Finding WWII Rosters Online at NARA

For researching a WWI or a WWII soldier, have you considered using the Rosters at NARA? They are located Series: Muster Rolls and Rosters, November 1, 1912–December 31, 1943 within Record Group 64. This blog post will show where to search for rosters, including how to use an online finding aid for finding WWII rosters that will make your task much easier.

The rosters are arranged in three subseries within Muster Rolls and Rosters, November 1, 1912–December 31, 1943:

• Muster Rolls, November 1, 1912 – June 30, 1918 and Enlisted and Officer Rosters, July 1, 1918 – December 31, 1939,
• Officer Rosters, 1920 – 1939,
• Army and Army Air Force (Air Corp) Rosters, 1940 – 1943

The Series is located at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/85713803

There are 625 pages of links viewing on this Series webpage, so you can browse for an organization.

You can also search within the Series for a soldier’s name, military serial number, or even an organization: https://catalog.archives.gov/search-within/85713803

When researching WWII soldiers, there is an online finding aid to streamline the process: https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/archival-programs/army-rosters-1940-1943

On this page, you will find information about how to locate WWII rosters organized by:

• Army enlisted service members
• Army officers
• Army Air Force (Air Corp) enlisted service members
• Army Air Force (Air Corp) officers

Within those categories, the rosters are organized by type of reporting unit.

To use the finding aid, click on the plus sign to expand the link to locate the type of unit. There will be box numbers shown, but some entries will contain links to digitized rosters, or to a pdf that contains the National Archives Identifier (NAID) in NARA’s Catalog to use when locating the online rosters.

In this example, I am searching for the rosters for a soldier in Battery A of the 500th AAA Gun Battalion, so clicked on the plus sign next to “Chemical and Antiaircraft Artillery” to expand the section.

I licked on the link for “Antiaircraft Battalion – Boxes 246-348.”

The link led to a PDF file with the Catalog NAID.

https://www.archives.gov/files/antiaircraft-artillery-battalion-index.pdf

The PDF file shows that the rosters are stored by increasing NAID numbers, by the number of the organization.The first page contains the column headers. (They are not repeated on subsequent pages.)

Scrolling down to the beginning of page 4 of the PDF, I find Btry C, 500th AAA Gn Bn, 1943. That means Roll Number 307 (2 of 3), which begins with Battery C of that Battalion has NAID Identifier 371744319.

Since the soldier is in Battery A, I will want to check the previous part of the roll, listed at the bottom of page 3 of the PDF, NAID 371744318, Roll Number 307 (1 of 3). I would expect that rosters for Battery A would be closer to the end of the Roll. (Remember to use the Chrome Browser to see the images in order, as Firefox has a documented bug of showing images in reverse order.)

I searched from the NARA Catalog Home Page: https://catalog.archives.gov

There is a blank page between the months, so I began by checking the image after the blank pages in the image range of 800-900.

I recommend building a list or a table with the information for the organization, to keep track of links. (Note: Organization and Link appear in the same column for readability. In my Excel worksheet, they appear in separate columns.)

I would want to continue to go backwards chronologically to collect the rosters for the time the soldier I am researching was in the Battery.

Another option, as described in our blog post about locating WWII Morning Reports in PDF Files can also make the task easier. Search the NARA catalog for: 371745320, which is the NAID for the final part of the Roll Number 307, part 3 of 3.

From there, the PDF files containing groups of 125 images from the Roll can be downloaded. Images for Battery A can be found in the files Roll-0307_07.pdf and Roll-0307_08.pdf

Give it a try and let me know how you do!

More WWII Morning Reports in the NARA Catalog

It should not be a surprise that to anyone who has read my most recent book Finding and Using U.S. Army WWI and WWII Morning Reports: A Research Guide for Historians and Genealogists or seen my presentation about Morning Reports that I periodically check the NARA catalog. Specifically, I have been checking to see if reports later than July 1944 have been uploaded. Today I searched, and success!

As a reminder, I search from the main catalog page at https://catalog.archives.gov/ so that I can benefit from the links to the search terms in the results. To see if more Morning Report are available I search for terms such as: “Morning Reports” AND “October 1944”

This time there were results! I kept searching, and Morning Reports up to December 1944 are available. (Search terms: “Morning Reports” AND “December 1944”) I did check for any from 1945, there were no results (yet!).

