Question: How do I find records on grandpa/dad/uncle/brother?

"Stormin' Answers: This is a frequently asked question although not the type I am able to be very helpful with at this point. "Ask Stormin' " was meant to be the place to ask about the SEABEES, past and present as a group, but not as a personal research tool on individuals. "Stormin' " is not a historian or personal researcher, but a promoter of SEABEE history and all things "SEABEE" to the general public and the rest of the SEABEE community of active duty members, former members, retirees, family members, friends and supporters of the SEABEES. So far, I've made feeble attempts to help with individual cases achieving limited results. Therefore I will pass on these tips for personal research from Bill Hildebrand of the CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation and from Tom Marone of the Navy Seabee Veterans of America, Inc. This advice is from the best sources, and given in the hope that it will help those seriously searching for evidence of the SEABEE connection of a loved one.

Bill Hildebrand's advice: You mentioned in an earlier email that you get a lot of inquiries from people trying to find out what unit their father, brother, uncle, grandfather, etc served with. My standard answer to all those inquiries is that they need to get a copy of the person's military service record.

If they are a relative, St. Louis will usually provide the info to them if they have it. They should write to:

National Personnel Records Center
9700 Page Avenue ATTN: NAVY
St. Louis, MO 63132

or go online and request an application at: http://vetrecs.archives.gov/.

St. Louis asks for five pieces of info about the veteran: Full name, rate/rank, dates of service (approx), service # (for service prior to the late 60's, that is not their SSN #), and date of birth. St. Louis is trying to make sure they have exactly the right record before they release it so they ask for all five elements, but the two most critical are full name and date of birth. Usually they can come up with the record on those two.

Once they have the record, the certificate of discharge will have on it all the Navy units they were assigned to including the recruiting station where they joined, where they went to boot camp, units they served with, and where they were discharged. Once they have the Seabee units, if they will get in touch with me, we can give them info on where the unit went, whether there is a reunion group, and possibly put them in touch with other members of the unit.

They need to be patient with St. Louis - they have a huge backlog and may take 4-5 months to respond.

As a side note, there was a fire in St. Louis about 20 years ago, but my understanding is that it was primarily Army records that were lost.

Bill

OPERATION SEABEES KNOWLEDGE seabeesinfohq.org E-Mail seabees@seabeesinfohq.org