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Doing
Your Own Research
There are hundreds
of locations to conduct your own research, depending on what you are
looking for. There are various types of information to look for, including:
Personnel Records
Unit Histories, Unit Journals
After Action Reports
Historical Reports
General Orders
The Modern Military
Records Unit (NWCTM) has custody of the Records of the Adjutant
General's Office, 1917 - (Record Group 407) and Records of U.S. Army
Commands, 1942 - (Record Group 338). Military unit files among these
records consist mostly of historical reports, after action reports,
unit journals, and general orders. Because the files are arranged
hierarchically, identification of the specific unit (i.e., division,
regiment, and battalion) is necessary before a search can be conducted.
The Modern Military Records Unit is located at 8601 Adelphi Road, College
Park, MD, near the University of Maryland-College Park campus. Research
room hours are 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday; 8:45
a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; and 8:45 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. on Saturday, except legal holidays.
Unit Rosters
are in the custody of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
You may contact them, but for most of the war, these files are no longer
extant. Their mailing address is the Military Personnel Records,
National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100.
The U.S. Army
Military History Institute, 22 Ashburn Drive, Carlisle Barracks,
Carlisle, PA 17013-5008, has a large collection of published unit
histories. Unit histories may also be available in bookstores,
in libraries, from the publishers, from the units themselves, or from
various veteran's associations. They are often published in limited
quantities, however, and are frequently out of print. These works may
be borrowed by libraries through the interlibrary loan service. You
may wish to contact your local library concerning this service.
Military
History Resource Links
- US
Army War College (Carlisle Barracks, PA)
Great site for researching military history. Includes manuscripts, maps,
photos, oral
histories, reference
biliographies, etc.
- After
Action Reports
This is a repository of documents from the U.S. Army Military History
Institute. These are in Digital Format and include After Action Reports
(unfortunately none for the 80th or 317th). Indexed Alphabetically as
well as Chronologically.
- US
Army Center for Military History - Online Bookshelf for ETO
Published Materials as well as online materials.
- Master
Index of Army Records - US Army Center for Military History
Listing of various repositories of various US Army records, including
Personnel Records, Morning Reports, Unit Operational Records, Unit Rosters,
Photographs, etc.
- National Archives - Access to Archival Databases (AAD)
Searchable databases for enlistments, prisoners of war (American) and much more. More than just WWII databases.
- National Archives - How to Request Military Service Records
Reserved for next-of-kin or immediate family, here is the first stop to requesting information about your veteran's service.
- Online Military Indexes & Records
A directory of various indexes to WWII (and others) records.
- American
Battle Monuments Commission
"The World War II Honor Roll" - An online search directory
for locating burial and memorial information for WWII soldiers. At times,
this site is extremely slow.
- MilitaryTimes Hall of Valor - Looking for veterans who received awards? Medal of Honor, DSC, Silver Star, Bronze Star, others? This searchable database will provide you with detailed information about the veteran's actions. Note that not every soldier who received a medal is listed, but there are over 56,000 medals listed.
- Wesley
Johnston's "Dad's War" Web site
A wonderfully laid out site, detailing a step-by-step plan for finding
more information about your Dad's war. Includes links, snail-mail addresses,
phone numbers.
- U.S. Army Awards of the Silver Star for Conspicuous Gallantry in Action During World War II
The pages linked represent more than 55,000 General Orders citing Silver Star Awards to members of the U.S. Army during World War II. This work is based largely on the unprecedented hard work of the late Colonel Albert Gleim to index G.O.s for Silver Star awards. The list includes all names from Volumes I, II, and III of Colonel Gleim's 1991 compendium, and includes additional recipients not identified in Gleim's work. This index does NOT contain ALL awards of the Silver Star, though we believe that 80% or more of the Army awards of the Silver Star are represented herein. Posting these indexes are our initial step in the much larger effort to identify ALL recipients, and eventually to post their citations.
Online
Books - WWII ETO
- Center
for Military History - Online Books (Complete Text)
Includes:
THE
ARDENNES: BATTLE OF THE BULGE by Hugh M. Cole (Part of the "Green
Book" Series)
BASTOGNE:
The Story of the First Eight Days ... By COLONEL S. L. A. MARSHALL
CROSS-CHANNEL
ATTACK by Gordon A. Harrison (Part of the "Green Book" Series)
ST-LO
(7 July - 19 July 1944) from the American Forces in Action Series
UTAH
BEACH TO CHERBOURG (6 June-27 June 1944)
Ardennes:
Alsace
WWII
Campaigns: Northern France
WWII
Campaigns: Rhineland
- Government
Printing Office - WWII Publications
About 100 books dealing with WWII, including the
"Green Books.". Order online.
- U.S.
Army in WWII -- The "Green Books"
The United
States Army in World War II series describes the organization, plans,
and operations of the War Department and the Army, in the zone of interior
and in all of the Army's five theaters of operations from 1939 to
1945. Since the Army authorized the project in 1946, seventy-eight
volumes have been or are being published representing an organized
treasury of knowledge on the world's greatest conflict. Behind them
lies one of the largest masses of records and recollections ever produced.
These documents, including those of the enemy, have been explored by
professional historians, with the cooperation of a host of participants
and with all the facilities and assistance that the Office of the Chief
of Military History and its successor, the Center of Military History,
could provide to ensure that this endeavor was as comprehensive, accurate,
and objective as possible. The final result has provided commanders
and staff officers, historians, and students-military and civilian alike-with
an unprecedented professional guide to past experience as they seek
light on the uncertain path ahead.
Several of these books are online at various sites:
- Questia.com
Billed as the world's
largest online library, many books on World War II, including the European
Theater of Operation.
WWII
Maps Links
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