Of course, I did search for my father, by name and by serial number. This time I did find a mention of him. My brother was the first to know of this find, grateful that this was not a middle-of-the-night call!

For tonight, I will share that SGT James C. McMahon appeared in a Morning Report for 13 October 1944, still in Narsarssuak, Greenland. July 1944 had left me with a cliffhanger, and this record provided data about two military organizations with which he served after the 500th AAA Gun Battalion left Greenland.

I will post about my continuing research as I use Morning Reports to reconstruct my father’s WWII service. From here, I will be busy moving forward and backward in time to track what was happening in Greenland.

Thank you to NARA! Good luck searching, and let me know how you do!

Researching Morning Reports

Have you every heard that you should be using Morning Reports?

A book has finally arrived to show how you can travel back in time through locations and events, day by day, with a U.S. Army soldier or organization during WWI or WWII military service.  With Morning Reports, you can overcome and potentially go beyond burned Army personnel files! Pursue references for a specific soldier, then leverage daily records when not named or identified.

This book introduces techniques for locating Morning Reports and what is and is not included. WWI and WWII formats are described in detail, with examples allowing the reader to experience the WWII Morning Report language and abbreviations by utilizing the web, Fold3 (WWI) and the NARA catalog (WWII). The reader will discover tips for locating elusive reports and strategies for working around missing records. Useful case studies combine reports across parts of a military organization and place a soldier into the context of history.

This book contains a bonus chapter about the daily reporting for other branches of the military!

Historians will find the search techniques and pointers to additional records useful as they track a soldier or organization through a world war.

Our new book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Using-U-S-Morning-Reports/dp/B0FPBDVN9M

If you are interested in having Dr. McMahon speak at your society about Morning Reports, or other presentations, please contact us: https://aweekofgenealogy.com/contact-us/

Topics at: https://aweekofgenealogy.com/presentations/

Reviews are at: https://aweekofgenealogy.com/comments/

US Navy Log Book for Pearl Harbor 1941

If you have read our WWI military research book, Researching U.S. WWI Military Members, Military Organizations and Overseas Noncombatants: A Research Guide for Historians and Genealogists (Research Guides for Historians and Genealogists), you know that the Navy uses Log Books. The Log Book for the U.S. Naval Navy Yard at Pearl Harbor that includes 7 Dec 1941 has been located! Apparently it was found in a dumpster in California, then held by a family for many years. A digital copy of the Log book can be found at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/552663772. On Image 286, at the bottom of the page for 6 Dec 1941 you can see the beginning of the notes about the attack.

Remember that it is best to use a browser other than Firefox to see the image pages in order. If you choose to download the PDF file, know that it is over 1GB in size. You might want to read it online and download only the pages of interest.

Read accounts from the ships’ Log Books in NARA’s Prologue Magazine at https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2011/winter/ph-decklogs.html

An article about Log Book can be read at: https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2025/08/18/navy-logbook-that-recounted-pearl-harbor-recovered-after-84-years/

You can see our other books at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Margaret-M-McMahon-PhD/author/B01EMD8J62 (Always look for the latest versions.)

Book Review: Greetings from Camp Davis

Greetings from Camp Davis: The History of a WWII Army Base, now in its 2nd Edition, is described by the author as a general history of Camp Davis. It hits the mark. Although the Camp’s operational history only spans a short time, its story is large. Its contribution to the Army and its impact on the local area was immense. The effort to build such a large base quickly on property that had no infrastructure echoed the ambitions of the United States Army to expand from 9 antiaircraft regiments in 1939 to a goal of having 46 regiments by 1942.

Mr. Tyndall takes us on a well-researched tour through Camp Davis from its inception, through WWII, to its last occupants after training activities ceased. To take this guided tour, I recommend reading the book from cover to cover. After a timeline of the Camp, travel with the author to observe how the location was chosen, constructed and operated. You will learn how the sleepy hamlet of Holly Ridge, North Carolina, emerged to become the premier Antiarcraft Artillery (AAA) Training Center for basic and unit training, and about its associated AAA School courses. As the tour progresses through time, you will view Camp Davis from various aspects in different parts of the book. Continue along to walk through the details of the daily lives of the personnel at the Camp, and even those who visited it. A scrapbook of images from the activities and times at the Camp are collected in an engaging appendix.

