My 80+ yr old SIL needs to find the dates of military service of my deceased brother...

[Peregrine Took]

It is a totally bewildering bunch of websites - mostly "Ads."

The National Archives seem to be the only source I can find that might have this information and you have to send your request in writing plus a ton of these records were burned up in a fire in 1973.

All I know is he was in the USAF and got an honorable discharge in the late '50's or so.

Any idea where to look? Just want the dates of service- nothing else.

She seems to be in some great hurry to find this information. Why I don't know.

Thanks!

[The Wizard]

1. Try the VA

[irisblue]

2. Calling her Congressional Rep and or her Senators

She can explain the problem and what she needs, they Constituent Representative who have shot at getting info.

Best hopes for her

[secondwind]

3. Giving his full name and DOB go a long way.

And DOD of course.

[sarge43]

4. The Archives are the best bet.

Send a letter requesting the DD Form 214 with as much information as possible to narrow the search.

Full name, branch, rank if known (at least whether he was enlisted or commissioned). approximate period of service and whatever else you can supply.

I understand that it was mostly Korean War era records that went up in smoke.

[sarge43]

9. Follow up

Unfortunately due to Covid-19, the National Archives are processing only emergency requests at this time. The VA is the next best bet.

[doc03]

5. He may have recorded his discharge at the county courthouse. I know I did. nt

[nykym]

6. If all else fails

you may be able to find the info on Ancestry.com.
Those Mormons have all our info.

[Louis1895]

7. Fold3.com

Fold3.com has records for military service. The site is owned by Ancestry.com.

You will want to look for: "Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File". BIRLS stands for Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem, a Veterans Benefits Administration database that provides information on deceased individuals including name, birth and death dates, branch of service, and enlistment and release dates.
I just looked up my dad and found this information:

Full Name: XXXX
Gender: Male
Social Security Number: ***-**-XXXX
Birth Date: XXXX
Death Date: XXXX
Cause of Death: XXXX
Organization Code: AF
Organization: Air Force
Branch: Air Force
Enlistment Date: XX XXX 194X
Release Date: XX XXX 195X
Conflict Period: World War II
Served for: United States of America
Views: X

(X=privatized information)

[Grins]

8. Curious as to why, but...

Did he come from a small hometown? That had a local newspaper?

I did. And the local paper would often print the names of those who made it out of boot camp, sometimes with their photo. A PR thing by the services. “Little Johnny has successfully completed basic training at (Fort Dix/Parris Island/G.Lakes/Lackland)...”. Pretty sure they still do it.

Give it a shot. Faster than the DoD’s records center where it used to take 2-3 years to get records. Today - double it!

One more: any of his classmates from high school you know of...? Maybe...

[Orangepeel]

10. I found my deceased father's records on ancestry.com

They might have linked me to fold3 (mentioned in another post), which has a separate subscription, but had a free trial.

[csziggy]

11. As mentioned below, Fold3.com may have the info

If you want, message me your brother's name and birth date and I will look it up for you.

Is your brother recently deceased? She may be trying to make arrangements for burying in a National Cemetery. Or trying to get a marker that reflects his service. We had to have that info for my parents' grave markers. We were lucky - they have their discharge papers. But they kept everything so that was not surprising.

[Dem2theMax]

12. Post this same OP in the Genealogy Forum here on DU.

I would do the search for you, but I don't have an active Ancestry account right now. Someone in that forum will have an Ancestry account, and possibly a fold3 account as well.

People in there always try to help others. Good luck!

[Peregrine Took]

13. Thanks so much for these great responses. I will find out his birthday.

The older I get the more I forget these details!

I'll let you all know what I find.

She is 90 and I have no idea why she has to find out this information asap but I'm trying to help her anyway!

[yellowdogintexas]

14. my dad' WW II service record was destroyed in that fire

When my mom's house burned, we lost his Bronze Star award. She contacted her Congressman to help get it and that is when we found out everything was destroyed. Thata was a huge warehouse in St Louis