Top row: My grandpa, B.J. Siemens, SSgt., USAF; Korea & Vietnam (1950-1970)
My great-grandpa, Fred C. Feller, Pvt. US Army; WWI (1918-1919)
My grandpa, Bob Dodge, Cpl., USMC; Korea (1951-1953)
My great-grandpa, Jim Dodge Pvt. US Army; WWI (1918-1919)
Bottom row: My great-uncle, Alfred Dodge, Cpl., US Army; Korea (1953-1955)
My grandpa Dodge's cousin, Berenice Newitt, 2nd Lt., US Army Nurse Corps (1921-1937)
My 3rd great-grandfather, John B. Stevens, Pvt.; Civil War - Co. H, 21st Maine Volunteers (1862-1863) & Co. C, 31st Maine Volunteers (1864-1865)
My great-great uncle, David Nemetzky, SSgt., US Army Med. Dept., (1904-1931)
Happy Veteran’s Day. This day was originally called Armistice Day and marked the end of armed hostilities in World War I. Today, it is a day where we honor all our military veterans who have served our country. Thanks to everyone who has served our country.
Nearly 50 years ago, a fire at the National Personnel Records Center destroyed or damaged millions of Official Military Personnel Files (also known as 201 Files) for Army enlisted personnel who were discharged between 1912 and 1960. 201 Files for Army Commissioned Officers, as well as Navy and Marine 201 Files, were undamaged and still exist today. Recently, secondary records for Army enlisted personnel from this time period (primarily between 1912 and 1939) have been digitized and published online. This has allowed for military records to be (at least partially) reconstructed. These secondary records include:
- Veterans Affairs Master Index, 1917-1940 (available on Family Search)
- Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters, 1916-1939 (Available on Family Search)
- Army Transport Service Passenger Lists, 1910-1939 (available on Ancestry)
- Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1970 (available on Ancestry)
- Morning Reports 1912-1939 (available on fold3.com)
I haven’t included the World War One Draft Cards on this list (they are available on multiple websites). The Draft Cards from World War One only indicate whether an individual registered for the military draft and do not indicate whether they were inducted into military service. However, the World War One Classification Ledgers are available through the National Archives. These Classification Ledgers do indicate whether an individual who registered for the draft was later inducted, or enlisted, into military service. The World War One Draft Cards do ask the registrant if they have previously served in the military prior to the date of draft registration. However, if an individual was presently serving in the military at the time of draft registration, they would not have registered for the Draft.
The Veterans Affairs Master Index Cards were made available to the public in 2019. The information on the Veterans Affairs Master Index is available here:
These cards are an index of veterans (primarily from World War I, but also from the Civil War and Spanish-American War) who filed for benefits after their service. These index cards contain the following information:
- Name of the Veteran
- Date of Birth
- Rank and Unit at the time of discharge from military service
- Address at the time of application for benefits
- Date of Enlistment & Date of Discharge
- Claim Number (C); (XC – indicates deceased veteran)
- Life Insurance Number (K)
- Adjusted Compensation (A) – for WWI Veterans
- War Risk Insurance Number (T) – for WWI Veterans
- Rehabilitation Number (R)
- WWI Certificate Number (Ct) – for WWI Veterans
- Permanent Disability (I)
The Adjusted Compensation (A) & WWI Certificate Number (Ct) numbers were issued to World War I Veterans who applied for Adjusted Service Compensation in 1924 and 1925. The War Risk Insurance (T) number was issued when a service member applied for insurance during World War I so that their families could be compensated for their loss of life in combat.
Many of the VA Index Cards appear to have been created during the 1920’s as World War I Veterans applied for Adjusted Compensation. For example, My great-grandpa, James Robert Dodge, was living in Rawlins, Wyoming when he applied for the Adjusted Compensation in 1924. My great-grandpa, Fred Feller, was living at Sage, Wyoming. Clarence Keith Newitt was living at 59 Collins Street in San Francisco; and David Nemetzky was serving in the Army and was serving at the Station Hospital, American Barracks, Tientsin, China.
