Overcoming the 1973 NPRC Fire: 5 Auxiliary Sources For Reconstructing Military Service

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airforce, ancestry, army, auxiliary sources, Blog, Genealogy, joyce kilmer, military, NARA, nprc, OMPF, St.Louis, US National Archives, Veterans, WWI, WWII, xc files

The world of genealogy is no stranger to overcoming records that perished in natural and man-made disasters. Many of these disasters resulted in monumental record losses that took with it a significant part of our history. On 12 July 1973, the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis caught fire shortly after midnight and burned intensely for almost an entire day. The damage from flames and water used by the firefighters resulted in an insurmountable loss of an estimated 16-18 million records. The National Archives reports that the following records were affected:[1]

 

Branch	Personnel and Period Affected	Estimated Loss
Army	Personnel discharged 1 Nov 1912 to 1 Jan 1960	80%
Air Force	Personnel discharged 25 Sep 1947 to 1 Jan 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.)	75%

 

This means that the fire destroyed important service records for those who served in the U.S. Army and Air Force during WWI, WWII, & the Korean War; essentially three of the most major conflicts in the 20^th century. The loss is so important because service records provide important genealogical information and amazing detail on our ancestors’ roles in these wars. I know because when the copy of my grandfather’s OMPF (Official Military Personnel File) from his service in the U.S. Navy came in the mail, my jaw dropped from the sheer size of the packet containing his military personnel documents.

In the aftermath of this disastrous fire, the National Personnel Records Center undertook extensive efforts to treat records that were somewhat salvageable, so there is a chance that if you put in a request, they may have a partially reconstructed file. Most of all, it is for the U.S. military extensive documentation and record keeping practices that we are grateful, because we can use a number of alternative or “auxiliary” sources to reconstruct our ancestor’s service. Most of these are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis.

1. Burial Case Files

The National Archives has several series relating to the burial of U.S. soldiers. Dating back to the Civil War, The Office of the Quartermaster General assumed responsibility of burials and cemeterial affairs for U.S. soldiers. For researchers investigating the deaths of World War I soldiers, consulting the collection “Correspondence, Reports, Telegrams, Applications, and Other Papers Relation to Burials of Service Personnel, 1915-1939” is essential. Also known as “Cemeterial Files” or “293 Files,” this series contains all the documents submitted to the Quartermaster General’s office regarding the burial of a U.S. Soldier who died during World War I. A file can include documents such as grave location cards, reburial information, correspondence to family members, financial records, and ephemera like the soldier’s dog tags. In the aftermath of the war, Gold Star mothers traveled overseas to visit the burial sites and records related to their travel (itineraries) are also included. Researchers will also be able to determine the soldier’s exact cause of death from documents such as this telegram found in the burial case file of poet Joyce Kilmer.

 

Image Source: NARA

 

This series does not cover burials for World War II and later, so researchers need to consult different sources. The National Archives holds a number of series including internment control forms, maps of overseas gravesites, and applications for headstones. The latter, covering applications made 1925-1963 has been digitized and is searchable on Fold3.com. The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) also collected information regarding burials of soldiers overseas. The National Archives has custody of these records in Record Group 117, Records of the American Battle Monuments Commission. Data from these records has been extracted and is available free on Fold3.com, as well as the ABMC’s own website.

2. Pay Cards and Vouchers

The U.S. General Accounting Office kept pay cards and vouchers for Army World War I Officers, Enlisted Men, and Nurses, dated 1917-1921. While most of the pay cards contain strictly information related to wages and deductions, the final pay voucher is the most revealing, because it will list the rank, unit, enlistment information, as well as character of discharge. However, final pay vouchers do not survive for every soldier.

For World War II, there are Army Deserter Pay Cards, 1943-1945 and Army Officers Pay Cards, 1940-1951 that includes their name, unit, and serial number.

3. Deceased Veterans Claim Files, 1917-1948

Known also as “XC Files”, these can be a goldmine of genealogical information, just like the pension files for veterans of earlier conflicts. XC Files are part of Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs. What you can find on veterans is astounding and extremely helpful for genealogical research. These files include the veteran’s full name, birth date, names of family members, beneficiaries, service information, residence, and death date. Files may include the veteran’s discharge papers, medical records, change of address, vital records, wills, funeral receipts, insurance papers, and photographs.

