Get Involved
The World War II Separation Notices Collection documents demographics, civilian life, and military service history for more than 250,000 men and women from across the state. After leaving the U.S. military, individuals received official documentation noting separation from their branch of service. The original separation notices were kept on file at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. A fire at the center on July 12, 1973, however, destroyed approximately 16 to 18 million personnel files, including those that documented service in World War II. Thankfully, Virginia's employment commission copies of these forms had been transferred to the Library of Virginia in 1950, alleviating some of the record-loss distress caused by the St. Louis fire.
Contact Information
Lauren Caravati
WWII Separation Notices Project Managerlauren.caravati@lva.virginia.gov
Indexing the Separation Notices
- Assist with document transcription ont the Library of Virginia's From The Page
- Participate in the Library of Virginia's Making History Projects
Virtual Events
Programs
- Get in the Scrap! by the National World War II Museum
- Victory Gardens on the World War II Home Front by the National Park Service
Miscellaneous
WWII Separation Notices
NEH Grant Info:
The “War, Remembrance and the Power of Records: Digitizing the Library of Virginia’s WWII Separation Notices” project received a $315,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant through the Library of Virginia Foundation. The Library was among the recipients of $33.17 million in grants for 245 humanities projects across the country announced by the NEH in April 2022.
The “War, Remembrance and the Power of Records: Digitizing the Library of Virginia’s WWII Separation Notices” project received a $315,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant through the Library of Virginia Foundation. The Library was among the recipients of $33.17 million in grants for 245 humanities projects across the country announced by the NEH in April 2022.
Project Info:
The Virginia World War II Separation Notices collection contains approximately 250,000 notices for military service members who served in the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.
Blog Posts:
Virginia War Dead
War Dead Questionnaires on From the Page
Questionnaires completed by the next-of-kin of Virginians killed in military service during World War II.
Personal war service records of Virginia's war dead, 1941-1946.
Virginia. World War II History Commission.; Virginia. Division of History.; Virginia Conservation Commission. 1941 - 1946
