World War II Army Morning Reports
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
MORNING REPORTS are created each morning, as the name implies.  They are an "exception based" system, only containing information on those individuals who are not "Present and Accounted for".  Among the reasons for being listed on a morning report are:
  • Promotion or demotion
  • Being killed, wounded or missing in action
  • Being assigned to a unit, or leaving a unit
  • Going to a hospital for treatment, or to another activity for training
From Morning Reports and Unit Rosters, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis

Requesting Morning Reports (without retaining a researcher)

If you know the exact unit and the dates you wish to research, you can request morning reports directly from the National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis.
If you need to retain a researcher

If you do not know the unit or dates, you may need to retain a researcher. The researcher I retained and who I highly recommend is:

Lori Berdak Miller

Redbirdresearch@gmail.com

Redbird Research
3 Sandbar Court
St. Louis, Missouri 63303-6065

Phone: (636) 448-3275
Fax (314) 878-7913

I found her prices very fair. Especially considering my alternative would have been repeated overnight trips to St. Louis to research microfilms with which I had no experience researching, her charges even felt low. I doubt I could have been as successful as she was.

She helped me navigate the process of obtaining permission for her to view the records. Certain privacy rules apply because some of the veterans are still alive. Some changes are coming to those restrictions because of the passage of time.
Why I retained a researcher:

In November, 1943, my father was in Company E, 840th Signal Training Battalion at the Signal Corps Replacement Training Center, Camp Crowder, Missouri.

I could find nothing in my father's personal papers that indicated to which active duty unit he was assigned after training and his records were lost in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center.

His assignment to an active unit might be recorded in his training unit's morning report.

In February, 1944, he was shipped to Great Britain in preparation for the Normandy landings.

My father served in the Normandy Campaign but not in the initial assault landings. He also served in the Northern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe Campaigns.

At some time he was hospitalized with frostbite. That should be recorded on a morning report.

At some point he was transferred to the 45th Signal Company, 45th Infantry Division. That should be recorded on a morning report.

What I asked the researcher:

I asked the researcher to work forward from the November, 1943 morning reports of Company E, 840th Signal Training Battalion and to work backwards from the 1945 morning reports for the 45th Signal Company, 45th Infantry Division.

What we found:

In the morning reports for the Company E 840th Signal Training Battalion we found that unit was redesignated as Company M, 847th Signal Training Battalion, Open Wire Repair Section.the

In the morning reports for Company M, 847th Signal Training Battalion we found that my father was transferred to the newly constituted and activated Company C, 3110th Signal Service Battalion.

In the morning reports for Company C, 3110th Signal Service Battalion we found that my father was hospitalized in France in December, 1944.

In the morning reports for Company C, 3110th Signal Service Battalion we found that my father was to a replacement unit.

In the morning reports for the 45th Signal Company, 45th Infantry Division we found that my father was transferred from a replacement unit in January, 1945.
Copies of cited morning reports:


INDEX: Cizewski, Lovetere, Musbach, & Robinson Family History

© 2006 -2012 Leonard H. Cizewski

Last Updated: March 30, 2012
Posted: 2006
Last Reviewed:
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