The Index cards appear to have been maintained until the early 1970’s, as the dates of death for many of the veterans were written in after the cards were created. For example, my great-grandpa, James Robert Dodge, and my great-great uncle, David Nemetzky, both passed away during the 1940's. Their dates of death are recorded on the VA Index Cards. My great-grandpa, Fred C. Feller, passed away in 1981. His death is not recorded on the VA Index Card.
The Index Cards also indicate the existence of Claims Files for these veterans. The Claims Files are currently maintained by the Veteran’s Administration. The Claims Files contain many records, including application for War Risk Insurance, Adjusted Compensation for Combat Service from 1924 and 1936, VA Records, and Death and Pension Benefits received by the veteran and their dependents.
I have several veterans in my family who served during World War One. The first VA Claims File I received was for Clarence Keith Newitt, which I received in 2019. He served in the US Navy from April 1917 until his honorable discharge in July of 1920. He died in August of 1974 (his death date is not recorded on the VA Index Card). His Claims File contains death and burial benefits that he received for his funeral, including a small reimbursement to his widow for funeral expenses, in addition to disclosing the funeral expenses. The documentation that was filled out contained information on his birth, military service and marriages. He was married twice; first to Mary Losacco (more on her later), and then to Arlene Christensen. His VA Claims File also contained a copy of his certificate of honorable discharge from the Navy as well as his death certificate. In addition, I have a copy of his 201 File from the National Archives in St. Louis.
After three years of repeated requests, I finally received the VA Claims file for my great-grandpa, James Robert Dodge. His Claims File contains records and documents from the time of his enlistment in 1918 to the death of his widow (my great-grandma), Alice Laura Dodge in 1989. I have covered the contents of his Claims File at length in previous posts. I am still amazed that his Claims File still exists (the Claims Files are housed at the Kansas City VA and not the St. Louis National Archives, which is why many of them still exist) and the breadth of information contained in his file.
However, receiving the Claims File depends on how astute the government employees at the VA are. I have sent in several requests for the VA Claims File of David Nemetzky (my great-great uncle who served from 1904 to 1931). All I have received from the VA over past several years are copy after copy of my correspondence and information I have provided to the VA to show that he is a deceased veteran. I have received confirmation from the National Archives that his VA Claims File was transferred to the VA in 2013, but the VA has been unable to locate his file. In addition, the VA has written me and explained that they are unable to locate the VA Claims file for my great-grandpa, Fred C. Feller. I received confirmation from the National archives that his VA Claims File was transferred to the VA in 1984. Short of traveling to where the files are housed and searching for them in person, I am at a loss as to what to do.
The Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters became available on Family Search in 2019, and as of 2022, are mostly indexed (I took the time to index these files and indexed several for David Nemetzky). The Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters are bi-monthly (Nov-Dec 1912 through May-Jun 1918) and monthly rosters (July 1918 – Dec 1939) of Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery, Battery, Quartermaster, Coast Artillery, Engineer, Hospital, Medical and other Army units. These rosters contain both enlisted Army personnel (such as my family) and Commissioned Officers who served in the Army between 1912 and 1939.
The information on the Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters is available here:
These records were
transferred to the National Archives following the 1973 fire and are a great
aid and resource to reconstructing the military personnel files that were destroyed
or otherwise damaged. I would like to note that the digital images are only as
good as the microfilm images they were copied from. Many of the digital images
are crystal clear and are readable. Other images vary as to their legibility
and ability to be read by the viewer, and some of the images are flat out
unreadable (adding insult to the injury of the loss of these service members’ 201
files).
I found my great-grandpas, James Robert Dodge and Fred C. Feller, in these rosters and have been able to recreate their service records with these monthly rosters. As I mentioned earlier, David Nemetzky served in the Army from 1904 through 1931. He served primarily in the Hospital Corps and Medical Department. There are bi-monthly rosters from 1912 and earlier, but these are housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and there are no plans to digitally preserve these records. For the bi-monthly and monthly rosters from November/December 1912 and onward, I was able to trace David Nemetzky through the course of his military career and recreate much of his military service record using the information that is available in these rosters.
