starting out

[A. E. Lowe]

Hello all, What is the best way to start to research a ww2 veteran family member, my dad was a ww2 vet who kept quiet about his wartime experiance, he passed away in 1999 so I cant ask him any questions. I have his Ike jacket and it has a seventh army sleeve patch and I know his unit was called the 573 Anti aircraft artillery, he said he used a quad .50 mounted on a half track. At the end of his life he said he destroyed a "small tank" which tried to ram his half-track,before this he always said he saw no combat .I have heard you can request a family member's military record from the goverment but I do not know how to get it and any ifo would be apreciated. Thanks in advance-Anthony.

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Anthony,

Unfortunately, I think you may be on the wrong web site. Wehrmacht Awards is about the Wehrmacht - the armed forces of the Deutschen Reich, i.e., Germans. We do not do research here on the U.S. military.

If you will go to Amazon.com and obtain the following book, it will tell you exactly how to do all of the things you want to do regarding researching your father's wartime service:

GAWNE, Jonathan. Finding Your Father's War. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...+War&x=16&y=16

It's available in paperback so it won't cost you very much.

Good luck,

--Larry

[A. E. Lowe]

Thanks

Thanks for the tip on the book, I will purchase it, also I apologise if this subject was off topic but there are so many knowlegable folks here I thought I would give it a try. It is frustrateing that my father left so few clues about a time period I am very interested in. thanks again-Anthony

[Huntzman]

Anthony

Don't despair quite yet !! There are some of us here on the forum who also fall into the same boat.

First and foremost, you need to go here:

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/

As a next of kin you can request your dads service record.

My 2nd recommendation is to visit this part of the forum:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...splay.php?f=54

Lots of good help there. You might also want to post your dads unit info & service years and see if anyone there might now something about it.

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Andrew