Those interested in the local history of Wilmington, North Carolina, as well as readers of World War II history will enjoy this book. This book is also incredibly valuable to those who had ancestors who were stationed, trained, or employed at Camp Davis. Mr. Tyndall’s tour is as close as we can get to visiting Camp Davis in WWII.

The book is also of value to those interested in the roots of today’s Air Defense Artillery (ADA). For a brief time starting in 1941, Camp Davis was home to the three branches of the Coast Artillery: seacoast, anti-aircraft, and barrage balloons. From the perspective of one Army base, readers can follow when and how the Coastal Artillery, tasked with the mission of protecting our shores, gave rise to the antiaircraft artillery that accomplished both anti-aircraft and ground support functions.

My favorite chapter may be Chapter 3, about Training and Organization.  This chapter explained what happened to the new recruits as they arrived. It described their daily routine and the technical aspects of the equipment the AAA trainees would master. The technical descriptions certainly help us to understand the duties and challenges that these soldiers would face during their operational assignments. As in the other chapters, the personal reflections of those who were at the Camp are also included along with the results of extensive research. Appendix D holds a summary of the AAA weapons’ specifications. In this way, I was able to learn more about my father’s time in training. Knowing that my father was trained at Camp Davis, the appendix listing the units trained there will be useful when combined with Morning Reports from his next organization, for insight into when he moved to Camp Stewart.

Through the other chapters I also learned about what the buildings and food were like at the Camp, and how the lack of transportation and the isolation of the location made recreational facilities so important. For a young man from Brooklyn, New York, such as my father, this had to be a significant adjustment.

Stories about the roles of women and racial integration at Camp Davis hinted at future changes to the military. As expected during that time, there were racially segregated training, barracks, and entertainment facilities; what was unexpected were examples of some fully integrated training and billeting at the Officer Candidate School (OCS) and at certain specialty AAA courses. The groundwork for women’s future roles in military service was paved at Camp Davis. In August 1943, some of the first women who were WAACs (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) became female soldiers of the Women’s Army Corps (WACs). The Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASPs) learned how to fly tow targets at the Camp, then supported the AAA training.

Your tour of Camp Davis through time finishes in the current day, showing the few remnants of the disassembled Camp that still remain after its deconstruction and the surplusing of everything in it.

The 2024 Addendum includes additional research done since the book’s first edition. Among the topics are more about the construction and labor unrest, the Camp’s post exchange and its Newspapers. We also learn that at least one of the ten female officers (WACs) who were trained in antiaircraft artillery techniques was stationed at Camp Davis.

The book represents Mr. Tyndall’s passion and commitment to telling the story of Camp Davis. The personal stories he gathered through extensive oral interviews add an additional dimension to his wide-ranging research to uncover details of Camp Davis’ story. The chapter notes document the plethora of sources used, and when combined with the selected bibliography, may inspire your own research.

Books such as this make me grateful for the rise of independent publishing, so that valuable information can get into the hands of interested readers.

The 2nd edition of Greetings from Camp Davis is available at local museums and bookstores in Southeast North Carolina and via the author’s book website: www.greetingsfromcampdavis.com. A Kindle version of the 2nd edition is planned for some time in the future.

Note: A review copy of the book was provided by the publisher.

Tales from Morning Reports: From Duty to Death

Although it was not directly about my father’s service in Greenland, I learned a lot about the place reading Greenland’s Icy Fury by Hansen, who was part of the Ice Cap Detachment stationed in Greenland during WWII. These brave few men battled the elements and topography to provide weather information to the Allied Forces about the north Atlantic and Europe. In the book there was a mention of a soldier taking his own life in Southern Greenland (p. 3). I wondered about the circumstances, how these isolated men might have come to have this knowledge, and if perhaps this might have been a story that changed as it was repeated until it reached them at a later time. I also wondered if this soldier had been in my father’s Battery (Battery A, 500th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion).

