Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!
We suggest that you request a copy of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs and medical records of enlisted men of the U.S. Navy who were separated from the service after 1885 and before 1960 are located at NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. To request these records, please mail a completed GSA Standard Form 180 to NPRC. Veterans and their next of kin 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. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests. His OMPF will list the ship(s) he served on.
We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!
I have sent for my father's military records with the National Archives in St Louis MO. Unfortunately, it did not list the ship he served on. They did say because of the pandemic, they could not send the complete information?
Would there be another research database to find out?
I have sent for my father's military records with the National Archives in St Louis MO. Unfortunately, it did not list the ship he served on. They did say because of the pandemic, they could not send the complete information?
Would there be another research database to find out?
Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!
We contacted the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL) about your request. They will open a new case for you based on your request in History Hub and previous requests to RL-SL. The new case will provide you with the complete file. Please note that RL-SL has a substantial backlog of cases and it may be quite some time until they are able to complete the case. Also, it may be necessary for you to pay a reproduction fee of $70 for the complete file. If you have any questions, please contact RL-SL via email at stl.archives@nara.gov.
We searched the National Archives Catalog and located Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities, 1/1/1939 - 1/1/1949 in the Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (Record Group 24). Many of these muster rolls have been digitized and are available though the Catalog. Although searching by name using the Catalog is possible, it is more effective to search for the name of the ship or other unit. Also, the muster rolls generally do not list officers. If your father was an officer, he would not be included in these records. For more information about the non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov.
You may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RL-SL and RDT2. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.
Ancestry has digitized the muster rolls and has made them available online at U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949 and old Fold3 at WWII Navy Muster Rolls. Their data collection is searchable by name but we were unable to locate a listing for Eldon Mackert when we searched the data collection. Please note that there are gaps and imperfections in their name indexing and that sometimes persons that are listed in the muster rolls do not turn up in name searches.
We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!
