Stop Calling Every WWII File a Service Record

Ever wonder why genealogists don't know how to find military records?

One of the biggest problems in WWII military research today, especially in genealogy and story writing communities and Facebook Groups, is the habit of calling every military-related file a “service record.” I’m here to tell you after 15 years of deep diving into WWII branch records to write my books and teach, that not every record is a service file.

To be clear and correct – a service file is the Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). This set of documents provides puzzle pieces to someone’s service history. It does not provide context. It does not provide a day-to-day list of all the places someone served. It provides overall detail and puzzle pieces.

While the phrase “service record” may sound harmless, it creates enormous confusion for researchers, genealogists, and families trying to understand what records they actually possess OR what they need. Then to add fuel to this terminology fire – researchers and writers keep saying the “service records” are on Ancestry or Fold3. This is absolutely incorrect.

Let me state that again. OMPFs are not online on Ancestry or Fold3. You might find a PEP OMPF on NARA Catalog – but those are for important people and are only a handful of all OMPFs which exist in full or part.

71st Infantry Division. General Wynman pinning the Purple Heart on T/Sgt J. Cassidy.

A “Service Record” is Not…

A “service record” is not any of the following which you will find online at various websites.

• Army Morning Reports (Army and Army Air Force)

• USMC Muster Rolls

• Naval Muster Rolls

• IDPFs

• Draft Registration Cards

• BIRLS index data

• Headstone Applications

• Payroll Records and Rosters

• Naval Deck Logs, War Diaries, After Action Reports, Unit Histories, Journals, Diaries, and more

OMPF Contents

The OMPF documents a service member’s military career while they were serving. It may include enlistment papers, assignments, promotions, training, medical information, and discharge records. You might discover family letters, vital records, probate records, mental hospital commitment papers, and other things as well.

The OMPF is not the IDPF

Taking this a step further – many people confuse the OMPF as being the same thing as an Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF). They are not. I explain this in greater detail in my article. Yet the two are constantly confused online, in articles, and even in research discussions. These files were created for entirely different purposes and contain very different information.

An IDPF was created after death while someone was in military service. It focuses on the recovery, identification, burial, and final disposition of a deceased service member. These files often contain correspondence with families, eyewitness statements, burial reports, and investigative materials. Calling an IDPF a “service record” minimizes the unique purpose of the file and can lead researchers to misunderstand the story the records are actually telling.

It is also important to clarify that the OMPF was impacted by the NPRC 1973 fire. The IDPF was never at NPRC until the last few years. Therefore it was not impacted by the fire.

Terminology Matters

Precise terminology matters because accurate research depends on understanding records in their proper context. When researchers use vague or incorrect labels, misinformation spreads quickly and expectations become distorted. Families deserve clear explanations about the records connected to their ancestors, and researchers – whether hobbyist or throwing together a quick story for Fold3, must do better in teaching the differences between military file types. If we want stronger WWII research in the genealogy and military research communities and Facebook Groups along with more accurate storytelling, we need to start by calling records what they truly are.

Would You Like to Learn More?

If you need help with your WWI or WWII research, reconstructing Army or Army Air Force service, or writing a book, I do take clients.

If you would like to learn how to research, click here to see upcoming small group coaching sessions to learn how to use Fold3, NARA Catalog, research Army or Navy service, find POW records, and more. These sessions come with extensive workbooks, plenty of Q&A for attendees, my 2-part research strategy and the replay. Need a researcher? I am taking research and book clients – email jennifer@ancestralsouls.com to set up a free consult to discuss your project.