Record Format

Each Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster member has a multi-line record:

line 1, the heading line - the roster member's service number, service branch, and home county/counties.
line 2 - personal data such as birth data and location, parents, and major family moves.
an optional line of personal data, for married roster members and some others.
information pertaining to entry into military service and subsequent burial or memorialization.
military service data.
For members who died overseas, the relevant Big Pigeon WWII Japan or WWII Germany webpage.
occasionally, notes containing additional information.

I almost always use the abbreviation US for United States of America; I use many other abbreviations; you'll find explanations for most abbreviations herein.

The Initial Line.
Service branches are listed below.

The US Army included the National Guard after January 1941.
The US Army Air Force was officially the Army Air Corps until 1941 and became the US Air Force in 1947 after WWII.
The US Navy, was active on the ocean surface, underwater, and in the air. US Naval Aviation consisted primarily of carrier and patrol aircraft.
The US Marine Corps did not participate in the War with Germany. US Marine Corps Aviation supported ground troops and provided air cover over combat areas.
The US Coast Guard was under US Navy control in WWII.
Merchant Marine members were civilians and not part of the military.
Several thousand other US civilians died in WWII from enemy action, friendly fire, and while interned by enemy or neutral countries.

Personal Data follows the initial line and includes as much of the following as I know :

birth date and place.
parents' names (using mother's maiden name).
often a family residential summary if the family had moved locations.
any marriage information (usually marriage month and location, spouses name, and number of children).

Personal Data Abbreviations used herein:

Co. Bluffs – Council Bluffs, Iowa; Pott. Co. – Pottawattamie County, Iowa; Des Moines - Des Moines, Polk Co., Iowa; Omaha – Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska.
the standard two-letter country and state abbreviation, e.g, IA - Iowa, NE - Nebraska.
b. - born; s/o - son of; gs/o - grandson of; b/o - brother of); d. - died; cem. - cemetery; natl. - national.
abbreviations like SW for secondary compass directions.
months are abbreviated using three letters without a period, e.g., Jun for June.

Service Entry and Burial/Memorial Information.

for most roster members, when and where service entry happened (the "from" location is generally the roster member's permanent address or the next of kin address).
for almost everyone, burial or memorial information. (names were listed on memorial panels for overseas deaths without a recoverable body).

Military Service Data generally includes all or some of the following:

member's military unit or ship.
unit base location, when applicable.
for aircrew members, aircraft information, including most tail numbers.
death code (e.g., KIA), death date, and death location.
the death circumstances when known.
BNR (Body Not Recovered) or BAS (Buried At Sea).

I use many abbreviations in unit names:

US Army and Marine Corps: Co. (company), Bn. (battalion), Regt. (regiment), Div. (division), Inf. (infantry), FA (field artillery), AAA (anti-aircraft artillery), Recon. (reconnaissance).
Sometime you may see Eng. (engineer) and Cav. (cavalry).
US Navy: For ships, I use both the ship's name (e.g., USS Iowa) and the hull number (e.g., BB-61).
US Naval Aviation: NAS (Naval Air Station).
USAAF: Sqdn. (Squadron), Gp. (Group), AF (Air Force), Bomb. (Bombardment), Obs. (Observation), AAF (Army Air Field), AAB (Army Air Base).
C.O. means Commanding Officer. I seldom include rank.

I use the following common death codes:

KIA – Killed in Action.
DOW – Died of Wounds.
DNB – Died Non-Battle, used for deaths caused by disease, accidents outside the combat zone, and other miscellaneous causes.
FOD – Finding of Death, often used for those previously listed as missing.

Besides KIA, here are the common WWII casualty codes:

WIA - Wounded in Action.
MIA or M - Missing in Action, in WWII, most missing were declared dead after one year and assigned a death code from the above list.
POW - Prisoner of War.

Death locations:

I generally use place names used during WWII, rather than today's place names; for example, Netherlands Indies instead of Indonesia, Hollandia instead of Jayapura, Celebes instead of Sulawesi, Formosa instead of Taiwan, Burma instead of Myanmar, Calcutta instead of Kolkata; Chungking instead of Chongqing.

About ancillary records:

For ancillary records, records for individuals who died after release from service, I endeavor to include the released from service date and the cause of death.

+=>=> Website Usage Tips.

Generally you can enlarge an image by clicking.
To search for the webpages that mention a roster member, e.g. Eldred Welbourn, use a search string like Welbourn Eldred or "Welbourn, Eldred" from the Home > Usage Hints webpage. Weebly's search feature is rather minimal.
The text within a webpage, within my reports, and within many of the sources I reference is also searchable; I use Cmd/F and Cmd/G on my Mac.

+=>=> To search the web for a death in service during WWII:

First, find the decedent's service number.
Then do a google search with last and first name and service number, e.g.: wwII newman shelby 351381. A middle initial and parentheses around the name are helpful, e.g.: wwII "brown ralph r" 17019024.
There is a good chance you will get some relevant hits.
Standard Army record name format is last first initial, e.g., Smith John J; don't use a middle name or a period.