Marion,

I wish I could take you up on your offer. A week off, drive up thru the mountains, a tour of DC and pay for it by hiring out for you. Such a deal.

If you find anyone will do this, let me know. I have a few small items that I would like to copy.

Steve

I appreciate you even contemplating it. It would be a nice trip wouldn't it? I wish I could do it myself, but time and money are the factors against me at the moment. I know I shall work it out one way or the other.

I will let you know what course of action I decide to take.

Hi All,

Reading your discussion about requests for records from NARA, I'd like to share my own experiences. I just received After Action Reports of the 327th Engineer Combat Battalion of WWII - my father's unit. Approximately 80 pages. WooHoo! I'm eager to scan the pages into PDF files for our new website at www.327engineer.com .

Years ago I ordered and received copies of my father's service records and separation documents, which show the charred edges from the 1973 fire at the NPRC in St. Louis.

I actually requested documents regarding the 327th ECB on September 8, 2003. I received a quote by mail on September 17, 2003. "We estimate the cost for copying the approximately 1,000 pages in file will be $0.50 per page. Enclosed is a copy of our index to these records...."

Well... the index listed History, A/A Reports, Opn Reports, and "SOP - for def Against Cml Attack". (No, that's not a typo. I should have asked what that means.) The index did not say how many pages were in each group. I was daunted by the $500 cost and filed the quote away.

In April this year I requested copies of General Orders for the 327th. Note that "General Orders" were not even listed in the 2003 index they sent me. I received a quote for the General Orders, I sent the fee and had 126 pages in hand by mid-May.

June 17 this year I pulled out the old quote from 2003 and called College Park. The representative & I discussed what the content of the 1,000 pages would most likely consist of. He explained that a lot of the papers would be meaningless without overlay maps, etc. We talked for quite some time, and he offered to go through the documents himself to sort out the After Action Reports and send me a quote. I received them in just over 8 weeks.

I am very excited about these AARs. They report dates, locations, what each company's activities were and which larger unit they were assigned to at the time. They really round out my father's letters in which he could not state locations or details of their activities.

For anyone who has a record request, I would recommend that you follow up with a phone call. Be prepared with pertinent questions. Ask for separate quotes for After Action/Operation Reports, General Orders, History, and ask them to let you know what other types of documents they find in the file. Not every employee will be apt to have a long discussion with you. If you do not feel satisfied, call again and you may reach a more helpful representative.

I must say that I would like to visit the facilities at College Park someday to see for myself if the other documents are "meaningless". Preparing the AARs for the web site will keep me busy for a while, but I imagine I'll be contacting NARA again in the future.

I wish everyone good luck & satisfaction with your records requests!

Laurie

Laurie:

What a fantastic post. As they say, right up my alley.

Thank you for your time and efforts and for being so thorough here on the forum. What you just relayed is invaluable to me. I feel now that I am fully armed and can't thank you enough.

Now that I've read your post, I am going to look over what they sent me again. I may be contacting you for some further clarifications.

Let me say how happy I am for you. This little gal here can certainly share in your joy. Ah, a woman after my own

I just spent two days with a man from my dad's unit and we spent about 15 hours going through his collection and mine and comparing notes. He is VERY EXCITED about my book and he keeps asking when it will be done. Well, I gotta get off my rump and get those reports from NARA. Thanks for the added incentive.

Well I finally got off my rear-end and sent several emails to personal researchers in the DC area. I sent them a copy of the list of archived documents that Mr. Nenninger sent to me and asked for a quote to copy said docs and to mail them to me.

So, things are finally getting off the ground. If the price seems to high, then I will take the second step and try and hire a student from one of the nearby universities. I also have a list for that too.

Wish me luck.

Oh WOW! Many of these men are buried at Margraten. Can't believe I missed this post and your site! I will definately in contact with you.

STevin

The 327th site is a great one and they have spent numerous hours collecting and collating the data and the photos. I hope more people will stop by and give it a look. I'm proud to have the link on my site. Laurie is a super lady too.

Well I finally got off my rear-end and sent several emails to personal researchers in the DC area. I sent them a copy of the list of archived documents that Mr. Nenninger sent to me and asked for a quote to copy said docs and to mail them to me.

 

So, things are finally getting off the ground. If the price seems to high, then I will take the second step and try and hire a student from one of the nearby universities. I also have a list for that too.

 

Wish me luck.

Was contacted right away by one of the researchers that I wrote to last week. She is going to come up with a price for me after ascertaining just how many documents there are. Can't wait.

Well I've been corresponding with a researcher over the last several weeks and it doesn't look like I'll be able to afford doing this right now.

She was kind enough to go down to NARA and see how much was actually there, so she could give me an estimate. Well it's going to be around $1000.00. Just found out this morning. There's no way I can come up with the money, so...

I told her to hold off until later and I would keep in touch with her. Explained that while it's bad news, there's a bright side to look on! That just means that there's tons of info for me to acquire. Ya, I'm disappointed, but what the heck are ya going to do?

Ah, maybe next year I can hire her. Either that, or I will have to try and plan a trip to DC and Maryland. Well, time will tell. At least I know where I stand right now.

Well it's going to be around $1000.00.

Wowzer!! Was that for everything? Or just After Action Reports?

Steve

That was for everything at College Park. I haven't gotten a price from St Louis yet, but that will be a lot cheaper.

Got a nice email from Carolyn the researcher again this afternoon. She said she would be willing to the work in segments and copy only the amount that I could cover right now, which would be around $350.00. She told me she didn't know what was compelling her to work on this project, but she felt driven to do so. Wow, was I surprised.

Well I am going to take her up on her offer. This way at least I can get started. I'll worry about the rest later. Hopefully I'll be able to afford to get more of the documents maybe late winter, or early spring.

Thanks divining spirit! Once again you have assisted me.

Last night we acquired our first corporate sponsor. Talk about divine intervention. We reached a deal and I agreed to place their link on our Home Page and Links Page for one year.

So I contacted Carolyn this morning and gave her the order to get the first third of the docs from NARA. I am so excited. I can't believe that I am going to finally get my hands on SOME of the docs.

It's a great start and I am so grateful for anything! The rest will fall into place. I know that now, so I will not worry about it anymore. One day at a time.

So thanks to Carolyn, thanks to our new sponsor, Veteran Loan Center and thanks to God and my cheering section in heaven. I can picture a whole section of combat engineers cheering and saying, "You go girl!" Thanks dad! I love you!

Great news!!

Wowzer!! Was that for everything? Or just After Action Reports?

Could you limit it to Operational Reports and AARs and see how that goes? I hear some of the other stuff is almost useless without maps to go with it.

I sure hope you find a whole store house of photos & sketches of bridges and stuff that the engineers worked on. Wouldn't that be great!

Steve

Oh you know me. I want all of the docs! It may take longer this way, but it will be worth it in the long run.

I was talking to George Koskimaki last night and telling him all about my busy month and about the NARA docs. He said he wished he could have had a private reseacher while writing his books. Said that would have been a Godsend to him.

He was thrilled about my the article I submitted to WWII Magazine. His last words last night were, "You're on your way Marion." He had lots of joy and pride in his words and I can't tell you how much it meant to me coming from an esteemed author.