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Research Sites?


WWIIEnthusiast123
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WWIIEnthusiast123

Hi everyone,

I have a relative (Not the one who's uniform I show on one of my topics) who served in almost all of the major battles of France (Omaha Beach, Hedgerows, St. Lo, Battle of the Bulge). I have talked to him about his expierience but because he was switched to different divisions so frequently, he can't remember them (Except for training with the 66th ID in England and then during B.O.T.B. being w/ Patton's Third). I would be curious to see what division he was in during these historic events. Does anyone know of a website that gives detailed info. like this? I have looked on the Nat. Archives and I found his file but it only gives basic information (e.g. date of enlistment, amount of time served, schooling, and race.) It also says "Film Reel Number" but doesn't have a place to see the film reel... If anyone knew where I could find this it would also be fnatastic b/c the photo of him in uniform has been misplaced.

Thanks for your time!

-WWIIEnthusiast

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This is just a suggestion...

 

In order to home in with the guys here who absolutely DO know exactly how to advise your research, I would try starting another new thread, with the same body of inquiry cut and pasted if you wish, but where the title you select is more descriptive.

 

As is, your title says "Research Sites?"

 

The only reason I looked at your thread at all was because I spend a lot of my time researching military Research Sites, per se. I am a sick man. :D

 

I think what it could say is something like "Research help needed - 66th ID, Bulge etc.", and you could even detail it out on line #2 a little more with something like "Major WWII battles in France"

 

Something like THAT or better will be attractive to the several true experts here in the field you are searching... in my opinion, may be worth a try?

 

I think the experts here in that field will find it irresistable. thumbsup.gif

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Bob Hudson

To find information on a specific person's units during WWII is one of those "needle in a haystack" searches. I subscribe to three paid online services that provide access to all sorts of databases, private and government plus old newspaper articles and even with that it is rare to find anything about a person's actual units. You may find something connecting them with one unit but that's about it.

 

Extensive Google searches may turn up unit rosters, but remember you have to search a few different ways just for one name.

 

For instance let's say we want to search for info on John Q. Public. The first thing is to search for his name in quotes:

 

"John Q. Public"

 

 

That way google only shows you results for the exact phrase John Q. Public.

 

The you have to try other variations (all in quotes), such as:

 

"John Public"

 

"Public, John Q"

 

"Public, John"

 

"JQ Public"

 

One thing you will find in doing this is that even what sound like unusual names, were held by lots of people. So you can add keywords to narrow it own. The would go in the Google search box after the name, but no in quotes. I use such ones as:

 

WWII

 

Army

 

and so on.

 

The additional words will narrow down the search results you get and the complete search phrase might look like this:

 

"John Q. Public" Army

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