Air Force Historical Research Agency
San Antonio, TX
I received an email in July of 2001 from Mrs. Lynn Gamma, Archivist of the
Air Force, and she suggested that I contact the History Office of the Air
Intelligence Agency.
Air Force Special Investigations Office
This group was erroneously forwarded my second FOAI request of INSCOM in
October, 2002. They deal only with criminal investigations relating to the
Air Force, and their records only go back 15 years anyway.
Air Intelligence Agency
Contacted through their web site, this Air Force agency was able to
confidently state that the 7th AAF RSM was never folded into the Air Force,
thanks to a document on the Air Intelligence Agency provided by its author,
but it was nice to have confirmation in response to my letter of July, 2001.
(This is suspect, see below.)
Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM)
Ft. George G. Meade, MD
In December, 2001, I submitted a request, at the suggestion of the NSA, to
the Freedom of Information/Privacy Office of the United States Army
Intelligence and Security Command, and they responded in January, 2002, with a
letter saying that the inquiry was in progress and would take longer than the
required twenty days. I spoke with someone at the office and they said that,
once the materials which they had requested (from another organization which
she declined to identify) arrived and were approved for release to me, I would
be notified. They also suggested that I contact the Textual Records Branch of
the National Archives in College Park, MD (see next item) Unfortunately, it
turns out that they found nothing that they could release to me.
I repeated my request, as a FOIA request, in September, 2002. This time I received notice that a document was available, but that INSCOM didn't have the authority to authorize its release to me; an agency within the Air Force, however, did have that authority, and the whole matter was forwarded to them. They finally responded with another curt rejection.
National Archives and Records Administration
College Park, MD
The response, from a specialist in Modern Military Records, in the Textual
Archives Services Division, said that they'd "searched the Records of the Army
Air Forces (Record Group 18)," but came up with no trace of the 7th RSM. They
suggested that I contact the Air Force Historical Agency at Maxwell Air Force
Base (see above), or the Organizational History Branch of the U.S. Army Center
for Military History (see below).
National Personnel Records Center
St. Louis, MO
The staff found the records I wanted and were relatively prompt. Dealing
with them over the phone was also a pleasure. I couldn't have written a word
of this paper without the documents they copied for me in 2001. My first request
with a Standard Form 180 turned up nothing, Sheilah Hurley's first request
turned up only the records between enlistment and the 1944 discharge to accept
commission as an officer, and the final request turned up the records for the
remaining two years. Also, two years after I requested them, replacements were
provided for all of Grandpa Hurley's medals (apart from two which I had to
order directly from the Embassy of the Philippines in Washington, D.C.).
National Security Agency
Fort Meade, MD
I wrote a letter to the NSA in September, 2001, but they were unable to
help. They suggested that I try the Army Intelligence and Security Command or
the Air Force. In addition, someone asked an NSA historian about the 7th RSM
for me, and provided this: "NSA historian informed me today he had nothing on
7th RSM but it did raise his interest. He suggested that you might write the
Center for Military History, Organizational History Branch, to see if they might
have some records." (See above item for their response.)
U. S. Army Military History Institute
Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA
This group, when asked in July 2001 about unit lineages (which should tell
what eventually became of the 7th AAF RSM) or any other information, found a
single document which listed the decorations to which the unit itself was
entitled. A hand-written note accompanied the reply which read, in part: "A
complete search of our library failed to produce any unit history or other
reference to the 7th RSM except for a single line entry in PAM 672-1. The
letter entry indicates that the squadron participated in the Leyte, New Guinea,
and Southern Philippines campaigns. Further, it received the Philippine
Presidential Unit Citation - confirmed by issuance of Dept. of the Army General
Order 47 - 1950. Most probably the unit operated in conjunction with combat
elements of the 5th or 13th Army Air Forces. We are unable to provide more
definitive identification or lineage."
Air Force Historical Research Support Office
Washington
I contacted this group via their web site in November, 2002, and they
promptly responded through electronic mail. They told me that, in 1990, the
Electronic Security Command had removed the unit histories of the 7th AAF RSM
from public view. (The Electronic Security Command is now known as the Air
Intelligence Agency.)
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