Death certificates for WWII casualties

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (MB0427)

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:44:29 GMT

In the case of Lt. Lerg, he was re-buried at Cambridge American Cemetery. This only covers someone KIA aboard an A/C. I would "think" that someone who died of wounds in a Base or General Hospital would have a certificate of death from the Hospital sent to the family. Regards, Marc

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (MB0427)

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:47:48 GMT

       Scott,
    This is from the 94th BG. KIA's were buried at Brookwood Cemetery and the family sent a "Report Of Burial". They then had the option of having their loved one sent back to the USA or re-buried in an American Cemetery overseas. I would "assume" they would be able to take the burial document to their County office and receive a actual death certificate? This came from a IDPF.
    Regards, Marc

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Scott Burris)

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:00:54 GMT

Reading TM 12-240 it looks like they prepared the Hospital Record of Death and then would obtain a Certificate of Death from the county/state.

It will be interesting to learn if overseas hospitals generated the 52-9, and if that can be obtained via IDPF.

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (SHAEF1944)

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:20:15 GMT

I think if death occured OUTSIDE a military base, such as an airplane crash miles away or say a soldier in town or on leave somewhere off base, the county in which the death occured issued a death cert.
If the death occured on a military base, the Army Med. Dept. would issue a Hospital Record of Death. Form 52-9

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Darin Scorza)

Tue, 08 May 2012 07:47:01 GMT

Anthony J. Mireles

In my experience/research, if the air accident fatality occurs in the states, the county writes the death certificate.

Looks like that is true for Texas at least. This was a 458th co-pilot who had completed a combat tour in 1944 and was killed in a B-29 while training at Randolph Field.

I have only seen a "Report of Death" in IDPF's that I have.

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (tonystro)

Tue, 08 May 2012 07:39:10 GMT

Deleted message because Richard posted link to TM 12-240 before I gave up trying to upload the whole thing. " />

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (SHAEF1944)

Tue, 08 May 2012 07:11:49 GMT

Scott, this should help some :
TM 12-240
Deceased Personnel Within the Continental United States, Excluding Alaska

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/TM/PDFs/TM12-240.pdf

A copy I have of AR 600-550 also states : " The Report of Death as prescribed in 'a' above ( in the case of military personnel ) will be considered as the " official notification of death " within the meaning of the law authorizing payment of the 6 months' gratuity and sufficient basis upon which to authorize payment thereof. "

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (dennis_burke)

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:42:35 GMT

As regards death certificates for those killed abroad, two examples I'd give from the men who came down in Ireland.

Rile W Cannon from Texas, was killed in Co Donegal, Ireland in 1944.
The Irish Authorities issued a death certificate at that time, for 30 yr old R W Cannon in the Ballyshannon registration district. 1944, 2nd Quarter, Vol 2 Page 5.

Back home in Texas, the Texas state also issued him with a death certificate and you can get a copy of this certifcate on familysearch.org in teh Texas death cert database etc. So, Texas may have had a policy of issuing a death certificate for those killed overseas.

And I've forgotten what my second example was!! Typical
I was goign to add that US personel whio died in England, Scotland and Wales do not appear to have been dealt with in udner normal English rules in that their names rarely ever seem to appear int eh Death indexes, see freebmd.org.uk, you can search there for any names of people who died in ENGLAND and WALES. From that you can get a certificate reference and order from the UK registration folks. There must have been a policy of not registering US deaths in England?

Dennis

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Scott Burris)

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:43:38 GMT

In my grandfather's IDPF is an official "Report of Death" out of the War Dept. AG's office.

Only document identifier is WD AGO Form no. 52-1

If somebody could post an example Death Certificate?

Here's a copy of the "Report of Death" document from my grandfather's file. I've removed all the personal information.

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (one1)

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:19:52 GMT

Has anyone seen a Death Certificate included with an IDPF ?

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Scott Burris)

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:40:57 GMT

Thanks Tony, that's a good start.

So the Death Certificate was generated by civil government authorities in the county--or state--where the death occurred (for stateside accidents).

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Anthony J. Mireles)

Mon, 07 May 2012 16:37:42 GMT

In my experience/research, if the air accident fatality occurs in the states, the county writes the death certificate.

Overseas, I have no idea. Sorry.

TM

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Yunch)

Mon, 07 May 2012 16:21:46 GMT

Scott,
In Johns case there was NO death certificate. A letter to my mother in-law, stating that the remains found in the Austrian Alps nine plus yrs after being shot down, were verified by lab tests in Berlin to be that of her son John.

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (one1)

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:31:35 GMT

shooshoobaby

Scott -
My 2 Cents. Wouldn't the IDPF have a Copy of
the Death Certificate?
Mike

Mike,
None of the IDPF's I have contain a Death Certificate.
George

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (25Kingman49)

Mon, 07 May 2012 14:01:32 GMT

Scott,

This one seems to include cause of death not sure about inclusion of actual Certificate of death: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ww2/army-casualties/

293 file, Individual Deceased Personnel File: To be filed as a FOIA request;
US Army Human Resources Command
1600 Spearhead Division Avenue, Dept 107
Fort Knox KY 40122
or preferably:
hrc.foia@conus.army.mil

Scott

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (Scott Burris)

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:53:01 GMT

I don't know that an IDPF would have been generated in these cases; accidents or from battle wounds, but under allied control.

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (k9iua)

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:50:17 GMT

For my uncle Chester, my dad's oldest brother, who died stateside in November 1945 in an airplane crash, his IDPF has only two pages in addition to the generic cover page: a Form 52-1, Report of Death, which comes out of the Adjutant General's office, and a Form 10-15, Preparation Room Report. If there was a separate death certificate issued, which normally is a state or county form, that is not part of the IDPF, nor was it part of family records that I know of, as I have scouted all around for those, including asking all my relatives.

Kevin Anderson

Re:Death certificates for WWII casualties (shooshoobaby)

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:35:43 GMT

Scott -
My 2 Cents. Wouldn't the IDPF have a Copy of
the Death Certificate?
Mike

Death certificates for WWII casualties (Scott Burris)

Mon, 07 May 2012 12:51:10 GMT

I've gotten a couple of queries about how to obtain death certificates for WWII casualties. The men either died in training, or overseas but within allied controlled areas.

This is not something I know anything about. A quick search was not illuminating.

Who issued the death certificate? Maintained where? How does the family obtain a copy?

If I can get a good, comprehensive set of answers I'll add them to the research help guide.