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Thread: how do i find out the service record of a former US soldier.

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  1. #11
    Contributing Member Flying10uk's Avatar
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    In the U.K., and it may depend on which part you live?, if you use the public computers in your local library you get free access/use of Ancestry.com.

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    A Collector's View - The SMLE Short Magazine Lee Enfield 1903-1989. It is 300 8.5x11 inch pages with 1,000+ photo’s, most in color, and each book is serial-numbered.  Covering the SMLE from 1903 to the end of production in India in 1989 it looks at how each model differs and manufacturer differences from a collecting point of view along with the major accessories that could be attached to the rifle. For the record this is not a moneymaker, I hope just to break even, eventually, at $80/book plus shipping.  In the USA shipping is $5.00 for media mail.  I will accept PayPal, Zelle, MO and good old checks (and cash if you want to stop by for a tour!).  CLICK BANNER to send me a PM for International pricing and shipping. Manufacturer of various vintage rifle scopes for the 1903 such as our M73G4 (reproduction of the Weaver 330C) and Malcolm 8X Gen II (Unertl reproduction). Several of our scopes are used in the CMP Vintage Sniper competition on top of 1903 rifles. Brian Dick ... BDL Ltd. - Specializing in British and Commonwealth weapons Specializing in premium ammunition and reloading components. Your source for the finest in High Power Competition Gear. Here at T-bones Shipwrighting we specialise in vintage service rifle: re-barrelling, bedding, repairs, modifications and accurizing. We also provide importation services for firearms, parts and weapons, for both private or commercial businesses.
     

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    Contributing Member RASelkirk's Avatar
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    Dunno... My Dad's (Korea) records were lost in the '73 St. Louis fire even though their website only shows Army & Air Force records being affected. My sister worked hard to find out his history. She eventually got a copy of his record and he got a military presence at his burial ceremony...

    Russ

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    Legacy Member can14&'s Avatar
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    I tried the same thing to get information in UKicon. My Grandfather served in Ww1 and Ww2 in the Royal Navy, then
    Merchant marine. OBE DSC etc Ww1, sunk a submarine etc. Never got any information.Side note, sailed to NYC to pick up stuff for Russiaicon in
    Ww2, customs saw his pistols on his desk and seized them!! Never got them back. Canadaicon customs never bothered
    him over pistols, Canada was at War.

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    Contributing Member Flying10uk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by can14 View Post
    I tried the same thing to get information in UK. My Grandfather served in Ww1 and Ww2 in the Royal Navy, then
    Merchant marine. OBE DSC etc Ww1, sunk a submarine etc. Never got any information.
    If a former serviceman served in U.K. armed forces after 1939 you currently need to approach the MOD to access their service records but I don't believe that they have to give anyone access to the records. This may change in time if the records are released to public records. On a number of occasions, I have tried to find the service records of former Britishicon servicemen who served in both WW1 and WW2 but have never been successful. I concluded that the WW1 records were most likely held with the WW2 records by the MOD but I have not pursued the matter by contacting the MOD to ask. I, of course, don't know this for sure but it has been true in all the case which I have looked at.

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    Legacy Member RazorBurn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RASelkirk View Post
    Dunno... My Dad's (Korea) records were lost in the '73 St. Louis fire even though their website only shows Army & Air Force records being affected. My sister worked hard to find out his history. She eventually got a copy of his record and he got a military presence at his burial ceremony...

    Russ
    Same thing with my Grandfather's service records. I have a brief snippet of his service in Europe from Feb to April 1945 with Co. B 254th Infantry Regiment because of the webmaster of the 254th's website had some information on him, but that's it. I know he joined the Army on April 9, 1944, but he never would talk about the war in Europe at all. He would talk about boot camp, how cold the winter of 1944-45 was, but never anything about where he had been, or what he had seen.

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    Legacy Member Mk VII's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying10uk View Post
    If a former serviceman served in U.K. armed forces after 1939 you currently need to approach the MOD to access their service records but I don't believe that they have to give anyone access to the records. This may change in time if the records are released to public records. On a number of occasions, I have tried to find the service records of former Britishicon servicemen who served in both WW1 and WW2 but have never been successful. I concluded that the WW1 records were most likely held with the WW2 records by the MOD but I have not pursued the matter by contacting the MOD to ask. I, of course, don't know this for sure but it has been true in all the case which I have looked at.
    Service records of personnel discharged before 1921 are available to public scrutiny at the National Archives in Kew (microfilms). People who re-enlisted later, as many did, are still held back.
    The records office for WW1 ORs (or EMs if you're American) was bombed in 1940 and between a half and two-thirds of all records were entirely destroyed. Many of the remaining documents are damaged by fire and water. Records of officers, and of the Household Division, were stored elsewhere and are not affected.
    Some records were removed before this to the Ministry of Pensions' custody, probably in connection with pension claims, and have been found there.

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    Contributing Member Flying10uk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mk VII View Post
    Service records of personnel discharged before 1921 are available to public scrutiny at the National Archives in Kew (microfilms). People who re-enlisted later, as many did, are still held back.
    Do you know if there is any likelihood, in the foreseeable future, of the U.K. military service records being made publicly available for the WW2 period up to perhaps 1950 or to the end of the Korean War?

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    Legacy Member Paul S.'s Avatar
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    I suspect they like NSW Birth Deaths and Marriages registrars, are 'time locked' based upon youngest aged person (average or anticipated) plus ~100 years.

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    Legacy Member Mk VII's Avatar
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    I don't think they have any plans to do so in the foreseeable future.

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