Ok, here's what I got.. Today I bought a very nice Kar98a 1918 Erfurt 100% matching.. The interesting part to me, on the stock the GI carved his 1st name & his Sr# The story the seller passed to me was it was a WWII capture & he bought direct from the family in an estate sale..

My question, is there a way to trace the GI, his unit and so forth with his serial number.. Obviously due to privacy concerns I don't want to investigate the GI, I would just like to find out who it was, what unit & where this unit was at during the war.. I guess I'm looking for: Who, What, Where & When..

Thanks.

It used to be easy. Now with the new privacy laws I am not sure it can be done by anyone outside military law enforcement at all. I haven't even been able to trace my own cousin's whereabouts to see if he is still alive. He was an aircrewman during Viet Nam.

I would like to Thank Jim Yackley for taking the time calling me & giving me a direction in which to start.

Will keep you posted..

Thank you

Here in the UK all service records of soldiers in WWI are in the public domain. You can search online to see if they were a casualty and for what medals they were entitled to which will give you (from that medal entitlement) dates of their service and entry into France.

Some WWII records are also online and again in the public domain...but not yet all.

Well... I filled out and mailed in the form about 3 weeks now.. Still no word

Try this while you wait: http://search.ancestry.com/sea...0&o_sch=Web+Property

Might help...

Robert, Thanks for the reply.. Will try that site. Just don't think I have enough info..

Which brings me to:

Today got a reply letter from VA..

No Joy... Not enough info provided..

I'm starting to wonder if the number carved into the stock isn't a service number at all.. Might be a D/L number??

quote:

Originally posted by MopaneMike:
Robert, Thanks for the reply.. Will try that site. Just don't think I have enough info..

Which brings me to:

Today got a reply letter from VA..

No Joy... Not enough info provided..

I'm starting to wonder if the number carved into the stock isn't a service number at all.. Might be a D/L number??

Can you post a pic of the numbers?

How about sending the serial number to Germany and see if they have any records. Date of mfg, unit it was issued to...

If you could find out the unit it was issued to you might be able to find what American unit took their surrender.