My grandfather was a WWII Navy Vet and I need help with his profile [closed]

+7 votes
303 views

My grandfather, Albert Joseph Whittingham (1926-2007), served in the Navy during WWII. I do not know where he actually served or anything. I would like to honor him on his profile. There is even a photo of him in his navy uniform on his profile! I tried the stickers and things, but I am failing.frown

I believe he served 1944-46. He did not turn 18 until Sep 1944.

EDITOk, this is what I have found so far:

22 Nov 1944: WWII Navy Enlistment. 

Served on the USS Duluth CL-87 and the USS Topeka CL-67.

On March 31, 1945, it says next to his military number: S2c SV-6. What does that mean? 

 He was discharged on July 5, 1946.

I do not know what his rank was or where and when he served.

I appreciate any help. I have never worked with any vets files, so I do not know what to look for or where to look for it. indecision

Thank you so much!!

Missy

WikiTree profile: Albert Whittingham
closed with the note: Solved!
in Genealogy Help by Missy Berryann G2G6 Pilot (216k points)
closed by Missy Berryann
I decided to look again.  Using the muster rolls finding one of the ships he was on. CL-87 Duluth .  Match up his muster rolls on which ship he was on to where the ship was located trhough online media and references.

He has a muster date of

31 Mar 1945 to 01 Oct 1945 of what I could find using his name, there are other records with just A J Whittingham, not sure if the same or not.  If you open and view each document and the service numbers match than you will have another ship in which he served.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Duluth_(CL-87)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Topeka_(CL-67)
As far as the abbreviations that is a little more difficult without knowing more about what he did in the service.  Below is a link to some of the abbreviations used during the time period by the military.

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/u/us-navy-abbreviations-of-ww2.html
Nice work Rodney!
Rodney,

Thank you!! He told me he was a gunner? It was so many years ago (and Grandpop has been gone since 2007). We have a photo of him sitting behind one of those huge guns on a ship. Does that help?

Missy

3 Answers

+7 votes

S2c  (of S2c SV-6) probably stands for Seaman 2nd class, but I'm not a military expert.  Just wanted you to know that others do want to help you.  But since all are volunteers and this is a holiday weekend, it may take time.

by Kathy Rabenstein G2G6 Pilot (316k points)
+7 votes

Missy, it looks like you have the MIlitary Veteran sticker on him, now, correct?  I am assuming you used the information from the other G2G post about another family member.  You want the WW II sticker.  You want to keep the Branch that you probably already have 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:World_War_II

You want to add startdate=Nov 22 1944|enddate=Jul 5 1946|units=USS Duluth CL-87, USS Topeka CL-67|

I googled the S2c SV-6.  I found Ranking Seaman 2nd Class, SV-6 - SV is probably Selective Volunteer, 6 might be pay grade

so now you can add Rank=Seaman 2nd Class

Make sure you have the | before each of the new parameters

by Linda Peterson G2G6 Pilot (764k points)

Linda,

Yes, I decided to try the sticker myself. I just copied and pasted and then filled in what I could. Thank you so much for explaining the abbreviations and what to fill in. I really appreciate it.

Thank you!

Missy

The sticker for each war looks nice.  If you are going to have one, it looks nice to have the appropriate one.  

Google can be helpful to find places that had those abbreviations.

Linda, 

I copied and pasted in what you typed above and it did not show up on the sticker. I am so lame. blush I used to know this language in my day! LOL I will catch on, seriously, I have only been actively working on WikiTree since Dec 2018. I have only been building it up. I am now trying to fill it out my tree and fill in biographies for people I remember so that I never forget. Basically, I have only been writing bios for about a month and I just haven’t bothered with stickers. I like how they look on other profiles, so I decided to start adding them.

I appreciate all the help!!

Missy

+6 votes
I did a quick search this morning and I was only able to find his burial file through the veterans administration.  It is a text only file, and listed information you already have.

https://www.archives.gov/veterans

Here you can request his military records, they may or may not be detailed, it all depends on what he did in the Navy.  

It will however give you the information you are looking for, It will be much easier if an immediate family member request the documentation, such as a son or daughter of his.  You have to fill out a few things online, and it will give you a form to print, sign and return to them.

I was about to go through the process for my grandfather and found that my uncle has a copy of his DD214 and is going to send it to me.

I hope this information helps...
by Rodney Jones G2G6 (8.5k points)

Thank you so much! Albert J Whittingham is my mother’s father and she is still alive, so I can get his Records. Thank you again for the link!

Missy smiley

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