Information on the 146th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Operations Detachment

I am researching my grandfather's WWII service. All I have is a very bad copy of his (what is now referred to as) DD-214. From that document, I could ascertain that he was part of the 146th AAA OPNS DET. He got to the Pacific Theater on 14 September 1943 and was shipped home on 5 December 1945. He served in New Guinea, Northern Solomans, and the Southern Philippines. However, I am trying to figure out exactly where the 146th AAA OPNS DET. was during this time-frame and I can't find much information on the internet. Does anyone have any additional information on this unit? Alternatively, do you have any suggestions on where I might look to research this? I've done a FOIA request to the Army and NARA, but I doubt they will get me any information on this unit and/or the unit's service record. So I'm stuck at this point and could use some suggestions.

Thank you in advance!

 

Jennifer, welcome to the Forums! The unit named on his discharge may only be the unit to which he was attached at the time he was discharged. That was very common on WWII era discharges. I would not request or pay for unit records until you are certain that the unit was his primary service unit. To request his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), you would need to fill out a Standard Form (SF) 180 and submit it to the NPRC at the NARA in St. Louis. If you are fortunate, they will have his OMPF and that will tell you quite a bit about his service. If their response is that his records were destroyed in the 1973 fire and all they have is his Final Payment Voucher, my recommend is to save the $25 they will charge you.

If you can post a copy of his discharge paper, even though it is a bad copy, we may be able to tease out some more info for you. If you want to get a jump start on your research, hiring a researcher is a great way to go. They will be able to take his name, Army Service Number, and any unit he was in (i.e. the 146th) and track him through unit Morning Reports. MRs are daily personnel records kept, usually at Company level. They track all personnel changes including assignments, transfers, duty status, promotions, etc. There is a cost, of course. However, you will get results in a couple of weeks versus several months or longer to get an OMPF from the NARA. I should point out that the NARA does not accept requests for copies of MRs. The only way to get MRs is to go to the NARA in St Louis yourself, or have someone do it for you.