Tuesday, June 5, 2007

WW2 Young American Patriots (1941-1945) database on Ancestry

I was browsing through the Military Record databases on Ancestry tonight, and was intrigued by the "World War II Young American Patriots (1941-1945)" database (if you have an Ancestry subscription, click here). It has only 58,000 records in it at this time, but I tried it anyway.

The database description says:

"This database is a collection of books compiled to preserve the lives of the American men and women who served in World War II. These books are arranged by state. Currently this database includes the volumes for:
  • Delaware
  • Kentucky
  • Maryland
  • North Carolina
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • South Carolina
  • Virginia
  • West Virginia

"Each book includes a short account of the War’s influence or affect on the state, which is then followed by biographies of the “Young American Patriots” from that state. The arrangement of the biographical section varies according to book. The biographies are either arranged alphabetically by name of serviceman for the entire state, or are listed alphabetically by county and then by name of serviceman. Some names and biographies were received too late to put in the alphabetical arrangement. These names appear at the end of the book.

"The type of information that may be found in each biography includes:

  • Name of serviceman
  • Branch of military served in
  • A list of foreign countries and theaters served in
  • Birth date
  • Date and place entered service
  • Name of high school attended
  • Religious affiliation
  • Parents’ names and residence
  • A picture"

An example of one of the entries is this one:

"John R. Hall, Jr. RM 1/c. U.S. Navy. Born Mar. 22, 1922. Entered service June 6, 1941. Norfolk, Va.; England; Normandy; Trinidad; Bermuda; Azores; Iceland; Tokyo; Midway; Alaska; Ryukyus; Honshu. Awarded six Battle Stars, Good Conduct Medal. Attended Scott H.S. Baptist. Son of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Hall, Sr., Husband of Mrs. Nan Elizabeth Rippetoe Hall, Box 424, Madison, W.Va."

All in all, this is a pretty neat database. The pictures are all of young men in their prime, who served their country well. When they get all 50 states completed, it should have over 500,000 servicemen in it.

If you had friends or family that served in world War II, go look for them in this database.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I do have relatives listed (see Altizer) in this Honorable way. Thank you for your thoughts, I too honor these men (and yes, even the women) I thank each and every person who has served our Country. Being a military wife during Desert Storm I learned to respect these men and women in a way that I don't think a lot of people can understand. There should be books such as these for every soldier.

Anonymous said...

Not exactly true. Here is the information from Ancestry.com regarding source:

Source Information:
Ancestry.com. World War II Young American Patriots, 1941-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Original data: Young American Patriots. Richmond, VA, USA: National Publishing Co., 1946.

Description:
This database is a collection of books compiled to preserve the lives of the American men and women who served in World War II. These books are arranged by state. Currently this database includes the volumes for 9 states. Information available in a soldier's biography includes: name, branch of military served in, birth date, date and place entered service, and parents' names.

Unknown said...

Could someone look up my grandfather, Gayford Tichner from WV in the Young American Patriots? I don't want to pay for an Ancestry subscription just to get this information. You can email it to me at jeromytichner@yahoo.com. Thanks for your help!

Anonymous said...

My Grandfather (James E Evans) is in the book of west virginia veterns. I saw his picture from the book on ancestery.com. It is the only picture I have ever seen of him and I would very much like to find a copy of this book. Does anyone know how to get a copy?

Thank you-Anna Evans Herkov

Anonymous said...

Could someone please look up Clyde Orwin Harler Jr. in the West Virginia book?
He would be listed in Fayette County.

Email me: dialwim@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

The Book is like a yearbook. The person is on a page with other service members. You can order it on Ancestry.com. I think it was 10 bucks. When it comes it is the whole page. Both my Dad and his
older Brother are on the page along with several others.

Unknown said...

How did the publishing company choose which service people to include? Was it like the Who's Who in Colleges--you pay to get your name and bio listed, and then they sell you the book with your name in it? (Or maybe you don't have to pay to get your name listed, but you certainly would be the target audience to buy one.) I think the last book was published in 1950, so I doubt there will be any more published. Only several states (maybe 10) ever had books for their states--WV, SC, OH, VA, KY, PA and some others.