UBB.threads Forums General Militaria United States Militaria researching US Army Vets

Hello,

I have a German flag with 4 US solders names which looks like they tore off of a building. I only have names with address but that is all. I also have one with just a service number but no name.

Can someone point me in the right direction to get a copy of their wartime record?

I did find of them on white pages.com and findanyone. So, I sent him a letter asking if he wanted his flag back. His grandson wrote me back and said he had passed away.

Im trying to find the others.

Thanks Chris

This is actually harder than you think it would be.

You can try asking the grandson what unit his grandfather was in and if he had anything else to ID the unit (a patch would get you the division, but not the regiment or branch of service, but a DI or collar disk would)

Otherwise you can write to the National Archives, it can take a while, start by trying to get a service number here:
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/index.jsp

Then download & fill out the form 180. it takes a while, and you can end up with nothing, but sometimes it will work out for you.

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/standard-form-180.html

Try writing to the other families to see what they may know. Have patience, and good luck!

I am working on three flags like this.
I did a whitepages.com search, checked the aad archives website, and did a google search.

It took some time, but for one flag I was able to contact a grand-daughter of one deceased vet. He never talked much about the war, but she confirmed his battalion, and agreed to send me some pictures of the vet and his friends who signed the flag! I don't have them yet, but I am waiting. I also had some hits on the aad website that had some basic info on some of the men.

For another flag I contacted the daughter-in-law of a deceased vet. The daughter-in-law confirmed where my flag came from (it really was from a concentration camp!). She also told me that she had a simliar flag, and sent me pictures of her flag, and a picture of the vets squad that had signed the flag! On that same flag, I contacted the VFW Post where one of my signers was a Charter Member, and they are checking with their membership for me.

Even though this whole thing is very time-consuming, with the internet it is possible to find out some very interesting information. I really like finding out about these men, it adds so much to the relic. It's just too bad I have not found a living vet yet. So if you are trying this, do it as fast as you can while there is still a chance of finding a live vet.

The next best thing is getting the pictures! I am thinking about framing the flag with the picture of the squad.

Chief