I want to track down private first class Sonny Gray, who was with the
American Army, based at Hergis Camp Kington, England in 1945. He may
well be deceased, but will have a family somewhere in America |
Request for Question Clarification by
missy-ga
on
19 Jan 2003 18:42 PST
Hi ridley,
As has already been noted, we aren't able to give personal contact
details for PFC Gray's family. However, if you have additional
details about him (such as his hometown, full given name, approximate
enlistment date) and any information about his tour of duty, I should
be able to point you to the proper division of the National Archives
to obtain his service records. Such records would also give his
discharge date, and the name of his next of kin, which would serve as
a good start for tracking down your relatives.
Have you any of this information?
Also, I've found no references to "Hergis Camp Kington" anywhere. Are
you certain of this location? Is it possible that he might have been
stationed elsewhere? Or perhaps there is a different spelling?
--Missy
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
22 Jan 2003 07:37 PST
I have found information that a Sonny Gray was born on June 7, 1922,
lived in Mississippi at some point before 1951 (the sources do not
indicate whether he was born or died there), and died on February 23,
1990. I have also found information that a Sonny Gray owned property
in Tchula, Holmes County, Mississippi.
Does the information about the birthdate in 1922, Mississippi, Tchula,
and/or Holmes County indicate that this information relates to the
correct Sonny Gray?
If so, what is the minimum addditional information (if any) you would
need for a sufficient answer?
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
22 Jan 2003 07:48 PST
Also, I should mention that the property in Tchula appears to have
been farm-related property.
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
23 Jan 2003 07:08 PST
As indicated in bcguide's comment, tracking down Sonny Gray's living
relatives would not be permitted on Google Answers. However, there is
still the option of obtaining information from military records.
You could potentially request information from Sonny Gray's military
service record in two ways: as a member of the general public or as
next-of-kin.
A member of the general public can request information on a veteran's
name, place of birth, service number, rank, dates of service, awards
and decorations, place of entrance and separation, date of death,
geographical location of death, and place of burial. (I suspect that
not every file has the last three items.) A next-of-kin can request
more information from the official military personnel file.
Obviously, you would prefer a request as next-of-kin. But the problem
is that, while you know that you are next-of-kin to an army private
first-class named Sonny Gray, you do not know whether you are
next-of-kin to Sonny Gray with the date of birth and Social Security
Number for the man from Mississippi. Thus, as a member of the public,
you could provide more information -- to help the archivists find the
correct records -- than as next-of-kin.
I suppose that you could send in a request as a member of the general
public, and then, if the information you receive helps you to
determine that you are indeed next-of-kin to that Sonny Gray, send in
another request as a next-of-kin.
You could also try to send in a request as a next-of-kin -- even
without the extra identifying information -- at the same time as your
request as a member of the general public, and hope that you get the
record for the correct Sonny Gray.
Turnaround time for these requests averages 14-16 weeks, but may be
much longer, since many of the original records were destroyed by fire
30 years ago.
Would you be interested in more information about ordering the
records, along with the other information I mentioned in my original
request for clarification, as an answer?
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
23 Jan 2003 20:55 PST
The place that I have in mind for you to contact is not the Department
of Veterans Affairs. I think that it is a place that is more likely
to have the information you want, at least if you submit a next-of-kin
request for Sonny Gray.
Perhaps I can provide the information that I have as an answer to a
new question. (It seems that you have the information about the Sonny
Gray born in 1922, but perhaps not about the property and about
requesting the military records. I assume that this information would
be useful to you.)
If you were to open a new question that refers to this question (and
specifically to this request for clarification) and that offers less
money (whatever you think would be appropriate), I could give you what
I know. That way, you would have the option of using that
information, even while you wait to see if anyone can answer the
initial question for you.
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