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Re: Seeking records of my grandfather's service during WWI
Lisha Penn
Mar 3, 2020 2:21 PM
1 person found this helpfulDear Ms. Albritton,
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 prior to 1958 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. You can also fax the form to 314-801-9195 OR view the record by visiting the NPRC Archival Research Room in St. Louis, MO. Veterans and their next of kin can also use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.
We searched the National Archives Catalog and located Muster Rolls of Naval Ships and Shore Establishments, 1/1898-6/30/1939; and Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, 1801-1940 in the Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (Record Group 24) that may contain information about the USS Louisiana. For access to and/or copies of the deck logs and muster rolls, please contact the National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference (RDT1) via email at archives1reference@nara.gov.
We also located the series titled Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 in the Records of the Selective Service System (World War I) (Record Group 163) that are in the custody of the National Archives at Atlanta (RE-AT). For access to and/or copies of these records, please contact RE-AT via email at atlanta.archives@nara.gov.
We searched Ancestry and located a World War I draft registration card for Barry Chenault; all Census results; all military results and his 1975 death certificate. There may be a fee for using Ancestry. Instead, you may view these records online at one NARA's facilities for free via a NARA PC. For the nearest NARA location, please consult our web page at https://www.archives.gov/locations/. Also, some of the images from Ancestry are available for free on Family Search at https://www.familysearch.org/en/.
We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!