Searching for Information on Ralph C Miller Jr.

From my uncle's obiturary:

[SIZE=13.3333px]"Ralph C. Miller, Jr. C. age 86 of Paterson died Thursday. Born in Paterson, NJ he lived lifelong in Paterson He was Baker for Consolodated Baking Co, Paterson before retiring. He was a WW II Army veteran who received the Purple Heart, 3 Bronze Stars, The Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Bronze Arrowhead Awards."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]For years my uncle always played down his role in the war, saying he was just a cook. Even though he gave me his medals, I never really questioned it. Now he's been gone for years and I've taken an interest in my family's geneology and started looking into him. But I find that I can't find anything really.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]I've used a few sites to try to search for information but keep coming up blank.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]I had found his military id number 32274950 and his enlistment information, but nothing else. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. I'm looking to see what he did, where he was, during the war. How he earned his medals... I know it's probably impossible to find a lot of it, but I'm really interested.[/SIZE]


Record: Ralph Jr Miller – 32274950

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Residence:
Passaic, New Jersey
Date of Enlistment:
1 April 1942
Place of Enlistment:
Newark New Jersey
Component of the Army:
Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Branch:
Unknown
Source of Army Personnel:
Civil Life


Nativity:
White, citizen
Year of Birth:
1916
Education:
Grammar School
Civilian Occupation:
Bakers
Marital Status:
Single, without dependents

 

Requesting Copies of Military Personnel Records
you should begin by trying to get his personnel records. Read through the pertinent pinned threads to get a lot of different ways to obtain information on your uncle. His separation paper is loaded with the basic information you need to really do your research.
If you can get a copy, please post it and we can decider it for you.

 

There are several of us who have gone through the process of starting with not much. Once in a while someone will find their relative's name associated with a unit by doing an online search. That is not the norm. For the rest of us, it ends up being a scavenger hunt for pieces to an incomplete jigsaw puzzle.

As Buten said, requesting his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) should be your first step if you haven't already done so.

What has worked well for me is to make sure it is known to my extended family that I am searching for anything regarding my great uncles' WWII service. You may have already done that since you mentioned that you have taken up an interest in the family genealogy. I did that about 3 years ago and I am still getting things from family members as they come across them.

If you have any of his patches, pins, of photos of him in uniform, try to post pics of them here. They may provide very useful info. Also, if you know where he lived immediately before and after the War, you can try locating a local genealogy or historical society. I have found some information that way as well. Soldiers were advised to take their discharge papers to the local county records office and have a copy filed there. You may try checking with them to see if he followed through on that. Some counties are more strict with providing copies. I ran into that problem myself.

Hopefully, this will get you off to a start.

 

As always, great advice, Tommie. I always relate a military search to a treasure hunt. A few bits of information leads to more clues that can lead to more information.