World War II Separation Notices: Marines Collection and Future

The World War II Separation Notices: U.S. Marine Corps collection is now up on From the Page for indexing! This collection debuted this past September at the Library’s annual Transcribe-a-versary.

The Marines Separation Notices are only one part of the Library of Virginia’s World War II History Commission Separation Notices Collection, which contains discharge records of over 250,000 Virginians who fought and participated in military service in World War II.

The information collected for the separation notices was done by interviewing service members while being discharged as well as information collected in personnel files on each veteran. The notices were not only proof of separation from the military and history of service but also gathered information to help veterans make a smooth transition back to civilian life.

Every branch of service inquired what the veteran’s job was prior to the military, what their military occupation was, and their preference for a job or education after the war.

This information reveals if service members’ previous occupations related to their job in the military and if their military jobs had any influence on what they wanted to pursue in the future. Many individuals wanted to go back to where they lived prior to service and continue their previous jobs, but some individuals moved to Virginia after the war to the Northern Virginia or Norfolk areas because of federal and military jobs.

The 248th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps is November 10 and Veterans Day is November 11, making it an ideal time to highlight this collection and some separation notices of Marine service members in World War II.

Born in Russia, lived in Alexandria, VA, and after service wanted to live in New England

Military Occupation
Special Assignment – Executive Officer – Research and Analysis Branch

Prior Civilian Occupation
Research Engineer (Economist) and Economic Research Assistant

Future Job Preference
Marketing and Research

Born in Mississippi, lived in Wisconsin, and after service wanted to live in Portsmouth, Virginia

Military Occupation
First Sergeant, Projectionist, and Recruiter

Prior Civilian Occupation
Carpenter and Truck Farmer

Born in Petersburg, lived in Roanoke, and after service wanted to live in California or Virginia

Military Occupations
Administrative Officer, Lodging House Manager, Education Officer

Prior Civilian Occupation
Teacher and Clerk-Typist
Went to College at Ohio University

Future Job Preference
Hotel Management or Hostess

Born in Wisconsin and lived in Quantico, Virginia

Military Occupation
Publication Man and Combat Correspondent

Prior Civilian Occupations
Correspondence Clerk and Telephone Operator

Future Job Preference
Journalism and Reporting

These examples show how much information was gathered in one form as well as how different each service member’s experiences were and how they did or did not affect their preferences for returning to civilian life.

One of the most noticeable things about the entire Library of Virginia’s World War II Separation Notices Collection is how many different forms were used as Separation Notices throughout the war. Currently, there have been 16 different forms found in the collection: Marines-1, Navy-2, Coast Guard-2, Army-11. The military made many revisions to the forms—some revisions were small, and others essentially created new forms. There are many differences between the branches of service and what type or how much information they gathered.

The U.S. Marine Corps was the only branch of service that used one form type over the entire course of discharging personnel in World War II. Only having one form makes the indexing process easier for volunteers to recognize and find the information needed for data collection.

The goal of the project is to make all 250,000 World War II Separation Notice records and transcriptions accessible on the Library’s digital repository, Rosetta. In the future, all branches active in World War II (Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, and Army) will be up for indexing by crowdsourcing and transcription volunteers.

Below is a list of all the forms found in the collection that will eventually be made available for transcription.