Heavy Medal

Yesterday I received a surprise in the mail. Here's a hint: it was from the U.S. Air Force. Believe it or not, it contained three of the medals my dad received in the war. Considering that the National Personnel Records Center here in St. Louis had only forwarded my request (made to them in January) on August 27th, this was a fast turnaround time indeed. The other medals and citations my dad received are out of stock. The paperwork enclosed advised me to write back in 180 days and request the other medals again. Seriously??? 180 days???

While I am exceedingly grateful that we can request the records and medals of our war ancestors, the whole system is way more painful than it needs to be in this information age. I know this is the government we are talking about, but they make the process harder than it has to be on everyone.

I simply cannot afford to hold my dad's book up any longer waiting for things that may or may not come from the government bureaucracies. Next step? I'm going to get some quotes off of e-lance for designing the book's interior.

Burn Baby, Burn

So yesterday I received the long-awaited correspondence from the National Personnel Records Center. Judging by the size of the envelope, I knew it was not going to be good. Basically they regret to inform me that military records up through the letter "L" in the alphabet (our last name begins with "K" - lucky us) burned in a fire in St. Louis in 1973. Guess there is no sense trying to light a fire under someone at that office - sounds like someone beat me to it!

Wouldn't you think that when I sent in the request back in January that a staff member could have immediately looked at the dates of service and then at the last name and fired off an email to me stating that the records no longer exist? Why drag it out so long? That serves no purpose for anyone. While the letter advised that fortunately some records can be reconstructed using other sources, it gives no indication of what those sources might be. Gee, thanks for the help!

But they were pleased to inform me that my request for duplicates of dad's medals and citations had been approved, and they sent the appropriate form off to the Air Force. Again, this was all part of my request to them back in January. Why couldn't they have at least submitted that to the Air Force right away? God only knows how long it will take to hear from the Air Force now. The inefficiencies in our government system never cease to amaze me. Somebody needs to hold their feet to the fire.

Frustrating Times

The week before last I went to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to do some research. I knew that they have information about the different military units from WWII there, including pictures and videos. Though I had reviewed what was available ahead of time, I was disappointed to learn that the military material is located in another location 45 minutes away. Since I was on a fairly tight schedule I did some other genealogical research instead.

The promised records from the National Personnel Records Center here in St. Louis have yet to arrive. The last correspondence said they would be mailed to me on July 27th. I contacted the office via email again, and now they are telling me that the records will be sent September 20th. I am beginning to think that every time I write them I get pushed back to the bottom of the pile. I believe it is time to find out who is in charge of this office.

Meanwhile I have now missed the opportunity to have my daughter lay out the book for me. She will be heading back to college next weekend. Of course, at the rate the personnel records center is going I may get the records in time for her Christmas break!

More 411, Please

The information I requested from the National Records Center in St. Louis back in January is anticipated to be mailed to me on Tuesday, and I am supposed to allow 5-7 days for it to get to me. I am not holding my breath on this one. Although that might be a welcome relief from breathing all this humid air in St. Louis. I haven't been around this much hot air since my brother visited last month. Har, har.

We are going to Washington, D.C. next month so I am making plans to visit the National Archives. I am doing some preliminary research here on what is available so I can make the most of the one day I'll have to spend at the repository. I guess what I'm hoping to accomplish first and foremost is to gather additional background material for my dad's book. It sounds like I might be able to look at records concerning the Air Transport Command, which my dad was part of, as well as photos and discussions of the China-Burma-India Theater. Some of the stuff is searchable online, so I'll do that ahead of time. Then if time allows I will also do some other genealogical research. You can't bring any notebooks, photos or photocopies of historical documents into the research center. You can bring handwritten notes, however, as well as cameras and computers. My Macbook does not have my genealogical software on it, so I'm not quite sure how to handle the 1100+ names I have in the database. I may just print off the family tree and hope they'll let me in with that.

I am anxious to receive the military records on my dad. I hope there is something in the packet that I don't already have. I hate to think that I have waited 6 months only to find nothing new out about his time in the service. And I hope I find some good stuff at the National Archives to enhance my dad's story.