I did find that a few of the monthly rosters were not digitized (which means they were likely not microfilmed). I didn’t find a bi-monthly roster from January/February 1917 for Fort Bliss, Texas. I also didn’t find a monthly roster from February 1919 for Camp Lewis, Washington. In addition, there is no monthly roster from November 1919 for USA General Hospital #2 at Fort McHenry, Maryland. Some of these gaps are covered in the Morning Reports 1912-1939 (I will talk about these later).
Another family member, Berenice Elizabeth Newitt, was a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps from 1921 to 1937. As a Commissioned Officer, her 201 File still exists. I was able to obtain a copy of her 201 File in 2019 (which included a photo of her – a gem of a find). The Monthly Rosters have been a great supplement to her 201 File (I also got to index several of the Monthly Rosters for Berenice as well). However, I have not been able to locate the Monthly Rosters for the Army Nurse Corps from November 1921 through October 1925 for Fitzsimmons General Hospital, Denver, Colorado. It appears that many of the Monthly Rosters for the Army Nurse Corps during the early 1920’s were kept separately from the other Commissioned Officers Monthly Rosters and are not published digitally. Fitzsimmons General Hospital did not consolidate the Nurses with the other Commissioned Officers until 1926, after Berenice was transferred to Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, California.
The Army Transport Service Passenger Lists are published on Ancestry (they are also published on fold3.com). These are ship manifests that list soldiers and service members who are traveling to and from overseas. The Passenger Lists record the name, service number and unit of the soldiers. I found my great-grandpa, James Robert Dodge, in these records 2017. He sailed to France aboard the USAT President Grant in September of 1918 and returned to the United States in August of 1919 aboard the USAT Princess Matoika. Knowing when he sailed overseas and returned home was a big step to piecing together my great-grandpa’s service record.
In addition, I also found the Passenger Lists for Fred C. Feller (1918 & 1919), David Nemetzky (1914, 1924, 1925 & 1927), and Berenice Newitt (1927 & 1930). Prior to finding this information, I knew that David Nemetzky had served in the Army, but I did not have his service number, and my requests to the National Archives at St. Louis for any information on him were returned unfilled. One of the Passenger Lists listed his service number, and when I submitted another request to the National Archives at St. Louis (with his service number), I received several final payment statements for him. These final payment statements are from 1922, 1924, 1927, 1930 and 1931 and had survived the 1973 fire. The final payment statements list his dates of and places enlistment, dates and places of discharge and reasons for discharge for the latter part of his military career. The final payment statement from 1931 lists all his dates of military service. However, the Passenger Lists are not all available online. David Nemetzky sailed from San Francisco, California to Manila in the Philippine Islands in December of 1911 (arriving January 7, 1912). I have been unable to locate this particular Passenger List and it is likely that it was either not digitized or it no longer exists.
The Passenger Lists also list family of Army personnel who traveled with them. One example of this is the wife of Clarence Keith Newitt. She was born Marina Ermachenko in Russia in 1896. She married an American soldier, Michael Losacco, in Vladivostok in December of 1919. He was on temporary assignment to Vladivostok from the Philippines. When he returned to the United States in July of 1920, she returned with him. She is listed on the Passenger List as Mrs. M. Losacco, Wife, Supply Sgt., 31st Infantry. After arriving in San Francisco, she was known as Mary Losacco. They divorced in 1922 and she married Clarence Keith Newitt in 1925.
The Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1970 are the first record I found when I started piecing together the military record for my great-grandpa, James Robert Dodge. These are published on Ancestry. These records indicate that the deceased veteran received a military gravestone. The Headstone Applications list the following information for a deceased veteran:
- Name, Date of Birth and Date of Death
- Date of Enlistment and Date of Discharge
- Serial Number
- Unit Information
- Location of Cemetery
The Headstone Applications would have been compared to the information contained in the deceased veterans 201 File (many of which - again - are either damaged or destroyed). The Headstone Application for my great-grandpa is marked in red pencil with either a checkmark (verifying the information) or the missing information being filled in. This was a good starting place for gathering information on my great-grandpa’s military service. I should mention that our family also has a copy of his Certificate of Honorable Discharge and Enlistment Record that has been handed down over the years. He had his Certificate of Honorable Discharge and Enlistment Record recorded with both Chaffee County, Colorado and Albany County, Wyoming. Many counties across the United States will record military discharge records free of charge. Wyoming does not consider recorded military records as public record, so any attempt at trying to obtain a copy of a military discharge record that may be recorded in any county in Wyoming will be met with refusal. I reached out to Carbon County, Wyoming earlier this year to see if a copy of my great-uncle Alfred Dodge’s military discharge was on file. I was told that it is not public record, and they would not even tell me if one was on file there.
