Source: website bigpigeon.us, webpage WW II Dead > Roster Links.
© 2020 by Robert A. “Bob” Christiansen, updated 5 Nov 2020.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - External Links
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead:
Iowa WW II Dead Official Lists for Iowa: (Near the top of these lists are links to the lists of other states.)
Nationwide WW II Dead:
Search engines - This section is replicated both in WW II Links and WW II Dead Links
Search engines that require a subscription or maybe access from a library:
https://www.ancestry.com/search/ - This searches all ancestry.com data collections including:
findagrave.com
Other WW II Prisoner of War Databases:
Official WW II Missing Databases - Prepared by DPAA, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the Department of Defense (These are WW II dead whose bodies were not recovered or identified.):
United States Military Cemetery Information:
WW II American Ground Troops Deaths for Selected Divisions:
Some WW II AAF Personnel and Aircraft Databases:
Some WW II Naval Databases:
Other WW II American Military Databases:
Useful general search engines: Ancestry.com and fold3.com require a subscription or access from a public location such as a library. Findagrave.com and google.com are free.
https://www.ancestry.com/search/
Very Brief WW II Veterans Research Outline:
The WW II Dead - Links webpage header:
© 2020 by Robert A. “Bob” Christiansen, updated 5 Nov 2020.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - External Links
- Major on-line military resources used in building the roster.
- World Wars > WW II Links contains links to more-general WW II resources.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead:
- http://iagenweb.org/wwii/WWIIRollofHonor/PottawattamieRollofHonor.html - Brief records for each known Pottawattamie County WWII dead compiled by Sharon L. Becker, sometimes with parents’ names and address and unit or death information.
- http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/pottawattamie/veterans_plaza.htm - Lists of war dead from the Pottawattamie County, Iowa Veteran's Plaza in Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs, all wars included.
- pottcowwiiarmy_aafdead - Official 1946 War Department list of Pott. Co. dead & missing, not searchable.
- http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/pottawattamie/wwii_army_air_casualties.htm - 1946 War Dep't. list of dead & missing, transcribed by Kathy Danielson, searchable, no service numbers.
- http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/pottawattamie/military/pottwwii.txt - 1946 War Dep't. list of dead & missing, transcribed by Nettie Mae Lucas, searchable, some transcription errors.
- http://iagenweb.org/wwii/WWIICountyIndex/Pottawattamie/Pottawattamie.html - mostly Council Bluffs, Iowa Nonpareil articles about WW II dead, some recent articles about survivors are included.
- https://www.councilbluffslibrary.org/archive/files/original/f0e919e097cbef16856e57375811b47e.pdf - The Last Full Measure page lists Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln High School students who died in WW II.
Iowa WW II Dead Official Lists for Iowa: (Near the top of these lists are links to the lists of other states.)
- https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/army-casualties/iowa.html - Official list of Iowa Army/AAF WW II dead organized by county; Pottawattamie County dead overlap two pages.
- https://www.naval-history.net/WW2UScasStateIowa.htm - Iowa Navy, Marine and Coast Guard WW II deaths including name & address ofnnext of kin.
Nationwide WW II Dead:
- https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf, American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics, by the Congressional Research Service - an overview that covers all US Wars.
- The National Archives’ Online Public Access catalog - click on “Military Personnel” under the heading for “Genealogy/Personal History” at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/, WW II Army Enlistment & WW II POW list
- http://usaafdata.com/?q=search - 74,242 Army Air Force dead during WW 2.
- http://www.naval-history.net/WW2USCas.htm - Navy, Marine & Coast Guard WW II dead containing unit information.
Search engines - This section is replicated both in WW II Links and WW II Dead Links
Search engines that require a subscription or maybe access from a library:
https://www.ancestry.com/search/ - This searches all ancestry.com data collections including:
- census records, city directories, public records, family databases submitted by individual ancestry.com subscribers, selected Iowa birth, marriage & death records.
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8825/ - Iowa Bonus Case Files.
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61186/ - Iowa Bonus Case Files for Beneficiaries.
- U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
- U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 - also available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1143/ - US Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949.
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/marine_muster/ - U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958.
- World War II Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualties, 1941-1945
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/wwiipow/ - WW II Prisoners of War
- World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945
- U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945 (results are minimal but does include service number)
- World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas
- specializes in US military records.
findagrave.com
- rapidly increasing in scope; often includes obituaries or other biographical material.
- for this project, I found google most useful for obtaining maps, photos, and military unit information.
Other WW II Prisoner of War Databases:
- https://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=466&tf=F&cat=all - From the National Archives Access to Archival Databases (AAD) series.
- http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/pacific_pow_roster.html - American POWs held by the Japanese.
- https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=BA8DF9397916A026!586992&cid=ba8df9397916a026&authkey=!AILhDGlwQ6jSixo - Robert Logan Hudson's 2015 list of 12,710 US Army Philippines POWs. Excludes US Navy, USMC, and Filipino troops. Probably excludes early POW deaths.
