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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Help Find a WW2 American Soldier

Jill wrote to ask my help finding a WW2 American soldier. I am hoping that someone reading this query will be able to offer ideas or find Stanley! There are several men with this soldier's name in the WW2 database on Ancestry.com, and I cannot determine with certainty which might be the right one.

This soldier (Stanley Thompson) lost his Dog Tag in Australia. We know his next of kin was Mabel, but we don't know if she was his wife or mother or.... This will take a team effort I think to find information on him!

Here is Jill's information and a photo of the dog tag (ID tag) she found

I found one dog tag while fossicking around a WW11 site in the Northern Territory Australia. It is obviously in poor condition actually in two pieces.it is for a Stanley Thompson

075022_ 14_ 8
Mabel Thompson
205 W__RE St
Seattle Wash P

I was wondering if there is any way I can find out any information about this soldier?
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6 comments:

  1. Jack CoffeeFebruary 20, 2010 at 4:41 PM

    I believe the serial number indicates that Stanley was an officer. Additionally, the 14 R seems to be more T43 B, or perhaps an R.

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  2. Olive Tree GenealogyFebruary 20, 2010 at 6:25 PM

    Thanks Jack! We've also found Stanley's death record thanks to Larry of Hesch History Blog who posted on OliveTreeGenealogy blog

    Using the death record that Larry found for clues (it gave Stanley's parents' names) I had a quick look and found 4 year old Stanley, in the 1900 census for Nelsonville Village, Athens, Ohio.

    I'm sure there is much more we can find out! I'm pretty curious how his dog tag ended up in Australia, especially since Stanley died in Washington in 1946.

    Teamwork - ya gotta love it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sam.February 20, 2010 at 6:46 PM

    This might be the marriage cert. for Stanley and Mabel...

    http://media.digitalarchives.wa.gov/WA.Media/jpeg/F86B9BAF4DA0E9B7DCA5DBA67D4DFC8D_1.jpg

    It's from the Washington State Archives. Says they were married in 1936 so it obviously goes against what you've found on the 1920 census in Ohio but who knows...

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2010 at 12:17 AM

    I believe this is him:

    Thompson, Stanley P.
    1st Lt., 321 Squadron (Bombs Away)
    Home of record in 1944:
    205 W Lee St.
    Seattle, Washington

    see:
    www.jollyrogersweb.com/resultDetail.asp?jrID=3563

    This gives us rank and a middle initial...

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMarch 10, 2010 at 12:13 AM

    It's obviously an early war dog tag, since it lists NOK and address. The military finally got smart and decided maybe that wasn't a good thing for the enemy to know about captured prisoners!

    My dad's WWII dog tag just has religion and blood type. (He enlisted in 1943.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMarch 10, 2010 at 12:21 AM

    << The 319th Bomb Squadron was the first to arrive in Australia. They arrived at Amberley Airfield west of Brisbane on 23 October 1942 after a long 11 hour trip from Nandi on the island of Viti Levi in the Fiji Islands. They flew to Mareeba Airfield in north Queensland on 24 October 1942 after short stopover at Garbutt Airfield in Townsville. The B-24 of 1st Lt. Paul E. Johnson broke a rocker arm and had one of its engines fail as it approached Mareeba. It landed safely.

    The 321st Bomb Squadron arrived at Amberley Airfield on 31 October 1942 . They had flown from Plaines des Gaiacs airfield which is located 116 miles north west of Noumea, New Caledonia. The 321st Bomb Squadron flew to Mareeba Airfield on 1 November 1942. >>

    http://www.ozatwar.com/5thaf.htm

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