Other places, such as California, will provide you with a copy of a recorded military discharge. Earlier this year, I decided to write the City and County of San Francisco to see if they had a military discharge record on file for David Nemetzky. They responded and sent me a copy of his military discharge record from 1919. This particular military discharge record that was on file with the City and County of San Francisco covers his military service from his date of re-enlistment in 1914 to his discharge in 1919 and includes important information from his military service, including his promotions from Private all the way through Master Hospital Sergeant. It also lists his date of reenlistment in 1919.
The Morning Reports 1912-1939 were recently published on fold3.com. They cover the same Army units as the Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters. They are partially indexed and are partially searchable by name. However, the best way to search the Morning Reports is by knowing which unit your family member served in. I found my great-grandpa, James Robert Dodge, in the Morning Reports and found the exact date he was assigned to his military unit. I also found several entries for him with his military unit, which added some additional color to his service record that I have pieced together. One feature of fold3.com is that you can tag the document with the name of your ancestor and add their name to their index. I have done this with the records I found for my great-grandpa.
I also found several entries for David Nemetzky in the Morning Reports as well. The Morning Reports have served to fill a couple of gaps in the Monthly Reports. I found him in the Morning Reports for February 1919 at Camp Lewis, Washington, indicating when he transferred from Camp Lewis. I also found the Morning Reports from November 1919, when he transferred from the Hospital at Fort McHenry, Maryland to the Hospital at Staten Island, New York. It should be noted that the Morning Reports are not chronologically complete. There are gaps in the Morning Reports that have been published online. For example, there are no Morning Reports for the Medical Department at Camp Lewis, Washington (November 1925 – January 1927) or Fort Hancock, New Jersey (March – December 1927) when David Nemetzky served at those locations. Also, there are no morning reports available online for David Nemetzky at the locations where he served prior to 1917.
Overall, the Morning Reports are legible and readable, but it is important to take your time and read through these documents. Most of these documents only contain the rank, last name and service number of the soldiers who served in these units that are recorded in the Morning Reports, so it can be easy to miss names and service numbers if you are simply skimming through these documents.
Finally, doing military research has become easier with the easing of COVID and the reopening of the National Archives in both St. Louis and Washington, D.C. This year, I have been able to make up for the research time that I have lost over the past two years from COVID. Right before the National Archives closed in March of 2020, I received the 1918 Court Martial transcript for David Nemetzky, minus one very important page of his testimony. After two years of waiting, I finally received the missing page. I also received several records from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., including the 1904 and 1912 Court Martials for David Nemetzky as well as much from the correspondence file for him from 1904-1916.
The National Archives in Washington, D.C. has the bi-monthly rosters for the Hospital Corps from the 1880’s to 1912 (I would imagine September/October 1912 as the bi-monthly roster for November-December 1912 is at the National Archives at St. Louis and it available online). These bi-monthly rosters are not digitized and are not available online. I have hired a researcher to search for David Nemetzky in these bi-monthly rosters from 1912 and earlier. From what I have found, he served in the Hospital Corps at the following locations:
- Fort Morgan, Alabama (March – November 1906)
- Fort Moultrie, South Carolina (November 1906 – May 1907)
- Fort Porter, New York (February – March 1909)
- Fort Wadsworth, New York (March – August 1909; March – November 1911)
- Fort Howard, Maryland (August – September 1909)
- Division Hospital; Manila, Philippines (January – June 1912)
- Tientsin, China (June – October 1912)