Official WW II Missing Databases - Prepared by DPAA, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the Department of Defense (These are WW II dead whose bodies were not recovered or identified.):
- https://www.dpaa.mil/portals/85/Documents/WWIIAccounting/iowa.html - Iowa not recovered list - all services.
- https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/WWIIAccounting/united_states_army.html - WW II US Army ground troops missing (about 16,000), often with unit identification.
- https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/WWIIAccounting/united_states_army_air_forces.html - WW II USAAF missing (about 20,000), often with unit identification.
- https://www.fold3.com/search?general.title.id=95%3AMissing+Air+Crew+Reports%2C+WWII - WW II USAAF Missing Air Crew Reports
- https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/WWIIAccounting/united_states_navy.html - WW II US Navy missing (about 31,000), often with unit identification.
- https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/WWIIAccounting/united_states_marine_corps.html - WW II US Marine Corps missing (about 3,000), lacks unit identification.
United States Military Cemetery Information:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Cemetery_System - lists cemeteries, including Arlington and the Punchbowl in Hawaii, within the National Cemetery System. Most, except for Arlington, are managed by the Department of Veteran's Affairs.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Battle_Monuments_Commission - scroll down to see a list of the 26 overseas cemeteries managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
- https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/index.html - Burial index for the cemeteries managed by the National Cemetery System.
- https://www.abmc.gov/database-search - access records for 26 overseas American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) cemeteries.
- http://www.interment.net - Lists of burials for selected ABMC cemeteries, burials accessible through Google.
- https://www.7tharmddiv.org/cemeterycodes.pdf - List of US temporary cemeteries during World War II.\
- https://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Fact%20Sheet%20-%20Cabanatuan%20Memorial%20Names%2018FEB2015.pdf - The known dead - almost all US servicemen, at the Cabanutan Prisoner of War camp in the Philippines.
WW II American Ground Troops Deaths for Selected Divisions:
- www.34thinfantry.com/documents/doc-cas-168.html - Deaths in the 168th Infantry Regiment, headquartered in peacetime in Council Bluffs, IA - can also access remaining 34th Infantry Division deaths from this webpage.
Some WW II AAF Personnel and Aircraft Databases:
- http://www.americanairmuseum.com - American Air Museum in Britain, lists deaths in 8th & 9th Air Forces.
- http://www.8thafhs.com/search.php - Eighth Air Force Historical Society.
- https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/db.asp - locating missing aircraft.
- http://accident-report.com/usaf.html - USAAF accident reports (Feb '43 - Nov '45 unavailable as of Jul '20).
- aviation-safety.net/database/ - Database of aircraft accident reports
- http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html - Identifies loss of many USAAF aircraft in WW II indexed by serial number.
Some WW II Naval Databases:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_disasters_in_World_War_II.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_losses_in_World_War _II.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_sunk_by_submarines_by_death_toll - incomplete
- http://www.oneternalpatrol.com - WW II Submarine Service ship and casualty information.
- http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html - WW II US Merchant Marine casualties.
- https://uboat.net - WW I & II German submarine information.
- https://www.uboat-bases.com/en/ - U-Boat Bases of the Second World War in France
- https://www.usswestvirginia.org/ph/phlist.php - full Pearl Harbor death list.
Other WW II American Military Databases:
- http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/ - a vast library of WW II writing available on the web.
- https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/search/47296194 - Jeff Hall's findagrave virtual cemeteries for World War II Army divisions.
- www.pacificwrecks.com - aspects of WW II in the Pacific theaters, ships and planes.
- worldwartwoveterans.org - Under construction - photographs and personal histories.
- https://worldwartwoveterans.org/national-guard-of-the-state-of-iowa-1938/ - 1938 Iowa National Guard yearbook.
- tothosewhoserved.org - Private website hosting official military histories of World War II campaigns.
Useful general search engines: Ancestry.com and fold3.com require a subscription or access from a public location such as a library. Findagrave.com and google.com are free.
https://www.ancestry.com/search/
- Most useful general databases: census records; birth, marriage & death records; city directories; public records.
- Most useful specialized databases: records, family databases submitted by individual ancestry.com subscribers; Iowa, WW II Bonus Case Files for Beneficiaries mentioned earlier; WW II death record index mentioned earlier.
- rapidly increasing in scope; often includes obituaries or other biographical material.
- for this project, I found google most useful for obtaining maps, photos, and military unit information.
- specializes in US military records.
Very Brief WW II Veterans Research Outline:
- First, locate your veteran's service number.
- Then use a google search with first and last name and service number, e.g.: newman shelby 351381.
- There is a good chance you will get some relevant hits.
- Middle initials are helpful, but don't use a full middle name when searching Army/AAF records. Typical Army/AAF record name format is last first middle initial, e.g., Smith John J
The WW II Dead - Links webpage header:
- During WW II, the 7th Service Command performed numerous rear-echelon US Army tasks over a nine-state area. Headquarters was in the 1933 art deco Federal Building at 15th and Dodge in Omaha, which still survives as a hotel. Iowa's presence in 7th Service Command territory is the reason that the second digit of the service number assigned to me in 1954 was 7.