that not all Vets are just waiting for their
memories to be tapped. Plenty of them have gone through horrible
experiences which they remember perfectly well- actions they view as
atrocities that
they participated in or were subjected to- and have remembered in every
waking moment since the war. Not all Vets are able to face their
memories even though they are many dozens of years in the past. I
got an email from a man who had participated in killing a German prison
camp guard and it was clear that he had never forgiven himself for it-
he was
prepared to die and go to eternal Hell but he would not forgive himself
for what he had done and had never told anybody about it. If your
Vet is one of these tortured by his memories even after all these
years,
the only thing I can suggest is finding a VA Hospital nearby and trying
to locate somebody in the counselling department who is willing to
contact
your Vet and try to help him start to deal with the horrors his
memories
are giving him. At worst, the Vet will refuse to participate and
continue
on as he has been; at best one more human savaged by war will find
comfort
in their final years and perhaps be able to leave his own story for his
family
and others to cherish.
It's worth it, I tell you. But by this point you probably won't need any convincing.