BOOTCAMP PLATOON NUMBERS/ROSTERS

Two of my most frequent reference requests have to do with boot camp platoon numbers and platoon rosters.  A client either wants to know the platoon number to request a copy of a particular platoon photo or recruit graduation book or they would like the number and roster so they can contact members of a particular platoon.  In this day when so much information is readily available, it is simply unfathomable to these clients that rosters of all the boot camp platoons have not been maintained in some format which is both available and easily accessible to the general public.  Starting in the mid 1990s, MCRDSD’s paper, CheVron began publishing the rosters of graduating platoons.  However, prior to that time, only a handful of rosters have survived.  These appear as follows: 

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE (The exact time span is unknown, but I know that they were being printed up to December 7, 1941.) This newspaper is stored in the Newspaper Room of the San Diego Central Library.  You may call 619-236-5816 or contact them at www.sandiego.gov/public-library.

Graduation books (1953+).  Our collection is scant until the mid 1980s.  Until 1960, these books are not dated. 

Boot camp platoon numbers are not normally included in a Marine’s Service Record book.  Occasionally, the battalion number (1950s+) or the graduation date appears, and there have been cases where the platoon number was noted in the recruit’s medical records, (if they received medical treatment while in boot camp) and on chits for blood donations and purchase of war or savings bonds.  You can contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO and in your request for the Marine’s Service records, note that you are particularly looking to find the platoon number and the graduation date.  If you are not the Marine’s next of kin, be sure to mention the Freedom of Information Act in your request.  If you obtain a graduation date, and we have the corresponding graduation book in our collection, we can check it for the name of your Marine.  We can also provide a photocopy of the insert for that platoon.

Additional Options.  LEATHERNECK provides two free, space-available sections in which you can place an ad, “Mail Call” and “Reader Assistance.”  Send your requests via e-mail to leatherneck@mca-marines.org or write to: Mail Call Editor, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134.  MARINE CORPS TIMES, a publication of MILITARY TIMES, offers the same type of column.  Contact them on line at militaryonline@militrytimes.com or call them at 703-750-8636.

Boot camp platoon numbers are not normally included in a Marine’s Service Record book.  Occasionally, the battalion number (1950s+) or the graduation date appears, and there have been cases where the platoon number was noted in the recruit’s medical records, (if they received medical treatment while in boot camp) and on chits for blood donations and purchase of war or savings bonds.  You can contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO and in your request for the Marine’s Service records, note that you are particularly looking to find the platoon number and the graduation date.  If you are not the Marine’s next of kin, be sure to mention the Freedom of Information Act in your request.  If you obtain a graduation date, and we have the corresponding graduation book in our collection, we can check it for the name of your Marine.  We can also provide a photocopy of the insert for that platoon.

Additional Options.  LEATHERNECK provides two free, space-available sections in which you can place an ad, “Mail Call” and “Reader Assistance.”  Send your requests via e-mail to leatherneck@mca-marines.org or write to: Mail Call Editor, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134.  MARINE CORPS TIMES, a publication of MILITARY TIMES, offers the same type of column.  Contact them on line at militaryonline@militrytimes.com or call them at 703-750-8636.

Ellen Guillemette, Archivist , Command Museum
619-524-6720
ellen.guillemette@usmc.mil

If you don't remember or are ordering for a friend or family member, you can request military records at:
REQUEST MILITARY RECORDS
Not all military records, however, will include boot camp platoon numbers.