|
Hey Goons in Platoons, I'd like some help identifying a person that used to be in a platoon but is almost surely dead by now. This is probably a reach and I don't have much to go off of. This picture was found in a box of my grandfather's stuff after he passed. He was a marine pilot in the Pacific theater of WWII but never talked about it. Like, ever. Nobody has any stories he shared. My grandpa passed in 1998 or so. This picture is not of my grandpa, but possibly of one of his war buddies. He would visit somebody in Cincinnati on occasion and there's some speculation that it could be this person but it's all just speculation. He seems high ranking enough that it shouldn't be difficult to figure out who he is, but I don't know how to read those kinds of things. We're just trying to figure out who this guy is. I tried google reverse-image search with no results. 
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2021 22:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:00 |
|
|
Google reverse engine search doesn't yield any hits for Lt. Col. Reggie. (are archer jokes still en vogue?) e: thank you mcnally I hosed up the rank. Mr. Nice! fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Jan 4, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2021 23:55
|
|
|
The individual appears to be a lieutenant colonel which, unfortunately, isn't quite high ranking enough to be distinctive based on rank alone.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2021 00:07
|
|
|
His decorations aren't unique enough to help either...there's probably a story behind that Bronze Star for Valor on top, but there are thousands of them out there. Otherwise all I can tell is that he joined prior to WWII, spent time in the PTO and the American Theater (which does NOT include service within the US) and served in Korea during that war.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2021 04:12
|
|
|
Depends how much time and money you're willing to put in. Start by finding out which unit your grandfather was in. Do you have any military paperwork such as his DD-214 discharge paper? Anything mentioning a squadron or wing? You could request his personnel file like in the second reply in this example. You request personnel records here. As long as he left the service before 1958 then his records are open information. Include as much information as you can especially years he joined and left, social security number and if you are able to find it beforehand, his service number, which is the most important identifier. Note that a. It'll cost $70 for 'photocopying' and b. The archive center isn't doing routine requests atm due to coronavirus. If you are able to find his unit then the best bet is to try and make contact with the association for that unit and ask in a message board/submit a picture for their newsletter and see if anyone replies. Otherwise if you can get lists of the squadron leaders and flight leaders, bronze star recipients within the unit and so on, then you could start googling names. If you can get unit photos you could see if the mystery man shows up. Basically you just have to narrow down the field a bit and then see what options are available to you. We are making a big assumption that this is a guy that your grandfather flew with at some point, and if that's wrong then it could be anybody, but worst case, you'll at least learn a bunch of stuff about your grandfather's life and time in the military.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2021 09:32
|
|
|
Jaguars! posted:Depends how much time and money you're willing to put in. Start by finding out which unit your grandfather was in. Do you have any military paperwork such as his DD-214 discharge paper? Anything mentioning a squadron or wing? You could request his personnel file like in the second reply in this example. Oh man this is really useful stuff. I know I can get his DD-214 easily because my uncles had to find it for his tombstone. Thanks for the help.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2021 15:02
|
|
|
Yeah this stuff is easier than ever before thanks to the internet and public facing digitization. A couple of years ago I ordered the ones for my grandfather and then a couple of marriage, birth and death certificates and was able to take my dad's known ancestry right back from barely 1 generation to the 1790s. I gave it to him for Christmas, by far the best present I've ever given anyone. I haven't done the US specifically as my grandfather was in the NZ army, but checking it out the process appears almost exactly the same in this case (If he was US army then you'd have been out of luck, most of their old personnel files were burnt in a warehouse fire in 1973). At the very least the official military record of personnel should contain a card with transfers from the custody of one unit to another, enlistment paperwork with place of residence and next of kin and probably a bunch of qualification certificates, reports and disciplinary actions. If you get to the point where you have a possible name or names for the mystery man, ancestry.com is another place you can search, you can get a free trial month, but you need to be careful because it requires credit card details and will automatically roll over into billing you if you don't cancel it in time. There's other free sites but they're a lot more patchy, ancestry probably has the vast majority of 20th century Americans on trees somewhere in it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2021 20:41
|
|
|
There's also a service by Ancestry.com that hosts military records. https://www.fold3.com/ I'm not listed at all, but it may better at older stuff. Also be aware that there was a large fire at the records depot in the 70s that destroyed a lot of documents as well. Good luck!
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2021 21:07
|
|
|
MonkeyWash posted:There's also a service by Ancestry.com that hosts military records. The NPRC fire only impacted Army and Air Force records. The Navy and Marines kept their records elsewhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2021 00:40
|
|
|
Elsewhere in the building.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2021 02:04
|
|
|
Based on the awards and relatively high rank, maybe a mentor/instructor?
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 13:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:00 |
|
|
Thats not me
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 02:34
|
|