Using the NARA Catalog, I searched for the Morning Reports of the 500th AAA Gun Battalion (shown in WWII Morning Reports using the NARA Catalog). Remember that when you traverse these records in ascending image order, you travel through them in reverse chronological order. In other words, as you go forward through images using the arrows next to the image number, you go backwards in time.

When I download Morning Reports, I typically download all of the Morning Reports for a whole military organization for each month, rather than just focusing on certain days or just when an ancestor’s name appears. There are common experiences within the units that may be expressed differently or in a different level of detail.

Going through the Morning Reports for the 500th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, I located a report about the funeral service and burial of a soldier from Battery B. Battery B was stationed at Ivigtut [now Ivittuut], Greenland. Battery A, the battery to which my father was assigned, was stationed was stationed farther south in Narsarssuak [now Narsarsuaq]. Both are in the southwest of Greenland.

The story in Morning Report was very moving, describing the solemn ceremony that laid PFC Peter Golya Jr’s remains to rest in Greenland. The battery traveled to the the Green Valley Cemetery by barge for his funeral services for “Peter Golya Jr a well known and liked member of this organization.” The Green Valley Cemetery was listed as near Ivigtut in a finding aid for Cemetery Plat Maps in Record Group 92 (RG92) prepared by the American Graves Registration Service.

The next image sequentially (in my Firefox browser) was the Morning Report for the previous day, 25 September 1943, when not long after arriving in Greenland, PFC Peter Golya’s status had changed from duty to deceased.

I did more research into this soldier and found several records online with supplemental details. PFC Golya died as a result of a machine gun bullet perforating his head. He was 36 when he died. The hospital admission card recorded his death as being in the line of duty. In the hometown newspaper articles, his death was reported as accidental.  

The hometown local newspapers contained his obituary, accompanied by a photo, and the text of the telegram his mother received. The telegram contained the date of his death, and the fact that he died in the North American area. His obituary was titled: “Dupont Man Dies Serving His Country: Soldier Last Reported Stationed in Greenland Passed Away Sept 25. In Service 7 Months.”  When his remains were returned to the US, they arrived by train in 1947 escorted by a Staff Sergeant from the local area. Members the VFW Post, the American Legion, and Catholic War Vets met the train and escorted them to the fallen soldier’s father’s home. There was a military funeral, followed by a mass of requiem at his Catholic Church with the burial being in the parish cemetery.

As I located records, I added pieces of the story where I could. On FindaGrave.com I uploaded the Morning Report to the Memorial. I also created a subject page on Fold3 to collect the documents Fold3 had about him.

The records that were found pieced together a story of what happened to him and where. The Morning Reports were the only records containing details of the movement of the battery to bury him in Greenland. From the few words the reader learns about the soldier being well known and liked, and can imagine that cold barge ride, and march to the Green Valley Cemetery to bury a comrade who suffered an accidental death in the line of duty.

Resources that were located online (Note: some records can be found on multiple websites.)

NARA

• Access to Archival Databases (AAD)

Fold3

• US, WWII Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
• US, WWII Draft Registration Cards, 1940
• US, WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954
• US, Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945

FamilySearch

• Military • United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

Ancestry.com

• U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861-1985
• U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
• U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
• U.S., World War II Hospital Admission Card Files
• Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966

Findagrave

• A memorial for his burial in the United States

Google

• A finding aid for World War II Cemetery Plat Maps in Record Group 92 (RG92) prepared by the American Graves Registration Service listing the cemeteries in Greenland

Newspapers.com

• Hometown newspapers contained his obituary, and articles about the repatriation of his remains for funeral and burial in his hometown

American Battle Monuments Commission

I searched ABMC, but did not expect to find any record of his passing in this database, as there is no American Cemetery in Greenland. Through a FindaGrave.com search, I did find that his remains had been repatriated, and reinterred in the United States.

The WWII Hospital Admission Card Files are available on Ancestry.com and Fold 3. They contained only transcriptions of the Admission Cards, which including only summary data. Digging deeper into records from the hospital might not be helpful as it appears he died quickly after the injury.

A next step might be to look for his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF). These records are separate from the personnel files that burned in the 1973 fire. As of writing this blog post, a small fraction of them are online at NARA, and PFC Golya’s is not among them. You can search at: https://catalog.archives.gov/search-within/297287480?sort=title%3Aasc