McHenry County Genealogical Society Conference

Are you interested in a day full of World War II Education?

On Saturday, 9 July I am presenting four programs at the McHenry County Genealogical Society Conference.

Register for the conference.

The Day That Lived in Infamy. Navigating World War II Military Records

All the records burned! A fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, in 1973, destroyed approximately 80% of the Army, Air Corps, and National Guard records. This is not the end of the research possibilities for these soldiers. Many alternative record sources exist to reconstruct service history for these branches. Regardless of service branch, many records exist to tell your soldier, sailor, or Marine’s story. Learn how to research the records of World War II for any branch of the military in this informative program.

Navigating World War II Records on Fold3

Researching the service of a World War II soldier is more than the Official Military Personnel File we might locate. That file is helpful in creating a timeline of military service, but we must move beyond it to find more of the story. Looking beyond the individual records, we can find unit histories, battle reports, mission reports, war diaries, and other higher level materials, which provide context in which to put our soldier.

Many of the records you need to research your soldier’s service, are not online. However, Fold3.com has digitized many unit level records from the National Archives at College Park, MD, to help you with your research. As with any digitized collection, searching by your soldier’s name will not usually yield you enough of the materials available.  There are many tips and tricks to locating the gold within the massive amount of paperwork available.

This new program, available Summer 2016, will teach you how to navigate the extensive records of Fold3.com. The tips you learn in this program will help you with any digitized record set.

Stories of the Lost

A continuation of “Finishing the Story,” we will explore the records available to tell the stories of those who died in service. We will also discuss those who took care of our Soldier Dead, the Graves Registration Service men. Learn about their job and the reasons it took so long to have our soldiers repatriated and what happened to the personal effects during the course of recovery and repatriation.

Beyond Pearl Harbor: Exploring Advanced World War II Records

The follow-up to The Day That Lived in Infamy. After briefly touching on the basics of getting started and obtaining the OMPF, attendees will learn about additional records to trace the service of their soldier, sailor, or Marine in World War II.

This conference will be held in Crystal Lake, IL.

© 2016 Jennifer Holik