Topic: Family WW2 stuff

[NickC]

This was a Christmas present from my mom. She talked to my great-aunt and got her to dig up some of my great-grandfathers stuff from when he was in the Coast Guard.
     He was an Electronic Technician Mate 1st class (reservist) during WW2, stationed in Greenland for a few years.  He died when I was about 14 though, so I never got to talk to him about any of it.  Hell, I didn't even know he was in the USCG until the night I graduated boot camp, when I talked to my great grandmother.  She told me he did a lot of work on ships and small boats, in preparation for the Invasion of Normandy.

From top to bottom: WW2 Victory ribbon, American Service Campaign ribbon, sterling USCG ID bracelet, Honorable Discharge pin off to the side, and his Good Conduct Medal on the bottom

[Bob Wessner]

I think it's nice to maintain and pass along these bits of family history. Helps to fill in blanks. Glad you were able to get them.

[72 yellow]

I have my dad's uniform jacket from the 5th Army Air Force.  I have all the ribbons attached.  Also a few pictures from Wewak in New Guinea, Luzon in the Phillipines and from Okinawa.  He did not have any pics from Japan when he was with the Army of Occupation.  I have his discharge papers and a few items he picked up in Japan. Another member of the Greatest Generation.

[domer]

next of kin, and i think its the immediate living next of kin can request the records of service from WWII. i tried to do it for my grandfather, but my dads still alive so i cant... ill see if i can dig up the info i had on it, they give you pretty much everything they have on the person, from where they enlisted to where they were discharged. but the US got sloppy as the war went on and they were recruiting/drafting by the tens of thousands. so sometimes there is a ton of info on a person, sometimes there is very little.... i have one grandfathers dog tags hanging from my rearview...

[72 yellow]

next of kin, and i think its the immediate living next of kin can request the records of service from WWII. i tried to do it for my grandfather, but my dads still alive so i cant... ill see if i can dig up the info i had on it, they give you pretty much everything they have on the person, from where they enlisted to where they were discharged. but the US got sloppy as the war went on and they were recruiting/drafting by the tens of thousands. so sometimes there is a ton of info on a person, sometimes there is very little.... i have one grandfathers dog tags hanging from my rearview...

If memory serves me, there was a large fire in the records center in St Louis back in the early 70's.  Most of the records lost were from WW2.

[Damfino]

If memory serves me, there was a large fire in the records center in St Louis back in the early 70's.  Most of the records lost were from WW2.

Actually, I think most of the lost records were Korean era? I know my dad's records were lost and he served in the Air Force from '50 to '55.


Edit: Here's what I found at Wikipedia...
Affected records
The losses to Federal military records collection included:

80% loss to records of U.S. Army personnel discharged November 1, 1912, to January 1, 1960[2]
75% loss to records of U.S. Air Force personnel discharged September 25, 1947, to January 1, 1964, with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.[2]
Some U.S. Army Reserve personnel who performed their initial active duty for training in the late 1950s but who received final discharge as late as 1964.
None of the records that were destroyed in the fire had duplicate copies made, nor had they been copied to microfilm. No index of these records was made prior to the fire, and millions of records were on loan to the Veterans Administration at the time of the fire. This made it difficult to precisely determine which records were lost.

[Bob Wessner]

Details on losses due to archive fire;

http://www.nvlsp.org/Information/ArticleLibrary/ServiceRecords/MILREC-1973FIRE-LOSTRECORDS.htm#What%20Was%20Lost

[Damfino]

Good link Bob!  Thanks!!

[Don R]

I inhereted responsibility for my uncles foot locker from WW2. It has most of his personal effects, flag and medals. He was KIA in Bouganville Soloman islands  4-4-44. Of course I never met him but know from hearing the stories about him my world would have been different had he survived.

[Frankencake]

It's not a war relic but I just got my dads flintlock pistol that he hand built in 1960.  He "lost" it when he and my mom split up.  He accused everyone in his life at one point or another of stealing it.  He asked me a few times if I knew where it was and he never stopped looking for it for 20 some years.  He went to all of the local gun shows since he was convinced that someone had stolen it.  He always said that he would know it from across the room if he saw it. 
A week or two before xmas ( a year + after my dad died) his "friend" showed up at my moms and said he "found" the gun in a cubby in a plastic bag and asked if I might want it.
I never thought I'd ever see that thing again but in pictures.  It's a beautiful .45 caliber colonial flintlock with a maple stock and an engraved sideplate.  It has his name, the year, and a Phoenix there. 
I am a bit leery of his "friend" show "found" the gun.  When I got it, there was clearly a lot of wear on the strike plate from dry firing and the area where the shooters hand would lay across the brass trigger guard was polished to a bright shine.  Somebody was playing with it a lot before I got it.  But, I got it.  I just wish I could give it to my dad.

[mick750F]

   I have all of my Dad's WWII mementos, records, keepsakes...etc., including a knife he made from a bayonet. No pics right now but if I manage to get around to it I'll post some pics here. Great idea for a thread.

Mike