These researchers can trace a World War II veteran’s service for families

Share Add Us On Google Add as a preferred source on Google NEW ORLEANS, La. ( InvestigateTV ) — A program at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans is helping families learn about their loved ones’ service by tracking down veterans’ official records. Researchers can find details that include training, medical history, units, battles and promotions. InvestigateTV’s own Tisha Powell used the program to learn more about her grandfather, Ulysses Reed Sr. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise military attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. The attack killed more than 2,400 Americans, sank or damaged 21 ships and destroyed 188 airplanes. The U.S. officially entered the war the next day. Of the 16.4 million Americans who served in the war, fewer than 46,000 are still alive. Many families are left with unanswered questions about what their loved ones did and endured during the war. “There’s one half of one percent of American World War II veterans that are still with us today. And so, every time we can bring a veteran to campus or someone who experienced the war in some sort of way, it is a joy and it is an honor,” said Chrissy Gregg of the National WWII Museum. Gregg said it’s up the museum and researchers “to continue to tell their stories.” Records trace Reed’s service Reed was laid to rest April 28, 2012, in a small Louisiana cemetery. He was 100 years old and a U.S. Army World War II combat veteran. Powell said many details of his military service had remained unknown. Reed was a laborer from the community of Chackbay who was drafted and traveled thousands of miles to Europe during the war. Dr. Mike Bell, executive director of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the museum, said researchers can now trace Reed’s service from the time he joined his company after basic training at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, until he was released from the company at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to go home. According to Bell, that was likely the winter of 1945. Bell shared the findings with Powell this spring, after researchers spent weeks searching documents. “We went in, we found his 1940 registration for the draft, so you can confirm it’s him. Where he lives” Bell said. Reed’s official military personnel file from the National Archives Records Administration in St. Louis was lost in a 1973 fire. The fire destroyed 80% of Army and Army Air Corps records from 1912 to 1960. “Millions of records were wiped out in that. And these were the personnel files of the individuals,” Bell said. Museum researchers, who are veterans themselves, then turned to the Bayou History Center and Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. “Now, why that was incredibly powerful, though, is it gave us the company he was in,” Bell said. Unit moved ammunition across Europe Reed served in the 679th Ordnance Company, which managed ammunition. “Morning reports” detailed the company’s movements. Records showed the company was formed with soldiers who went to a camp outside Wilmington, North Carolina. Other soldiers who formed the company came from Fort Bragg. The two groups went to Fort Stewart, Georgia, outside Savannah, for field training. They then traveled by train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. “From there, they’ll board a secret ship. I haven’t figured out exactly which ship yet,” Bell said. He said the records list the ship as secret. The ship sailed from the United States to Lancashire, England. The 679th then traveled to Wales and later deployed into France, where the company set up miles of ammunition supply points. The company later moved into Germany. “They’re breaking down ammo, categorizing it, issuing ammunition, you know, moving the supply point to the next phase,” Bell said. “And so in Germany, his unit actually moves into the Rhineland. They’ll support 7th Army as they cross the Rhine River.” Bell said the company’s “incredible work” allowed Allied troops to advance the campaign in Europe. “Without fuel and ammo, you know, you’re not going to win the war.” The company pushed forward into Czechoslovakia and then headed back to France after Germany’s surrender in May 1945. The men were still in France when Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. “From there, we found the ship that he leaves France on,” Bell said. “He’s on the ship. Yeah, the General R.E. Callen, it leaves Marseille and comes back to the United States.” The General R. E. Callen would dock near Taunton, Massachusetts and Camp Myles Standish on September 12, 1945. Back on US soil, then PFC Reed and the 679th head to Monterey California to Fort Ord in route to the Pacific. Research services help families fill gaps “I wish I had asked more questions when he was alive,” Powell said. “Well, you know, I think our task is to try to recapture some of that. You know, to give a little agency and voice to these people,” Bell said. That is the goal of the museum’s Historical Research Services. Research historians work to verify records that can help family members learn about a World War II veteran’s service when their own searches have stalled. If historians determine the available records contain substantial information about the veteran’s service, families can receive the veteran’s WWII story in the form of a book. “That generation, in many cases, they just came home and went back to work. And, you know, or they didn’t talk about it just among everybody. How would you understand what they did? Or, uh, I just did my job,” Bell said. After the war, Reed returned to Louisiana to his wife and young daughters. During the war, he was able to send home about $900 and his wife bought “upwards of 20 acres of land.” “So, this service changed the trajectory of my family’s life,” Powell said. “It’s interesting in the 1950 census, he’s a landowner, you know, in the 1940 census, he’s unemployed,” Bell said. To Bell and others who work to find information in the records, they feel like they are giving the veterans agency and a voice. “So that we understand what they did, but also to understand why they did it and the importance of it and what they achieved.” Fee and POW/MIA program The museum’s research services have a fee. It costs $165 to obtain a veteran’s file. The museum is also part of the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Hub and Spoke Program. The program is a national initiative working to locate and identify American service members who remain unaccounted for from World War II and other conflicts. Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.