November Meeting: WWI and WWII Research

Happy reminder of our next EWGS meeting, this next Saturday, November 2nd. 

EWGS member Sue Richart is coming down from Colville to teach us about doing World War I and World War II research. 

Her handout is available on our EWGS website; please print it out for yourself to bring along as there will be very limited copies that day.

Hope you'll come and learn about doing some military history research taught by a really knowledgeable presenter.

WWII Enlistment Records Online at NARA

Dick Eastman's column today had an article on the WWII Enlistment records that NARA has just transcribed and put online (http://www.archives.gov/aad ). Click on WWII records when you get to this website. I found the enlistment record for both my dad and his younger brother. I knew most of the information on the record for my dad, and parts of the information on my uncle.

What You Missed: The June 2009 Computer Class

If you missed today's computer class, "Honoring Your Ancestors and Loved Ones at the National World War II Memorial," presented by EWGS member Carol West Nettles, then you certainly missed out! Carol started out with an interesting and factual slide show on the purpose of the memorial, when, where and how it was created, and photos highlighting its details and symbols. She went on to give us a tour of the National World War II Memorial website (http://www.wwiimemorial.com), guiding us through the searches and then giving us a tutorial on how to register to be a contributor to the site.

This website is free to use and you can honor your relatives or friends who either a) died serving their country during the war; b) are/were a veteran of the war; or c) were a civilian during the war but contributed in some manner, either as a spouse of a veteran, a civilian worker, or someone who was a member of the Greatest Generation and did their everyday part to win the war. I love that you can honor ordinary citizens as well as veterans and I've already decided to add my maternal grandmother, who worked in a factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan where airplane wings were manufactured. Of course, I'll add my three veteran grandfathers (two biological and one step), their combined seven brothers who served, and my paternal grandmother's brother who was in the Navy. I'm sure I'll find a few veteran brothers-in-law to add. I'll also add the women of that generation. Adding loved ones is free; contributing a photo to their memorial page costs $10.

If you're a member of EWGS and would like a syllabus of today's class, please contact me.

Also, members can contact me to sign up for the July 2009 computer class, "Using FamilySearchIndexing.org to Find Your Ancestors & Help Other Researchers," presented by Donna Potter Phillips. This class will be held July 18th in the Gates Computer Lab on the second floor of the downtown public library during two sessions: 10:15 to 11:15 AM and 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Computer classes are free and are open to EWGS members only. If you are not a member and would like to become one, you can see information on our website here and download a form. Membership is normally $25 a year; however, if you join after July 1st, you need only pay $15.

Spokane's Lost Battalion Veteran Remembers The War

This morning's front page story in Spokane, Washington's local paper, The Spokesman-Review, is about Fred Shiosaki, a Japanese-American who served in the Lost Battalion, which will be featured in Episode 5 of Ken Burn's The War on PBS tomorrow evening. The links include audio interviews of Mr. Shiosaki, and the site's home page (on 29 Sep 2007, only) includes a photograph of the veteran:

Shiosaki was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 3rd Battalion, Company K, which spent a week on a wooded ridge in northern France trying to break through to the Lost Battalion, a unit from Texas that was surrounded by German troops. He was wounded by shrapnel – not seriously, he adds, but enough for a Purple Heart and five points towards his discharge – and many of his unit were killed. Scenes of the casualties in the documentary might jog some unpleasant memories.

“I know I saw them get killed but I can’t remember anything about it,” the 83-year-old said this week in an interview.

Unlike many Japanese-Americans who were relocated to interment camps, Spokane's "enemy aliens" were not, probably because the city is located so far from the Pacific Coast; thus they were not considered such a "threat." Spokane has a good-sized Japanese-American population with a proud, celebrated heritage, which directly or indirectly influences most Spokanites today.

The Spokesman-Review archives most of its articles into pay-per-view format after only one day, so read it now! You can also purchase a month-long online subscription for only $7 here, which will give you access to all portions of their website.

NPRC Fire in 1973...All (Hope) was Not Lost

At the National Archives and Records Administration booth at the recent FGS conference, I picked up a copy of the free book, "Reference Information Paper 109, Military Service Records at the National Archives," compiled 2007 by Trevor K. Plante. On page 109 I learned something new...and encouraging.

Page 108 tells about the disastrous fire at the National Personnel Records Center that destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files...then page 109: "No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor were microfilm copies ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Nevertheless, NPRC-MPR uses many alternate sources in its efforts to reconstruct basic service information to respond to requests."

My good friend realized this when she requested her father's records from WWII service with the 10th Mountain Division. She was sent paperwork and documents that while they were not the "official" paperwork, were wonderful to receive and furnished information she did not have.

So you WWII record-seekers, take heart. All was not lost.

And perhaps request a copy of this free booklet for your own use? Your genealogical society's use?