Skip to main content

US Marine Casualty Cards


Earlier this week I got my copy of Family Tree Magazine and I was reading an article that led me to World War II History Network and from there I found a link to an article about the United States Marine Corp making their casualty cards searchable.  You can find the database at Casualty Cards Database.

Fred Thomas, my husbands great uncle, was in WWII and in the Marines.  I searched the database and found :


On the first page it states : While the cards for World War II through Korea are not classified, however, they can often be very graphic.  Therefore, to maintain the dignity and honor of the Marines, the individual cards will only be released, upon request, on a case by case basis.  To request a card, please send an email to history.division@usmc.mil or a request in writting to:
United States Marine Corps History Division
Attn: Reference Branch
3078 Upshur Avenue
Quantico, Virginia 22134.   

I immediately sent an email {about 12:30 am because I don't sleep} requesting more information and did not really think much more about it.  The next morning I had an email with the images attached!!!  I almost deleted it because I did not recognize the email address...so glad I did not!!  There was a pdf file attached and it included 5 pages of card images for Fred Thomas.



On the card that has his death information on it does not say what kind of wound he died from, instead there is the number 8-46-001.  Now I am on a mission to find out what this code means.

Clicking around the internet and reading all there is about genealogy is a wonderful thing!!
By Shannon Thomas
Labels:

Comments

  1. Laura HedgecockFebruary 11, 2019 at 3:59 PM

    Oh wow. What a find!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shannon ThomasFebruary 11, 2019 at 5:28 PM

      One of the best finds while researching this family.

      Delete
  2. jaxJuly 5, 2023 at 4:07 PM

    Hi! I was trying to find a casualty report for a fellow marine who served on Okinawa and was wounded. I reached out using your link, yet its been a week and no response. Did they stop allowing to give out the casualty reports or are they not functional any more? Anything would be great about how I could get his report.

    Thank you,
    Jax

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shannon ThomasFebruary 10, 2024 at 4:11 PM

      Hello Jax
      Did you find the information you were looking for? You can search the Marine Corps Casualty cards at Ancestry at https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/70837/ Also, here is a direct link to the Casualty Card database website https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/Research-Tools-Facts-and-Figures/Casualty-Card-Database/

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

T is for To Do List Revisited

By Shannon Thomas
In L is for To Do List  I showed you how to access the to do list; this time I want to show you my to do list. The to do list in Legacy really helps to keep me on track and remember where my train of thought was when I was doing research. {My screen shots look a little different today; I had to reinstall Legacy again!} The image below shows what the to do list looks like when you first open it from the family view; it shows both open and close to dos. By going to the sort order tab you can choose how your to dos are displayed. Clicking on the filter options tab will let you filter your to do list.  The one I use most often is under status to show all of the open to do items. The image below shows a to do item for the 1870 Census.  I did not find the family where I thought they would be so I made a note of that and where to search next.  I will continue this process until I can close this to do. In the image above you will see that I use...
Post a Comment
Read more

Marine Casualty Card Database

By Shannon Thomas
While I was writing Top 10 Blog Posts for 2019 I discovered that my top post was US Marine Casualty Cards from 2014.  Wow!  {There is also an update to the original post here  where I show some more information that was sent to me.}  I went back to read the post and discovered that the links no longer work.  I did a little digging and found a link to the Casualty Card Database at the Marine Corps University website.  At this site you click on the war you want to search and download a searchable spreadsheet.  Once you locate your Marine you send an email to request the card.  There are also links to download information about what the codes mean on the cards. I also found that you can search the U.S. Marine Corps Casualty Index, 1940-1958 , at Ancestry.com.  It gives the casualty date, type, unit, and service number.  There is a link to go to another website from the Ancestry database but that link does not work. {I believe...
2 comments
Read more