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We recommend that you request his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs for Navy enlisted personnel who were separated from the service after January 1, 1886 (January 1, 1903 for officers) are serviced by NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis.
You'll want to 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. 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. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).
Veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. Please note that next of kin of a deceased veteran must provide proof of death of the veteran such as a copy of death certificate, letter from funeral home, or published obituary. For more information see Request Military Service Records.
Military personnel records are opened to the public 62 years after the veteran leaves the service. If fewer than 62 years have passed since the veteran’s discharge date (to include any reserve time), certain information in the records is not available to the general public without the written consent of the veteran or the next of kin the deceased veteran. For more information seeOfficial Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Non-Archival Holdings.
Response times from NPRC vary depending on the complexity of your request, the availability of the records, and their workload. The NPRC staff works actively to respond to each request in a timely fashion, but keep in mind they receive approximately 4,000 - 5,000 requests per day. If your request is urgent, please see Emergency Requests and Deadlines.
Thank you for posting your question on History Hub!
We recommend that you request his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs for Navy enlisted personnel who were separated from the service after January 1, 1886 (January 1, 1903 for officers) are serviced by NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis.
You'll want to 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. 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. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).
Veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. Please note that next of kin of a deceased veteran must provide proof of death of the veteran such as a copy of death certificate, letter from funeral home, or published obituary. For more information see Request Military Service Records.
Military personnel records are opened to the public 62 years after the veteran leaves the service. If fewer than 62 years have passed since the veteran’s discharge date (to include any reserve time), certain information in the records is not available to the general public without the written consent of the veteran or the next of kin the deceased veteran. For more information seeOfficial Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Non-Archival Holdings.
Response times from NPRC vary depending on the complexity of your request, the availability of the records, and their workload. The NPRC staff works actively to respond to each request in a timely fashion, but keep in mind they receive approximately 4,000 - 5,000 requests per day. If your request is urgent, please see Emergency Requests and Deadlines.
