Ship manifest WW2 veteran served in South Pacific

Question

If a WW2 veteran served time in the South Pacific, would there be a record of him sailing there? Where & how would these records be found? His personal records burned in the 1973 fire at the Archives. 
 Thank you!

History Hub Info · Answer

Dear elizzabeth7 
 Thank you for posting your request on History Hub. 
 Travel orders are contained in the veteran's service record. We suggest that you request a copy of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) . OMPFs for officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. Armed Forces who were separated from the service before October 2002 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 . 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. 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. 
 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. 
 For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests . 
 We hope this information is helpful.

Textual Reference Branch, Archives II · Answer

elizzabeth7 
 
 Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! According to NARA records, in 1951 the Department of the Army destroyed all manifests, logs of vessels, and troop movement files of United States Army transports for World War II and most of the passenger lists. Sincerely, Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR) [23-62465 -REC]