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Gerald Ridenour, an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Army Air Force, died in World War II. He was just shy of his 21st birthday. When my mom showed me his grave at Highland Cemetery in Perry County, Ohio, I knew I had to find out more about him.
Registry of the american soldier Any American Soldier who has ever worn the Army uniform throughout our nation’s history is eligible to have a registry page. (Soldier must have received an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions).
The Casualty List
Army Serial Numbers Ww2
I found him listed on the WWII Army and Army Air Force Casualty List on Fold3. The information includes name, serial number, rank, and something pertaining to the death.
From World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing: State of Ohio. Online at Fold3 (titled WWII Army and Army Air Force Casualty List).
It was when I looked for the meaning of “DNB” (Died Non-Battle) that I discovered there is meaning in the serial number, also referred to as a service number.
The U.S. Army began issuing serial numbers to help avoid mixing the records of people with the same name. (A genealogist’s dream come true!) When we dig a little deeper into the number itself, we can learn a bit about the person.
Some prefixes were used in World War I. However, the following system began shortly before World War II. The first character gives us a lot of information.
- 1 = Enlisted in the Army (in other words, volunteered rather than drafted)
- 2 = Federally recognized National Guard
- 3 = Drafted
- 4 = Drafted
- O (that’s the letter O, not a zero) = Male commissioned officers
- W = Male Warrant officers
- T = Flight officers (Army Air Force)
- L = Commissioned officers of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC)
- V = WAC Warrant officers
- A = WAC enlisted women
- R = Hospital dietitians
- M = Physical therapy aides
- Gerald Ridenour enlisted
- Arthur Porter was in a federally recognized National Guard unit
- Robert Pratt and Wilfred Ratliff were drafted
- William Petruzzi was a commissioned officer. (We also knew that from him being listed as a 2 Lt. But if his rank hadn’t been listed, we would have discovered he was a commissioned officer based on his serial number.
Army Serial Number Database
When you have an 8-digit serial number, the second number shows the Service Command. This narrows down where the person enlisted or was drafted. If you have a serial number for a member of the WAC, look at the number after the letter prefix. There’s an exception. Remember those serial numbers that begin with “2,” showing National Guard service? You need to look at the 3rd digit. (The second digit for those will always be a zero. You knew there’d be some exception, didn’t you.)
- 1 = Connecticut Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
- 2 = Delaware, New Jersey, New York
- 3 = Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia
- 4 = Alabama, Florida, Georgia Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
- 5 = Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia
- 6 = Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
- 7 = Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
- 8 = Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
- 9 = Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington
- 0 = When the first number is 3, the zero means he was drafted outside the U.S. (301 indicates Panama; 302 indicates Puerto Rico)
Since the second digit of Gerald Ridenour’s serial number is 5, we now know that he enlisted from either Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, or West Virginia. The same for where Robert Pratt and William Ratliff were drafted. Arthur Porter, from the National Guard, also enlisted from one of those four states, since the third number of his serial number is 5.
A Note About Twins
According to the introduction to the World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing:
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“Serial numbers are assigned with great care and according to a set of regulations. Consecutive serial numbers, for example, are not assigned to twins since this might cause confusion of identity between two persons with the same birth date and same general physical characteristics.”
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- Jennifer Holik, Stories from the World War II Battlefield: Reconstructing Army, Air Corps, and National Guard Service (Vol. 1), (Generations, 2015). Jennifer has put together a tremendous resource for researching members of the Army, Air Corps and National Guard from WWII. [NOTE: This is an Amazon affiliate link.]
- “US Army WWII Dog Tags” by Alain Batens on World War II Living History & Reenacting Information has great info about different styles of WWII dog tags and how to decipher them.
- The US Army Serial Number Generator at Hero Files will generate an accurate WWII-era Army serial number based on the criteria you enter. Useful for authors and reenactors.
- War Department, World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing: State of Ohio, (Washington, DC: by the War Dept., June 1946), p. ii. Available on Fold3.
- “Service number (United States Army)” on Wikipedia.
- “US Army WWII Dog Tags” by Alain Batens on World War II Living History & Reenacting Information.
More from my site
Veterans' military service records and medical records are not online. However, veterans and next-of-kin can order copies of these records.
How to request military service records
How to request military service records
While most of our holdings are not online, a variety of military records, from photos to documents to searchable databases are available. Listed below are online collections of specific interest to veterans, their families and researchers. Additional online records may be found by searching the National Archives Catalog and Access to Archival Databases (AAD) systems.
Current Era and General Military Records
Vietnam Conflict Era
- Casualty Records for the Vietnam Conflict:
- Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam Conflict, 1/20/1967 - 12/1998 (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Vietnamese Conflict') - Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam Conflict (description)
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Vietnamese Conflict')
- Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam Conflict, 1/20/1967 - 12/1998 (description).
- Records of Medals, Awards and Decorations from the Vietnam Conflict:
- Records of Awards and Decorations of Honor During the Vietnam Conflict, 5/1969 - 3/1973.
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Vietnamese Conflict')
- Records of Awards and Decorations of Honor During the Vietnam Conflict, 5/1969 - 3/1973.
- Records of Combat Operations from the Vietnam Conflict
- Records About the Ground Combat Operations by the Army During the Vietnam Conflict, 7/31/1966 - 3/12/1973.
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Vietnamese Conflict') - Records About Air Sorties Flown in Southeast Asia, 1/1970 - 6/1975.
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Vietnamese Conflict') - Records About Hostile Fire Against U.S. and Australian Warships During the Vietnam Conflict, 10/25/1966 - 4/5/1970.
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Vietnamese Conflict')
- Records About the Ground Combat Operations by the Army During the Vietnam Conflict, 7/31/1966 - 3/12/1973.
Korean War Era
- Casualty Records for the Korean War:
- Records of Military Personnel Who Died as a Result of Hostilities During the Korean War, ca. 1977 - 11/1979 (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Korean War') - Records on Korean War Dead and Wounded Army Casualties, 1950 - 1970 (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Casualties') - Records of American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, 1950 - 1953 (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Casualties') - Records of Repatriated Korean War Prisoners of War, 1978 - 1980 (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: Casualties')
- Records of Military Personnel Who Died as a Result of Hostilities During the Korean War, ca. 1977 - 11/1979 (description).
World War II Era
Army Serial Number Query
- Casualty Records for World War II
- Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942 - 1947 (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: World War, 1939-1945')
- Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942 - 1947 (description).
- World War II Enlistment and Draft Records
- World War II Army Enlistment Records (Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File) (description).
[Search AAD for these Records ]
(Search tip: in AAD, select 'Subject: World War, 1939-1945')
- World War II Army Enlistment Records (Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File) (description).
- Photos from World War II
- Pictures of World War II: An online collection of selected photos of World War II.
- A People at War: an online exhibit featuring photos and documents from the National Personnel Records Center.
Army Serial Number Search Wwi
World War I Era
Spanish-American War Era
Army Serial Number Lookup
Civil War Era
- Service and Casualty Records
- Index of Compiled Military Service Records from the National Park Service's Civil War Soldier and Sailor System
- Pictures and Photographs of the Civil War
- War Dept. Map Collection
Civil Works Map File
- War Dept. Map Collection