Speedy turn around! My mother signed and mailed the next of kin signature verification form on Thanksgiving weekend. Last week she received a thick brown mailing envelope, containing Bubba's World War II service records, from the National Personnel Records Center. That's less than two months start to finish.
We used the online ordering system eVetRecs through the National Archives website, which has changed somewhat. The first thing I notice is that on the main page for Military Service Records, it states "Most veterans and their next-of-kin can obtain free copies of their DD Form 214 (Report of Separation) and other military and medical records several ways". When we placed the request we did not remember seeing anything about potential charges, so my parents were surprised to receive in late December a bill for a fee of $60 in order to receive the records. The letter did not indicate the reason for the fee. If you know in which cases a fee is assessed, please comment. Thankfully this was for my parents. If I were doing this for a client, I would like to be able to better advise them about cost in advance.
It seems that many more people might soon be interested in ordering World War II service records. Dick Eastman posted here about the formation of the Society of Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans Hereditary Society by the Admiral Nimitz Foundation. The foundation is very broad in its membership options, offering lineal (direct descent), collateral (any other relationship including marriage) and memorial (includes friendship) memberships. Proof of service is required in the society application.
Next on the list is ordering my paternal grandfather's records and asking my parents if they would like to join the society. In the meantime, there are lots of goodies in Bubba's records to share.
Thanks for reading.
Scrappy Gen
We used the online ordering system eVetRecs through the National Archives website, which has changed somewhat. The first thing I notice is that on the main page for Military Service Records, it states "Most veterans and their next-of-kin can obtain free copies of their DD Form 214 (Report of Separation) and other military and medical records several ways". When we placed the request we did not remember seeing anything about potential charges, so my parents were surprised to receive in late December a bill for a fee of $60 in order to receive the records. The letter did not indicate the reason for the fee. If you know in which cases a fee is assessed, please comment. Thankfully this was for my parents. If I were doing this for a client, I would like to be able to better advise them about cost in advance.
It seems that many more people might soon be interested in ordering World War II service records. Dick Eastman posted here about the formation of the Society of Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans Hereditary Society by the Admiral Nimitz Foundation. The foundation is very broad in its membership options, offering lineal (direct descent), collateral (any other relationship including marriage) and memorial (includes friendship) memberships. Proof of service is required in the society application.
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| http://www.sonsanddaughtersofww2veterans.org/S&D_Application.pdf |
Next on the list is ordering my paternal grandfather's records and asking my parents if they would like to join the society. In the meantime, there are lots of goodies in Bubba's records to share.
Thanks for reading.
Scrappy Gen
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