Online World War II Indexes & Records

A Genealogy Guide

World War II Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File This database contains records of aboout 9 million men and women who enlisted in the United States Army, including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC, later WAC). Although incomplete, the records contain data for a majority of the enlistments in the US Army during World War II, including each person's serial number.

World War II Draft Registration Cards 1942 (requires payment) from the Fourth Registration conducted on 27 April 1942 - this is the only registration currently available to the public. This registration was for men born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897. It is presently available for the following states... Arkansas (partial), California (partial), Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana (partial), Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York (partial), Ohio (partial), Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II (MIA) database of missing WWII service members from the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)

American Battle Monuments Commission - World War II Section records of casualties buried in American military cemeteries overseas

Pearl Harbor...
- Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls (at Footnote) detailed muster rolls listing all personnel assigned to ships based at Pearl Harbor 1939-1947, and those missing or dead (searches are free; requires payment to view the images of the records); database is 38% complete with more being added
- Pearl Harbor Casualty List

Access to Archival Databases (AAD) from the US National Archives - included are some WWII related databases such as...
- World War II Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File (see description above)
- World War II Prisoners of War File, ca. 1942 - ca. 1947
- World War II Prisoners of the Japanese - Data File
- Japanese-American Internee File, 1942-1946

Indiana...
- Indiana World War II Servicemen Database from notices in Indianapolis newspapers

New York...
- New York Southern District, World War II Military Naturalization Index, 1941-1946 includes Manhattan, the Bronx and nearby counties (requires payment) part of Ancestry's US genealogy records collection

Veterans Affairs Burial Search for 120 national cemeteries and some burials with a VA grave marker in private cemeteries (USA)
U.S. Veterans Cemeteries Database, ca.1775-2006 (requires payment - part of an Ancestry subscription)

The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO has 20th Century military records for discharged and deceased veterans. Click on the link for information about these records. Be aware that a 1973 fire destroyed about 80% of the Army records (1912-1959) and 75% of the Air Force records (1947-1963). However, in some cases alternate sources were used to reconstruct some basic service information.

If you are a military veteran or the next-of-kin of a deceased former member of the military you can order records from... eVetRecs - Military Personnel Records Request

Germany: National German Military Grave Registration Service (this site is in German)
A database of more than 2 million names of missing and dead German soldiers from both World Wars. Notes for searching: Nachname=surname; Vorname=first name; supplying a date of birth or death is optional. Click on "Suche beginnen" to start your search. You then must register with your name and address to continue the search. On the registration form, the following items are required: Vorname (first name), Nachname (last name), Straße / Nr. (Street & Number), Land/Plz/Ort (Country/Postal or Zip Code/City). Then click on "Zur Ergebniseite" to continue. On the next screen click "Suchanfrage ausführen."

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (UK)
Maintains records of graves of Commonwealth forces for both World Wars.