He had three kids and none of them seem to know any information about him. The only information i’ve been able to find if that he was an Airplane mechanic that was drafted for WW2 he would’ve been in his early 20s and was living in Schenectady, NY at the time.. It’s not much but that’s all i could find.
Do you know either his birthday or the day (or year) he died? Or a middle name or initial? There are several Edward Grabowskis in the New York draft registration records who come close to fitting those parameters, but none who lived in Schenectady--but I don't know enough about New York to know if one of them might have registered at a parent's address, or a suburb. With one of those additional data points, I might be able to find out more for you.
Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the DD Form 214 has been issued by all military services since January 1, 1950. Before January 1, 1950, several similar forms were used by the military services. For more information please visit the VA web pages Veterans Military Discharge Documents or Complete List Of Discharge Documents | Veterans Affairs.
If you have not done so already, we suggest that you request a copy of your grandfather’s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), which should include copies of his World War II-era discharge or separation papers. OMPFs and individual medical reports for enlisted men of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after October 1912 and before 1960 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. In many cases where personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. Veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. If there is any information requested by the form that you do not know, you may omit it or provide estimates (such as for dates), but the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file if it survived the fire. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.
Archival OMPFs may also be requested by visiting the Archival Research Room at the National Archives at St. Louis. Please see the linked web pages for more information. Please email stlarr.archives@nara.gov for further assistance prior to making an appointment.
For a complete copy of a personnel file, in Section II, on the line for "Other" (Specify), write "Complete copy of every page of personnel file - not an extract."
Next, we searched the National Archives (NARA) Access to Archival Databases (AAD) and located the World War II Army Enlistment Records database that includes numerous files for individuals named Grabowski, Edward. If you believe that any of these files relates specifically to your grandfather, you may use the information in that file when requesting a copy of his OMPF.
As a History Hub community member has already noted, some U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 have been digitized and are available online from Ancestry.com. Please be aware that there may be a fee for using Ancestry. Instead, we suggest that you check for access at your local library as many library systems subscribe to these sites, making them free for their patrons. You may also access Ancestry free of charge from any National Archives research facility.
Original Selective Service records for individuals who served after World War I and were born before 1960 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis (RRPO). There are two types of records: cards and classification histories. The individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) may contain information such as: name, Selective Service registration number, age, date and place of birth, ethnicity, place of residence at time of registration and basic physical description. The Classification History (SSS Form 102) may contain: name; date of birth; classification and date of mailing notice; date of appeal to the board; date and results of armed forces physical examination; entry into active duty or civilian work in lieu of induction (may include date, branch of service entered and mode of entry, such as enlisted or ordered); date of separation from active duty or civilian work; and general remarks. Please complete a Form NA-13172 to request a search of these records and email it to RRPO at stl.archives@nara.gov.
For men who registered for the draft before 1976, all other individual draftee files besides the cards and classification histories were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work, and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist.
We invite you to continue the conversation with community members on History Hub, but should you have follow up questions for the staff at Archives II, please email us at archives2reference@nara.gov so that we can assist you further.
We hope this is helpful for your family research!
Sincerely,
Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR)
[RR2RR 23-44956-RS]
