My grandfather Lino Fernandez III, Papa Lino, stood on top of the Empire State Building in uniform.
Beside him, Aunty Winnie and Uncle John. Two of the three in uniform.
He served a long career with Hawaiʻi Air National Guard, and was named Outstanding Airman of the Year, 1967.
His first cousin, Manuel Jesus Fernandez, didn’t come home. World War II. He died on 26 May 1944, and his name is at the Honolulu Memorial.
I keep thinking about the paper trail behind a photograph. A service record. A draft card. A pension file. A name on a wall.
Three records to start with
A service record. The Official Military Personnel File — the OMPF — is the file the military kept on your ancestor. What they did in uniform. Where they served. When they came home. You request it from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, through eVetRecs or by mailing Form SF 180. If your ancestor separated in 1964 or earlier, the file is archival, and anyone can order a copy.
A draft card. Millions of men registered, in both world wars. A draft card tells you who they were at home — their address, their work, the name of the person who would always know where they were. Most are free to view on FamilySearch.
A pension file. If your ancestor, or their spouse, ever applied for a pension, the file holds the family around them. Applications, affidavits, letters. Sometimes the only place a mother’s maiden name is written down.
Start close to home
If your family is from Hawaiʻi, the leads are close by. Punchbowl, in the Pūowaina Crater. Pearl Harbor, and the USS Arizona. The 442nd and the 100th, whose records live at Hamilton Library at UH Mānoa. And even the Waialua-Kahuku War Memorial at Haleʻiwa Beach Park, on the North Shore.
A name on a memorial is a beginning, not an ending. Take the name home. Then look for the paper.
The free guide
I put everything I know about finding those records — including the Hawaiʻi leads — into a free guide: Your Veteran Ancestor Left a Paper Trail.
Follow and comment VETS on Instagram @shakintrees and I’ll send it to you.
For the veteran in your family.
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