I'm sorry to ask this question if it's been asked before but here goes: I'm looking for a relative's service records from the war and I'm being told they've been lost due to a fire in STL in the 70s.

I have his enlistment date, place etc, but no company assignment or anything like that. I do have an APO address from letters sent home. Basically very little information. Where do I go?

I've heard of a "201" form (?) Would this help me?

I've used the links some have put up here (Archives.gov, etc) and they aren't much help.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your time.


Andrew

Hi Andrew and welcome to the forums.

May I ask, did your relative survive the war? If he did, it might be very hard to find his papers. If he was KIA, there is a possiblilty to request his Individual Deceased Person File (293 file) which includes all the inofmration of his "autopsy" and burial and often has additional information as well. I just got one from a Lt. which has an eyewitness account of how he died. Others also have other official documents regarding his military service.

There are people who can help out when it comes to APO numbers.... go to thi spage (be patient, it is SLOW to load) http://genforum.genealogy.com/wwii/all.html and scroll down to the thread APO ADDRESS. You might want to contact one of th epeople there as he seems to have records on all APO addresses.

Success!

Two good sites with tips to research are;

http://members.aol.com/dadswar/index.htm#frststep

http://www.forvalor.com/ResearchFAQ.htm

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Stevin:

Yes, he did survive.

Thanks for the links. I think these should help me get more info on him.

Also, any idea what a Form 201 is?

Andrew

Andrew, I had no idea, but I checked the NARA site and check this link;

http://www.archives.gov/publications...ight-nprc.html

Go to the header "Stories of America's Defenders"

It tells you what a 201 is and how to request one. But I think it is one of the many files burned in the 1972 fire.

Let us know how you get on.

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