Artist in the Army

Dear Ms. Shearer,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

Artists played a wide variety of roles in the Army during World War II. Just a few of these include designing camouflage, the U.S. Army War Art Unit, illustrating instructional materials, and deception operations. Some artists also contributed to unit magazines and military newspapers.

We suggest that you begin your research by requesting his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), which should contain information about his military service. OMPFs for persons who served in the U.S. Army who during World War II are at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. In many cases where personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, information can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders. If your great uncle separated from the Army prior to 1957, his records are considered archival and may be requested by anyone. Please see the following link for a GSA Standard Form 180 which you should complete and mail it to NARA’s National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002.

World War II Army Enlistment Records are in the custody of the Electronic Records Division (RDE) and are available via AAD (Access to Archival Databases) on the National Archives website at: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=893&tf=F&cat=WR26&bc=,sl. While these records will not include information about his assignments, they can help you find information such as service numbers and enlistment dates which you can include in your request for his OMPF. 

We hope this information is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

This documentary may offer some sources you could look into,,, give it a try.

Portraits for the Home Front is brought to you by WQED's Emmy® winning team of producer/writer David Solomon and photographer/editor Paul Ruggieri, with narration by Michael Bartley.