Basic training picture

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The Still Picture Branch does not have portraits/headshots or group photographs taken during training. According to the Military, graduates’ formal photos, both individual and group, were taken by private local commercial photographers and offered for sale at the time taken. Unfortunately those items never became part of official military records nor were they retained by the commercial photographers responsible for shooting the photos.

The Still Picture Branch has many candid photos of U.S. Military personnel but in most of them, there is no identification of the people shown. We have various name indexes, filed by last name where one can complete a search for the specific person you are looking for.

With that said, we currently have two indexes available online in our National Archives Catalog:

First, our Army personality index (1940–1981) can be found as 111-PX: Index to Personalities in the U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographic Files. A tutorial on how to use the Army, WWII and Korea digitized section can be found at: https://historyhub.history.gov/military-records/army-and-air-force-records/b/army-air-force-blog/posts/researching-personalities-in-u-s-army-photographs.

Secondly, our World War II Navy index (1941–1945) can be found as 80-GX: Index to Photographs of Personalities in the General Photographic File of the Department of Navy. A tutorial on how to use the Navy WWII personality index can be found at: https://historyhub.history.gov/military-records/navy-marine-corps-and-coast-guard-records/b/navy-marine-coast-guard-blog/posts/how-to-search-still-photographs-for-world-war-ii-navy-personalities.

Lastly, the bulk of our military photographs taken between 1982 through 2007, are available in digital format online through our series 330-CFD: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files. We suggest conducting keyword searches for the name you are looking for as well as locations, units, and types of work that were completed using the search bar here. Since many people's names are not included in the captions, we have seen some people locate images of themselves/family members or units by broadening their keyword searches. Please note that we have not received the majority of military photographs dated after 2007.

If you have not done so already, you can request your Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). It is possible that a photograph could be attached to the OMPF. For more information about how to request personnel records from the National Archives' National Personnel Record Center (NPRC), please visit our website here: https://www.archives.gov/veterans. Specifically, members of the military who separated between 1962-present can be found at the NPRC, while those who separated between 1912-1961 can be found at the National Archives at St. Louis. For the most complete copy of a personnel file, in Section I of the SF-180, on the line for "Other" (Specify), write "Complete copy of every page of personnel file - not an extract."

Alternatively, you may wish to reach out to the location where you completed basic training to inquire if they have any additional resources.

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 stillpix@nara.gov so that we can assist you further.

We hope this assists you with your research!

Sincerely,

Special Media Division (RRS)

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