The Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) is launching the Kansas World War II Veterans Database on Friday, August 12, 2005. The date was picked to coincide with the 60th anniversary of V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.
This new online resource contains more than 229,000 entries of male and female Kansas veterans of the armed forces who served between September 16, 1940, and June 30, 1946. This data comes directly from Adjutant General Selective Service Board lists. KSHS volunteers and staff input the data, which includes the name of the veteran, the county from which s/he served, branch of service, whether enlisted or inducted (drafted) and date, the service/serial number, order number if "registered," and occasionally additional deceased or discharge data.
The project began in January 2004 as a suggestion by World War II veteran Don Richards. Volunteers scanned the original records for text recognition, harvested the data through software into the database, and manually proofread the entries.
Researchers should remember that the data is voluminous, and every effort for accuracy has been made. However, as in any transcribed records, errors could exist, either from the data input or within the original list itself. The Kansas State Historical Society suggests that researchers having difficulty finding a specific veteran in the online database should try searching for different spellings of last names or widening the search to the entire county and browsing, etc. Surprisingly, even in the original records some individuals share the same service/serial number!
Researchers may view or obtain a copy of the original page where the veteran appears either by visiting the KSHS Center for Historical Research Reference Room or by telephone, postal mail, or email. Further information can be found at http://www.kshs.org/contact/ask_question.htm.
The new World War II Kansas Veterans database is located at http://www.kshs.org/genealogists/military/wwiivetsindex.htm.
