Peek in the Park: Military Honor Roll Project Update
Peek in the Park
Military Honor Roll Project Update
By Emily Teraoka, Lead Park Ranger, Minidoka National Historic Site
For readers who have applied to add a veteran’s name to the replica WWII Honor Roll board at Minidoka National Historic Site, please be assured that Ranger Kurt and I are making progress on this project. This November, we were able to confirm 95+ veterans to be newly added to the replica Honor Roll. For the handful of remaining applications, we are currently working with families to locate military records. We hope to finish the research phase of this project during Spring 2023. We aim for the updated Honor Roll sign to be installed by the end of 2023. For more information on this project checkout go.nps.gov/minidokahonor.
If anyone is interested in researching a World War II Nisei soldier in their family, there are a handful of resources and databases to explore. Many of them are available online.
For the Honor Roll project, we have been using the following resources to find enlistment records, dates of service, branch of military, camp records, family information, and more:
National Archives: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/
Military enlistment records
WWII incarceration records
Japanese American Veterans Association: https://java.wildapricot.org/Research-Archive
Nisei Veterans Committee, Memorial Wall: http://www.nvcfmemorialwall.org/browse/name
Fold3 (Ancestry.com subscription required): https://www.fold3.com/
Densho Names Registry: https://ddr.densho.org/names/
Minidoka Final Accountability Roster (available on Densho): https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-305-8/
Census Records: https://www.archives.gov/research/census/online-resources
Many of these resources and groups have supported this Honor Roll project and we are thankful for their partnership.
For those who would like to request copies of military service records, visit the Veterans’ Service Records page at the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
Please note that some records may have been lost in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973. If your request to the National Archives proves unsuccessful in retrieving military records, you might consider contacting a County Recorder’s Office next; upon separation from the military, veterans are highly encouraged (though not required) to make a copy of their service records with their local government. If you do not know which county a veteran resided in after completing their WWII service, the 1950 census might help in finding answers.
As always, thank you to the community for your patience and support!
-Minidoka National Historic Site