Right now, it is not easy to get Morning Reports because of Covid restrictions. Generally, the way to get MRs is either by hiring a researcher or going to the NARA in St Louis and copying them yourself. Both methods involve some expense, but shouldn't cost anywhere near $1,500 (depending on how many MRs you are trying to get). Of course, if you are lucky, you may find someone who has already paid to get the MRs you want and is willing to share, but that's a bit of a long shot.
Thank you TD-TOMMY776. I'm looking specifically for info on my father, is this a good way to find out ? He went in as a pvt ,his obituary stated he was a ssgt. 179th infantry company c .
I live about 10 miles from the NARA facility in St. Louis, and I've watched the comments on the researchers here with interest. I haven't seen a negative rating on any of them.
Have you tried requesting his personnel file? If not, that is the first thing to do. Edit: Here's a link to the NARA page for requesting Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). You will note that they are only accepting Emergency requests at this time.
If you have tried to get his OMPF and have been told it was damaged or destroyed in the 1973 fire, Company Morning Reports are a very good way to get a lot of information on where your father was and when. MRs don't usually have much narrative type information. Their primary purpose was to record the daily status and changes to the unit's personnel. Types of changes would include soldiers assigned to the unit or transferred out of the unit, promotions & demotions, illnesses, battle losses (i.e. WIA, MIA, KIA), and anything else that affects the strength of the unit. Also provided in MRs is the daily location of the unit, often with coordinates. Those pieces of information can be combined with other unit records (i.e. Operations reports, After Action Reports, etc.) to flesh out the story of his service. It takes some time, patience, and effort, but it is well worth it in my opinion. I'm always a bit skeptical of a soldiers unit information provided in newspaper articles (including obituaries) and even on grave markers. That is not to say they are always wrong. They may be entirely accurate. However, they are often inaccurate or misleading because the writers are not normally familiar with military units or terms. Any information from those sources should be verified through more reliable sources. Unit information on grave markers is often taken from discharge papers. However, discharge papers usually list the unit a soldier was in at the time of discharge. At the end of WWII, many soldiers were transferred to units for the specific purpose of returning them to the USA and discharging them. So, the unit on their discharge ended up being a unit they served with for a very short period of time, while the unit with which they served the longest may not be indicated at all on the discharge paper. This is another reason Company Morning Reports are important. They can be used to determine when he joined a unit and when (or if) he was transferred to another unit. I hope that helps a bit.
Lucky you. I viisted St. Louis while e/r to see Daniel Boone's home. The other famous thing I saw was the Weinermobile when I was e/r back to St. Louis. Being ignorant, I didn't know the WW II records were kept there. Back in the day, I did all my research at the National Archives and Lib. of Congress in DC,
The WWII personnel records and Morning Reports are in St Louis. The WWII unit records are at the NARA in College Park, MD.
