How do you figure out your father's military records?

My father died when I was 4 years old, my mother told me that he fought in Korea....how do I get his military records or history? I want to find out if he has any medals or anythingHow do you figure out your father's military records?
You need to write to the National Personnel Records Center at St. Louis. They are the archive for all military records. You can go there from the link below. Since you are the next of kin, you will have full access to his military record.How do you figure out your father's military records?
The VA- Veterans Administration is your first call.


http://www.va.gov/


See if they can help first. IT's free.


Also- there is another group that can help.


Called Lyons Research. But I think there is a fee as they do research on your behalf.


There are millions of pages of unit records, films and photos at the National Archives and museums across the country. ';After Action'; reports describe the details of a particular battle, to Unit Diaries which may have a transcript of the radio traffic for each day. The information available is amazing. You can locate lists of members of a particular unit, unpublished official histories of the unit, even yearbooks and other publications that were produced by the unit during wartime. There are photographs of individuals and units. The moving pictures branch has News Reels from the 30鈥檚 to the 60鈥檚. There are thousands of canisters of film from every war since WWI. The records are there and you just need to know how to gain access. It could take some time.


http://www.lyonresearch.com/html/dad_dur鈥?/a>


Or call (888) 663-3214


Good luck. I hope you can find your answer.
Korean War vets used Service Numbers not Social Security Numbers. You should still be able to request of your fathers record by giving his full name and date of birth, along with any information that you do have. Maybe you still have the military dog tags, that would have the information on them.
During WWII, Korea and Viet Nam they had service numbers, which can be found on his DD214 or dog tags...You can contact the VA or better yet contact the branch he served in, you will need his full name, date of birth, place of birth and any-other information you have on him, they will tell you where to go from there. I had to trace my Uncle that was in WWII not as easy as it sounds....
You can contact the Veterans of Foreign Wars. You will need some basic info for your dad. Social Security Number and full name to start with. They can look up his DD214 and find out what he was awarded and where all he served.
Somewhere in his papers he should have had a DD214. You can go to the VA with his SSN and possibly get a copy of it.