I finally figured out what records I could find at a National Archives and hit the jackpot!
Background
The National Archives can be a robust source of genealogical information, but its primary purpose is to hold the records for government work and as such they organize their records much differently from how a family historian tends to think and work. Before investigating, I highly recommend watching Lisa Louise Cooke’s Elevenses with Lisa Show–episode 40 “How to Search the U.S. National Archives Online Catalog for Genealogy” from January 21, 2021.
My Find
As I was planning my 6-week trip, I was hoping to make use of one of the National Archives on my way out to Salt Lake City. I had originally thought that the Kansas City National Archives was my destination but I learned that the Naturalization Records I was looking for were not at this National Archives (they are in the DC Archives, so I will hopefully hit it on my way back to home.).
I switched gears and learned that the National Archives in St. Louis is the site for all of the military records for discharged soldiers (among other things). My grandfather, Walter Elliott Tubbs, was a career military soldier and retired in September 1960. His Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) would be there. CMSR are available to anyone 62 years after the soldier was discharged, although you need to know their Service #, Social Security #, their birth and death dates, and the names of their parents.
I was lucky, if I had been doing this trip last year at this same time, his records would not have been available! I was doubly lucky because there was a devastating fire in the St. Louis Archives (a photo display of the historic event is in the lobby). Unfortunately 80% of the military records of soldiers discharged between 1812 and January 1, 1960 were lost or destroyed!
The archivists were fascinated by my grandfather’s records because they are among the first that they’ve seen that were fully in tact and have been released!! I spent hours photographing and scanning his file which was several inches thick. There were lots of duplicates, this is typical since these files are collection of ALL records for a soldier and the Army is very good at documenting and sending copies to various offices.
The archivists were also very interested in seeing the photographs of my grandfather included in the file. They said that it was atypical to have full length photos included and said that I was very lucky!
I knew my grandfather well, since he lived until I was in my mid-20s and I spent every summer just two houses away from my grandparents. I have very fond memories of him. While he was loud and opinionated and might be seen as gruff, he was a total mushball and cared deeply about people. I remember him always looking out on the lake and if he ever saw any boat in distress, he was the first one to head out to help! He rarely talked about his experience in the military, I heard more about his teaching days after he retired from the military. He served through WW2 landing on Normandy (D-Day+1) and was on the “clean up” crew in Germany at a concentration camp. It’s not surprising that he didn’t want to talk about what he had seen.
Someone recently asked me what was the most interesting or “best” part of the file. While I haven’t had time to fully digest what I found, it was really wonderful to read some of his officer evaluation reports. I laughed, and cried, because they had captured his personality and his essence so consistently with what I remember about him. Like this one:
“Strong, temperamental mannered. A strict military commander who is physically able to perform his duties in time of war. His personal habits are the very best. He is neat, punctual and very aggressive. Has a good sense of humor. Excels in self-confidence and drive. Inclined to be stubborn in dealing with superiors, but not to a degree that it would affect his overall efficiency. I have informed this office of his weaknesses her noted and he is attempting to correct them.
A very fine officer, rather hot-headed and set in his way, however, has gone along well with command decision which has not fully coincided with his thoughts on the subject.”
So very glad that I made this stop and look forward to really diving into the records in the months to come.
The Practical
You really need to read the National Archives website. If you find that records of your loved ones can be found there, then you MUST schedule an appointment at least a week in advance, and there is paperwork that you will need to fill out ahead of time (Application to Research), along with taking an on-line orientation about how to properly interact with the archival materials. For example, every time I came across a staple, I had to take the portion of the file that I was working on up to the desk where the attendant would carefully remove each staple. They keep a watchful eye over you as you are reviewing the materials since it’s important that you keep everything in the same order and in the same condition that you found it.
They were, however, extremely kind and helpful and I could tell that they wanted me to have a good experience. It was surprising to me, but all of the other researchers in the library were actually employed to be there. They had fancy equipment and clearly knew the workers. Overall, it was a fascinating experience!
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