To Request WWII Marine Personnel Records please click here: Request a WWII Marine Personnel File
WWII Marine Corps military service records can provide genealogical researchers with countless resources for tracing the steps of an ancestor who served during the war. Marine Corps service records were maintained in such a way as to ensure that specific milestones in your veteran’s military service would be documented. This means that a wide array of records would have been placed in your veteran’s Marine Corps military service record, including records geared specifically towards documenting the veteran’s assigned units, duties, training, promotions, awards, campaign participation, enlistment and medical history. Additionally, the WWII Marine Corps military service record will inevitably also contain records focused on civilian education, family, marriage, dependents and many other types of historical documents which can be essential for carrying out genealogical research.
The records featured in this post are intended to provide you with examples of the more common types of paperwork found within WWII era Marine Corps military service records. These are the kinds of documents that I frequently encounter when working with WWII Marine Corps service records of individual veterans. Obviously, it would be impossible to discuss every single kind of record that might be found inside of WWII era military service records. Your veteran’s Marine Corps military service record will specific to him or her and will highlight important milestones both military and civilian pertaining to the veteran’s career in the Marine Corps. For example, unique correspondence from from family, friends, government officials and organizations are frequently found within an individual veteran’s military service records. The subject matter and level of detail in these letters will depend entirely on the circumstances surrounding the career of your individual veteran.
After reading through this post you should have a pretty good feel for what to expect to find in your Marine Corps veteran’s military service record. I will be putting together additional posts dealing with the individual components of Marine Corps military service records which will enable you to explore the individual components of these service records in more detail should you wish to do so. Let’s take a look at some of the documents you can expect to find when requesting a WWII era Marine Corps military service record.
A photo of your Marine Corps veteran: Most WWII Marine Corps military service records contain both a photo negative, as well as a developed photograph of your WWII Marine Corps veteran. Depending on your research needs, the negative can be transferred to a digital format or the already developed photograph of your Marine can simply be scanned.
The Marine Corps report of separation or discharge: The Marine Corps report of separation is one of the most highly sought after documents in the Marine Corps military service record because it condenses so much information on to one single page. The separation report is a great place to begin your research as it will give you a nice overview of the veteran’s career before you begin digging deeper into the other records in his service record.
Family and dependency documentation: The WWII Marine Corps military service record will contain information on the next of kin, marital status, children, and other important domestic data which can be a jackpot for the genealogy researcher. The amount of paperwork dealing with family background usually depends on the situation and marital status of the veteran at the time of his enlistment.
The Marine Corps service booklet: The WWII Marine Corps service booklet provides a chronological look at the veteran’s military service and will detail things such as assigned units, campaigns, battles, awards, training and much more. The service record booklet is a key element of wartime Marine Corps service records because it condenses so much vital information into a relatively compact booklet covering the veteran’s career.
WWII Marine Corps Campaigns and expeditions: The campaigns and battles that a veteran participated in are usually detailed on strips of paper which were either glued or stapled into the Marine Corps service booklet. These are some of the most vital documents within the military service record because they provide us with a chronological, step by step description of the Marine Corps veteran’s overseas movement and combat participation.
The Marine Corps qualification card: The Marine Corps qualification card is important because it documents the units that the veteran was assigned to alongside the duties he performed within that unit. The qualification card really provides a glimpse into the past by informing us on exactly what the veteran was doing during his or her service.
Marine Corps awards: The Marine Corps military service record from the WWII period will document all of the awards that you veteran was presented with from his service. For awards that were given for gallantry in action there is almost always a citation which details the heroics that were performed by the veteran during combat.
Marine Corps enlistment records: Some of the most interesting of the records within your Marine Corps veteran’s military service record will be the enlistment records. Enlistment documents often contain information about what your veteran’s civilian employment prior to entering the service, high school and college documentation, parental consent forms, reference letters, background checks and much more.
Correspondence: When a letter was sent to the Marine Corps about a specific veteran this letter, or a copy of the letter, was usually placed in the service record for safe keeping. Correspondence can cover anything from parents attempting to find details about their veteran’s MIA or KIA status to a spouse issuing a complaint about unpaid benefits. The letters found within military service records can range from comical to very sad and humbling.
Disciplinary records: Marine Corps veterans who were court martialed or otherwise punished for some kind of infraction had the records pertaining to this placed permanently in their Marine Corps military service record. Many of the youthful veterans who served during WWII got into some kind of trouble along the way and these records can sometimes serve to remind us that many WWII veterans were barely out of high-school when the war began. Likewise, more serious criminal offenses detailed in Marine Corps service records can be rather shocking.
Medical records: Medical records contained within WWII era Marine Corps military service records can cover anything from routine medical examinations and dental records, to medical reports on wounds received in action.
Burial and death reports: When a veteran was killed in action or died in the service a set procedure was carried out to notify the family, prepare official paperwork and if necessary carry out an investigation. The records dealing with this process are maintained within the veteran’s Marine Corps military service record.
After perusing this post you should have a good idea of the different kinds of records that you will find inside the Marine Corps military service record of your veteran. While I’ve outlined the more common types of paperwork that are found inside the military service records of Marine Corps veterans from the WWII period, your veteran’s service file will contain records pertaining specifically to your individual veteran’s experiences. The only way to find out exactly what is in your veteran’s service record will be to order it for yourself. I’ve put together a short guide to ordering military service records here: Obtain a military service record. I hope that this post will be helpful in your genealogical research quest and I wish you the best of luck in your search for records on your ancestor!
