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Thread: Any U.S. Air Force Experts? - Genealogy Question

  1. #1
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    Any U.S. Air Force Experts? - Genealogy Question

    I am working on genealogy and have a copy of a man's application for a military grave marker. He died in the early 1960s at a young age but I don't know what some of these words mean. I want to understand if the words are spelled wrong. I searched around trying to see if this information will tell me where he served in the United States.

    It says

    Grade or Rank -- A/2C E-3 (P)
    Branch of Service -- Air Force 96th Orgnmaintron (SAC) all of these letters are capitalized on the document

    Anyone here know what those numbers and words mean?

    I know he served in the United States air force but none of the other information means anything to me.

    Thank you for any help offered.

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    I wasn't in the military, 4F but I can help some.
    A/2C is an older rank classification, it stands for Airman, second class. E-3 is Airman first class.
    96th is his unit, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/96th_Test_Wing
    SAC, is Strategic Air Command, aka Nuclear stuff.
    Organmaintron, means Organizational maintenance something or other (not sure of the last part, but further breakdown of where they were in the group).

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    Thanks Too Much Stuff - that is really helpful.

    I have been told that a lot of this guy's information might be missing due to a fire somewhere that destroyed military records in the 1970s. Not sure if that is true or not but he died too young. If had lived, he would be in his late 70s so don't know if anyone who served with him is still around. I don't know if he went overseas either.

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    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 19Sandy View Post
    Thanks Too Much Stuff - that is really helpful.

    I have been told that a lot of this guy's information might be missing due to a fire somewhere that destroyed military records in the 1970s. Not sure if that is true or not but he died too young. If had lived, he would be in his late 70s so don't know if anyone who served with him is still around. I don't know if he went overseas either.
    lots of military records were destroyed here in St. Louis in a fire.

    Edited to add: It was 1973 and millions of records were destroyed.

    https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/mi...fire-1973.html
    Last edited by iris lilies; 12-17-16 at 6:01pm.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by 19Sandy View Post
    I am working on genealogy and have a copy of a man's application for a military grave marker. He died in the early 1960s at a young age but I don't know what some of these words mean. I want to understand if the words are spelled wrong. I searched around trying to see if this information will tell me where he served in the United States.

    It says

    Grade or Rank -- A/2C E-3 (P)
    Branch of Service -- Air Force 96th Orgnmaintron (SAC) all of these letters are capitalized on the document

    Anyone here know what those numbers and words mean?

    I know he served in the United States air force but none of the other information means anything to me.

    Thank you for any help offered.
    If it was during the period of SAC's existence, it may have been the 96th Bomb Wing operating out of Dyess AFB in Texas. I did some training there about a million years ago. Their motto was "E Sempre Lora" ("It is always the hour"), so if you see that on any documents or old unit patches, that might be a clue.

    In many states, there is a County Veterans Services Officer or State Veterans' Affairs Officer who can help with questions like yours.
    Last edited by LDAHL; 12-19-16 at 9:47am.

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