Morning Reports and Unit Rosters
Morning reports and unit rosters are created by military organizations as part of their personnel and payroll functions. These records are used by the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) to verify events or assignments, which may not be documented in an individual's Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). This is especially important when trying to reconstruct service information when the OMPF has been damaged or destroyed in the fire at NPRC in 1973. (The fire did not destroyed any Vietnam Veterans Records) A brief explanation of both types of records and the date span of our collections is listed below.

To apply for morning reports, and rosters over the internet:http://www.nara.gov/regional/ mprmrr.html

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:

In order to verify that a particular action occurred, we must be provided with the exact unit of assignment ("Company A, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment"), a description of the action ("I was wounded and sent to a hospital") and an approximate date ("June, 1944"). Without this type of information, we may be unable to perform a search.

Our collection of morning reports covers the following:
ARMY-November 1, 1912 to 1974
Air Force-September 1947 to June 30, 1966

UNIT ROSTERS are created monthly, quarterly or semiannually. During certain time periods, separate rosters were created for officers and enlisted personnel. At other times, consolidated rosters listed both officers and enlisted personnel. Some units created rosters only for enlisted personnel. The rosters typically list the members of a particular unit for the last day of the month in which the roster was created.

NPRC stores unit rosters for the Army only, for the same years as the morning reports, 1912 to 1974. (This includes rosters of units of the Army Air Forces prior to September 1947; however, no Air Force unit rosters are available after that date.) Unfortunately, the rosters for the years 1944, 1945 and 1946 were destroyed in the 1970's; no other source for this type of information for these years exists at this center. You may wish to contact an "Alumni Organization" in order to obtain information concerning members of specific units.

NOTE: neither morning reports or unit rosters contain historical information concerning battles or engagements. Records that contain this type of information may be available at one of the following:

SUBMITTING REQUESTS FOR MORNING REPORTS OR ROSTERS: Requests must be in writing and sent to the following address:

You may use a Standard Form 180, Request Pertaining to Military Records, or, write a letter to the center. Specify the information needed and the purpose of the request. In order to conduct a search of morning reports and unit rosters we need as much of the following information as possible: units or outfits; complete organizational designation (company or battery, battalion, and regiment; squadron, group, and wing, etc.); geographical location (camp, base, and country). Searching morning reports and rosters can be quite time consuming. Please limit your request to a specific event or personnel action. We are not staffed or budgeted to perform searches of organizational records for research or reunion purposes as our main responsibility is to respond to requests from or on behalf of veterans who are seeking benefits due them under various veterans laws.

SEARCH FEES: Depending on the number of searches required there may be a fee assessed. If that is the case, payment is required before the searches are undertaken. Fees are assessed for our time spent locating the records (at the rate of $13.25 per hour) and for any copies that are made (first 6 pages, $3.50; each additional page, $0.10), with a minimum charge of $8.30. A deposit of $8.30 is required before we begin the search. You will be billed for any additional costs. All remittances should be made payable to the National Personnel Records Center.

REVIEW OF RECORDS BY YOURSELF OR A DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE: It is also possible for our staff to make the records available to you or your designated representative for review of the morning reports/rosters at our Center. If that is not possible, you may wish to contact the history department of one of the local universities for graduate students who may be available to conduct this research. Telephone numbers are listed below:

Cold War Recognition Certificate

Who is eligible?
All members of the armed forces and federal government civilian personnel who faithfully served the United States during the Cold War era, Sept. 2, 1945 to Dec. 26, 1991. Individuals requesting a certificate will certify that their character of service was honorable.

Acceptable documents for proof of service. Any official government or military document with recipient's name, Social Security Number/Military Service Number/Foreign Service Number and date of service is acceptable. (DD-214)

Mail or Fax your letter with proof of eligibility to:
CDR, PERSCOM
COLD WAR RECOGNITION, HOFFMAN II
ATT.: TAPC-CWRS, 3N45
200 STOVALL STREET ALEXANDRIA, VA 22332-0473

FAX: 1-800-723-9262

E-mail Address: http://coldwar.army.mil/

SAMPLE LETTER

 

John Doe
P.O. Box 000
Pleasantville, Virginia 00000

April 5, 1999

 

CDR, PERSCOM
COLD WAR RECOGNITION, HOFFMAN II
ATTN: TAPC-CWRS, 3N45
200 STOVALL STREET
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22332-0473

 Please send me a Cold War Recognition Certificate for my service to the United States government during the authorized period of September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991.

    Enclosed is a copy of source document (DD-214) with my Social Security Number and Military Service Number, which verifies my service during the Cold War Era. I understand that the enclosed copy of source document will not be returned.

    Please mail my Cold War Recognition Certificate to the following address:

John Doe
P.O. Box 000
Pleasantville, Virginia 00000

 Submission of this request confirms my faithful service to the nation during the Cold War Era. My service was in the Armed Forces; I further certify that my discharge was honorable (or general under honorable conditions).

Sincerely, John Doe

NARA