About two weeks ago, I requested online a copy of my father's Notice of Separation from US Naval Service from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Two copies, with raised seals, came today in the mail.
Frederick Walton Seaver was discharged honorably on 6 February 1946 at San Pedro, with 1 year, 5 months, 11 days of service. He was paid $100 for mustering out plus $7.45 for travel to San Diego. He intended to continue his insurance at $7.40 per month.
He enlisted in the US Navy on 26 August 1944 at San Diego, and his residence before he enlisted was 577 Twin Oaks Avenue in Chula Vista. He had worked at Rohr Aircraft Corp. in CV from July 1941 to August 1944 as a Material Planner. His schooling included 8 years of grammar school, 4 years of high school and 2 years of college, with no degrees and with French as his major course or field.
After enlisting, he attended Mail Man's School in San Francisco and became a Mailman Third Class. His final rank was Mailman Third Class.
From other information, I know that he served on the USS Halford (DD480), a destroyer that saw action in the Western Pacific and in Alaska during the time he served onboard.
There is quite a bit of information here that I did not know - the time he worked at Rohr (I worked at Rohr from 1967 to 2002) and his job title, his Navy enlistment date and muster out date, and the fact that he took French (this may be a joke, I never heard him parlez vous anything!).
The point here is that these World War II records may provide a lot of information for a serviceman - and there may be some surprises.
The very best thing is that it was FREE.
My post describing the request process and the Veterans Records web site is here.
5 comments:
About your dad learning French--my dad was in the 4th Signal Corps in WWII, where he worked in communications, which meant, for one thing, that he typed a lot. In the 1970s, we each took a typing test out of curiosity, and he was extremely disappointed to have a bad typing speed--something like 9 WPM. My mother explained that he'd typed for the duration of the war and his speed had been about 40 WPM, but since he hadn't typed since, he'd naturally forgotten. Maybe your dad's French went the way of my dad's typing.
Wow, thanks for posting this. I didn't realize I could request this information for free. I followed your link to your instructions, and I have just sent off requests for my grandfather's and great-grandfather's military records. If they approve my request, I'll be sure to blog about it and give you credit for explaining how to do it.
Hey jude (I'll bet you get that a lot! I couldn't wait to use it - soory 'bouthat),
I am pretty sure that it was a joke my dad was making - he studied girls and baseball and football in school, according to his brother. I'll have to ask my aunt next week if he studied French.
Cheers -- Randy
Dana,
My post and your note followed by your action is a testimony to the worth of blogs. I found something, blogged about it, you saw it and used it, and we both benefited from it without spending more than 39 cents.
Life doesn't get much better than that.
Cheers -- Randy
8spF7P The best blog you have!
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