Friday, October 27, 2006

World War 2 and Korean War Casualty Records

I missed the October meeting of the San Diego Genealogical Society on 14 October. The speaker was William Beigel, who discussed World War 2 and Korean War Casualty Records (MIA, KIA, POW) and the genealogy rewards in those files.

Mr. Beigel has a web site at www.ww2research.com that describes the records available, how to access them and provides samples of the military reports and analyses. The web site says:

Professional World War 2 and Korean War Casualty Search will perform a full search of military records on any U.S. armed forces veteran from the Army, Air Corps, Navy or USMC who were World War 2 or Korean War casualties including killed, Missing in Action (MIA), or Prisoner of War (POW). Whether death occurred on the beach at Normandy or Okinawa, in the snowy forests of the Battle of the Bulge or in the jungles of the Philippines, in aerial combat over Germany or Japan or North Africa, in naval combat, or even in training accidents in the United States, our full resources will be devoted to finding out "what really happened".

When members of the Armed Forces were killed, wounded, Missing in Action (MIA) or made Prisoner of War (POW) in World War 2 or the Korean War, very little information was forwarded to their next of kin. Often, a stark "we regret to inform you" or "your brother has been reported missing in action" telegram was the only information ever received.

Click on the "Sample Reports" link on the left margin and read some of the reports that are available from the military records. They are full of details and are often fascinating.

This is a commercial service that does this research, but if you want this information, the service is probably the best way to obtain it.

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