Seeking records of John Olsen & 3rd Pioneer

Mrs. Elliott,

Here is some information below.

Dear Ms. Elliott,

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 individual medical reports for those who served in the U.S. Army during World War I and who were separated from the service prior to 1959 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. In many cases where Army personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Please 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 which you do not know, you may omit it, however the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file if it survived the fire. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located a series titled the Records of Pioneer Infantry Regiments, 1917 - 1919 in the Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (World War I) (Record Group 120) that includes the files of the 3rd Pioneer Infantry Regiment. These records are arranged by regiment number and thereunder alphabetically by company letter, with the records of the regimental headquarters first. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

Morning reports for Army units from November 1, 1912 to 1959 and copies of most of the monthly rosters from November 1912 - 1943 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis, MO. For access to these records, please contact the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL) via email at stl.archives@nara.gov.

Please note that the World War I rosters have been digitized and are available on FamilySearch at United States, World War I, military muster rolls and rosters, 1916-1939.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2 and RL-SL. Also, the NPRC is closed except for emergencies. Currently, NPRC will continue servicing requests ONLY associated with medical treatments, burials, and homeless veterans seeking admittance to a homeless shelter. If your request is urgent, please see Emergency Requests and Deadlines. Please refrain from submitting non-emergency requests such as replacement medals, administrative corrections, or records research until NPRC returns to pre-COVID staffing levels. Please check archives.gov/veterans for updates to the NPRC operating hours and status. We apologize for any inconvenience.

We also searched online and located the following sources which may be useful:

• http://www.schistory.net/campwadsworth/unitsnon.html
• https://aweekofgenealogy.com/book-a-guide-to-the-u-s-pioneer-infantry-regiments-in-wwi/
• https://www.facebook.com/pg/PioneersWWI/posts/
• https://history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/WWI.html

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

Hi Annette,

Welcome to History Hub

There is a lot of information on the following website about the 3rd Pioneer.

Hope this helps in your search.

There are 21 soldiers named Olsen on this webpage

Advanced Search | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au)

4 photos

empirecall / 3-Pioneer-Battalion-HQ-Co (pbworks.com)

The Empire Called and I Answered: 3rd Pioneer Battalion Headquarters Company, 1916

Alice Lane

Research Volunteer