World War II Prisoners of War<title> </head> <body background="veterans_of_foreign_wars_md_wht.jpg" bgproperties="fixed"> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Arial"><img border="0" src="f4u_corsair_diving_lw.gif" width="156" height="130"></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Arial"><img src="http://1stbattalion3rdmarines.com/images/ab1.gif" border="0" width="382" height="20"></font></p> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="493"> <tr> <td width="595"> <p align="center"><b><font size="2" face="Arial">World War II Prisoners of War</font></b></p> <ul> <font size="2" face="Arial">1) American Military POWs Returned Alive from the European Theater, A-V (85,541 records)*<br> 2) American Military POWs Returned Alive from the Pacific Theater (19,202 records)*<br> 3) American Military POWs Returned Alive from the European Theater, Vititoe-Zywot (6952 records)<br> 4) American Civilian POWs (Released and Dead) Interned by the Japanese (13,750 records)<br> 5) Deceased American [Military] POWs (Japanese) (7041 records)<br> 6) Deceased American [Military] POWs (Japanese) - Died in Ship Sinkings, 1944 (3299 records)<br> 7) Neutral Internees (U.S. Military Personnel Interned in a Neutral Country)(2164 records)<br> 8) Deceased American POWs (Germany) (2523 records)<br> 9) Escapees/ KIA (Japan) (21 records)<br> 10) Never POWs (Japan) (92 records)<br> 11) Missing in Action - Returned to Military Control (1554 records)<br> 12) Civilians A-Z [Worldwide] (Non U.S. Citizens)(488 records)<br> 13) Civilians, Unofficial, A-Z [Japan] (747 records)<br> </font> </ul> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">During the Second World War, the Prisoner of War Information Bureau, Office of the Provost Marshal General, U.S. Army, produced a series of IBM punchcard records on U.S. military and civilian prisoners of war and internees, as well as for some Allied internees. The information on the punchcards came from Red Cross cables, other international messages concerning the status of POWs, and other records, many of which are in the POW Information Bureau General Subject File, in the textual records of Record Group 389. A full description of these records can be found in Records Relating to Personal Participation in World War II: American Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees, compiled by Ben DeWhitt and Jennifer Davis Heaps, Reference Information Paper 80, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., 1992.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">The punchcard records were maintained over the course of the war. Complete data are frequently not available for an individual. The U.S. Army transferred the punchcards to the National Archives as part of the 1959 transfer of all of the U.S. Army's Departmental Archives. The punchcards came to NARA sorted by type of prisoner (whether U.S. or Allied), whether military or civilian, the theater of war in which held, and whether repatriated, deceased, or an escapee. These groupings continue as the separate electronic records files listed above.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">In the late 1970s, the Veterans Administration borrowed some of the punchcards for its Study of Former Prisoners of War, and converted them to an electronic format. The Veterans Administration created two files: U.S. Military Personnel Returned Alive, World War II, European Theater (N = 85,541) and U.S. Military Personnel Returned Alive, World War II, Pacific Theater (N = 19,202). These files have an asterisk (*) in the above list.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">The Veterans Administration did not use the punchcards for prisoners of war (military and civilian) who died in camp, escaped, civilians or non-U.S. citizens, for some who were returned after having been missing, and other categories of persons for whom the Prisoner of War Information Bureau had created a punchcard record (AGO Form No. 326, 15 April 1944). In addition, a review of the records of the European Theater electronic data file indicates that some records for former POWs whose last name began with the letters V, W, X, Y, and Z (and perhaps others) were not successfully read to tape and are also excluded in this data file. These punchcards were later converted by NARA to an electronic form in 1998 (see the third file listed above).</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">The punchcards, and hence the records of all the electronic data files listed above, include the following data elements: serial number, name, grade, grade code, service code, arm of service, arm of service code, date reported, race, state of residence, type of organization, parent unit number, parent unit type, area, latest report date, source of report, status, detaining power, place of detention (camp code), repatriation status, and whether the POW was on a Japanese ship that sank, or if he died during transport to the Philippine Islands.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">In an effort to improve access to the World War II prisoners of war punchcards that the Veterans Administration did not read to tape, the Center for Electronic Records, with assistance from the Textual Archives Services Division, arranged for the conversion of eleven remaining ‘files' of punchcards. In May 1998, these punchcards were shipped to NARA's Information Technology Operations Branch, Office of Human Resources and Information Services (St. Louis, MO), where they were converted to an electronic form. The conversion was completed in June 1998, and the eleven files were shipped back to the Center for Electronic Records for preservation in electronic form. The staff who converted the cards indicated that they captured the information off 98-99% of all cards. Some cards were not convertible because they are very brittle and/or have edge damage. The original punchcards were returned to the Textual Archives Services Division, where they may continue to be examined.</font></p> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font></p> <p> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </body> </html>