 

Image Source: NARA

 

Open cases are still in the custody of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those that are closed have been transferred to the National Personnel Records Center and later, the National Archives at St. Louis. NARA’s St. Louis branch has in their archives XC files for veterans from the Civil War up to World War I. The National Archives at St. Louis does have the VA Master Index File up to 1972, which can give you the VA claim number and others, allowing you to contact the Veterans Administration directly for more records.

4. Award Cards

Many award cards at held at NARA’s St. Louis branch. These cards were created by the Adjutant General’s Office of the War Department and document soldiers, as well as civilians, who performed acts of heroism and sustained injuries. These cards may include name, place of birth, address, service number, rank, general order number, award type, and description of why they are receiving an award. Using the general order number can lead to additional records in the General Orders series about why the veteran received this particular award.

5. Morning Reports

Morning reports were created by each unit of the U.S. Army and Army Air Force to report changes in the status and number of personnel within the organization. For this reasons, morning reports will list soldiers who were injured, hospitalized, reassigned, or given leave. They are not the complete roster of an organization. Morning reports may also include activities within that unit and may mention an individual’s specific involvement in a battle or event. These types of details are not included the official military personnel files. Morning reports are held at College Park and on microfilm at NARA’s St. Louis Branch, but because they were reproduced poorly, they only permit researchers to look at them on-site and will not take mail requests.

Don’t overlook state records for veterans either, such as “Pennsylvania, Veteran Compensation Application Files, 1950-1966,” and “Iowa, World War II Bonus Case Files, 1947-1954,” available on Ancestry. Genealogical research on veterans can be bountiful, but also complicated. My research toolbox contains all the necessary links to do genealogical research on World War II Veterans, including online databases, NARA reference papers, how to request personnel records, research repositories, and more.

[1] “The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center,” National Archives at St. Louis (www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html: accessed 6 Sep 2016.)

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Copyright (c) 2016 Jake Fletcher.

Jake Fletcher, “Overcoming the 1973 NPRC Fire: 5 Auxiliary Source For Reconstructing Military Service,” Jake Fletcher, posted 8 Sep 2016 (http://travelyourgenealogy.com/2016/09/09/overcoming-the-1973-nprc-fire-5-auxiliary-source-for-reconstructing-military-service: [access date]).

Researching the Seafaring Career of James W. Freeman [updated]

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ancestry, california, Coppersmith, Family History, Freeman, Genealogy, Merchant Marine, merchant seamen, National Archives, Oklahoma, San Francisco, U.S. Navy, Uss arkansas, Uss ozark, Veterans, West Nosska, WWI

 

The wealth of documentation about my great-grandfather James W. Freeman that I have inherited recently reveals great clarity on his life at sea. Family tradition provided he served in the Merchant Marine. While it is correct that he served at sea for some time in a civilian capacity, before that he enlisted in the United States Navy during the Great War. Among his papers was a record of his enlistment and discharge certificate.

Fig 1. James W. Freeman’s U.S. Naval Enlistment Record (reverse side of discharge cert.) Image Source: Author’s Collection.

He enlisted for naval service in Oklahoma City on 20 March 1917, less than a month before the United States officially entered into WWI. Oklahoma is some distance from his home in Laton, Kings County, California, so why he was there remains unclear, but I do have a letter addressed to his mother from the city of Tulsa. His enlistment record suggested he had great facility with the manufacturing and forming of copper into various products, because he served as a coppersmith and coppersmith 1^st class. Coppersmiths worked in the naval yards manufacturing pipes, artillery shells, and other parts commissioned for naval ships. His ratings were no less than 3.5, classified as very good, and maintained an excellent (4.0) rating for “Sobriety” and “Obedience.”

Fig 2. My great-grandfather James Wallace Freeman. He was born 20 Feb 1896 in Yakima, Washington. Image Source: Author’s Collection.

 

Fig 3. Coppersmith Shop is U.S. Navy Yard. Image Source: U.S. Naval History Heritage and Command.

According to his Certificate of War Service, he did spend sometime aboard the U.S.S. Ozark (BM-7), formerly the U.S.S. Arkansas. Launched 10 Nov 1900 and commissioned by the navy 28 Oct 1902, Ozark was classified as a “Battle Monitor,” responsible for cruising and patrolling the coastal waters. The ship could complement up to 220 men and was outfitted with 8 large guns. Upon the declaration of War, Ozark joined Submarine Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet and cruised to Tampico, Mexico, ordered to cruise and defend the coastline. A year later, Ozark sailed to New Orleans and assisted in defending the waters from Key West to the Panama Canal Zone.[1]

 

Fig 4. U.S.S. Ozark while on cruise. Image Source: National Archives and Records Administration. For more photos of U.S.S. Arkansas (Ozark), visit http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/arkansas.htm

 

 

Fig 5. James Wallace Freeman’s Discharge Certificate from U.S. Navy, 29 Aug 1919. Image Source: Author’s Collection.

James was honorably discharged from the Navy 29 Aug 1919 at the Mare Island Naval Base, near the city of Vallejo, California. After a short period of leave, he continued the seafaring life, in a civilian capacity. On October 6 1919, he applied for a Citizen Seamen’s Identification Card at the Customs House in San Francisco after arriving on the merchant vessel S.S. Alliance. These ID cards are very much comparable to Seamen’s Protection Certificates issued by the U.S. Government until 1871, because they provided proof of citizenship. On 3 Sep 1918, the Federal Government mandated all seamen embarking from U.S. ports were required to apply for an ID card and permission to sail from the Collector of Customs [T.D. 37753].[2] Seamen’s ID cards included such information such as the seamen’s full name, nationality, date of birth, birthplace and birthplace of parents, naturalization information (James Freeman’s ID card provides his U.S. Navy discharge number as proof of citizenship) and a brief physical description. These ID cards are in custody of the National Archives and Collected with NARA Record Group 41, Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation.

 

Fig 6. Citizen Seamen’s ID Card for James Wallace Freeman. Image Source: Author’s Collection.

Around January 1920, James Freeman was admitted to the Marine Hospital in San Francisco.[3] The nature of his admittance is unknown, but his stay may have lasted several months because he made no voyages the year of 1920 and his ID card has stamps from immigration officers in England dated 1921.

There are multiple crew manifests listing James W Freeman, which I located through Ancestry.com. The crew manifests in conjunction with discharge slips and other documents have allowed me to reconstruct his voyage history and life at sea.

Fig 7. James W. Freeman’s Discharge Slips for voyages on the West Nosska. Image Source: Author’s Collection.

James W. Freeman completed seven voyages from 1922 to 1923 on the merchant vessel West Nosska that carried cargo and supplied between the East Coast of the United States and England. James carried his knowledge of marine machinery from the Navy onto civilian ships. The documents stated that he served in the capacity of an assistant engineer. Upon completing his final voyage in Jun 1923, he had ascended from 3^rd assistant to 1^st assistant engineer.

 

Fig 8. S.S. West Nosska. Image Source: Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation Inc.

 

These breakthroughs in my great-grandfather’s seafaring career were made possible because my grandmother had held on to these documents. Using the wide array of sources has given me a much clearer picture and chronology of his life at sea. Having served in the Navy, I now have confirmation that he was a veteran of WWI. This is much different from the original notion that he was always a Merchant Mariner, which did not receive recognition for their role in the military until 1988 and even then it was mostly in part due to the Merchant Marine activity in WWII.[4] But before I inherited any of these documents, I did locate photographs of my great-grandfather in what I now know to be navy uniform and a certificate of appreciation addressed from the White House, dated 1964 shortly after James Wallace Freeman died, that acknowledged his service as a veteran. Together, all of these sources has brought this part of his life full circle.

Today is the day which the United States dedicates to honoring it’s veterans. I felt the best way possible for me was to share the stories and experiences about veterans in my family that I’ve gathered through my own research. Have you done the same? If you’re looking to get started or gather more information, try some of the tips mentioned in my blog post “Stories of Sacrifice: Researching Your Veteran Ancestor.”

 

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[1] “Ozark II (Monitor No.7),” Naval History and Heritage Command (http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/o/ozark-ii.html: accessed 30 May 2016); Remo, “USS Arkansas (BM-7), Naval Warfare, posted 10 Jan 2012 (http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2012/01/uss-arkansas-bm-7.html: accessed 30 May 2016).

[2] United States Department of Treasury “Treasury Decisions Under Customs and Other Laws,” Volume 35 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1919), 76. Accessed on Google Books.

[3] “1920 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (Ancestry.com: accessed 30 May 2016). Assembly District 31, San Francisco, California; Roll T625_136, Enumeration Dist. 367, page 1B.

[4] “United States Merchant Marine,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Merchant_Marine: accessed 30 Apr 2016.)

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Copyright (c) 2016 Jake Fletcher.

Jake Fletcher, “Researching the Merchant Marine Career of James W Freeman,” Travelogues of a Genealogist, last updated 30 May 2016. https://fletcherfamilytree.wordpress.com/2015/01/17/researching-the-merchant-marine-career-of-my-great-grandfather/