Writing the story of an ancestor’s military service can help us better understand their experiences. Correlating the records marking their service, the ancestor’s recollections, and historical context provides a fuller picture than any one of those three items alone. This process can also lead us on the hunt for additional records.

For this Memorial Day post, I decided to use Artificial Intelligence to help correlate my father’s World War II Navy records with his personal history. AI also searched historical context and provided sources for me to review and see how all of the information could come together.  Interestingly, AI also pointed me to new research possibilities. Used appropriately, AI can be very helpful in tackling a complex task.

The Records

I recently located five new records for Bob’s Navy years – muster rolls recording specifics on his movements through his military service. I located these online using FamilySearch’s new Simple Search and this simple query to research my father:

 I am researching Bob Shults, who was born in 1927 in Sanger, California, and died in 2011 in Burley, Idaho.

This brought up three records that were all correct, then I asked for searches with his full name – Bobby Gene Shults – which picked up his Navy muster rolls among other records. See my blog post with tips if you’d like to try this out: Tips for Using the New FamilySearch Simple Search Tool.

Without the AI search feature on FamilySearch, the search would have been significantly more difficult. These records are not indexed on FamilySearch and have no internal index to search. Bob was in several different locations throughout 1945 and 1946 and although I had his personal history, I didn’t have many specifics about where to start looking.

The muster roll below is an example of the amount of detail included in the form for each sailor. ¹

I entered each muster roll into my Airtable research log with the source citation, the full transcription of his record, and my comments. I also had Bob’s discharge papers and certificate, which added additional details to his record. Bob had written his life history and recounted his time in the Navy, so that also became part of the project, which I set up in Claude AI.

Using my research log and the oral history, I worked with Claude to correlate the many different dates. It created the following timeline, correlating the records and oral history.

Bobby Gene Shults — U.S. Navy Service Timeline Service No. 379-66-47 | Rating: Seaman First Class (AMM) | Branch: V-6 USNR

Date	Event	Location	Source
12 Mar 1945	Enlisted in the U.S. Navy	Sanger, Fresno Co., California	Discharge Certificate / Notice of Separation
27 Apr 1945	Entered active service	Sanger, California	Notice of Separation
27 Apr – c. Jun 1945	Boot camp, Naval Training Center (NTC)	Memphis, Tennessee (6 weeks)	Notice of Separation / Oral History
27 Jun 1945	Received at Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC)	Norman, Cleveland Co., Oklahoma	Muster Roll, NATechTraCen, Oct 1945
27 Jun – Dec 1945	Aviation machinist training, NATTC (21 weeks + 2-week AROS course)	Norman, Oklahoma	Notice of Separation / Muster Roll
20 Dec 1945	Admitted to the U.S. Naval Hospital	Norman, Oklahoma	Muster Roll, Naval Hospital, Jan 1946
By 16 Feb 1946	Transferred from the U.S. Naval Hospital back to NATTC	Norman, Oklahoma	Muster Roll, Naval Hospital, Feb 1946
After Norman	Naval Air Gunner School	Jacksonville, Florida	Oral History
After Jacksonville	Awaited ship assignment, Naval Air Station (NAS)	San Diego (Coronado), California	Oral History / Notice of Separation
28 Apr 1946	Received aboard USS Antietam (CV-36)	Pacific / en route	Muster Roll, USS Antietam, May 1946
Apr – Jun 1946	Deck crew duty, USS Antietam; ports of call Tsingtao & Shanghai, China	Western Pacific	Muster Roll / Oral History
21 Jun 1946	Transferred from USS Antietam to the Navy Personnel Separation Center	Camp Shoemaker, California	Muster Roll, USS Antietam, Jul 1946
19 Jul 1946	Honorably discharged, U.S. Naval Personnel Separation Center	Shoemaker, California	Honorable Discharge Certificate

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Bob’s Story

Bob wrote his life history in 1968 and recounted his Navy experience. Although it was only twenty-two years later, he didn’t provide many details, just the basics. However, his recollection correlated well with the records.²

Early in 1945, I joined the Navy before my eighteenth birthday. Boot camp was in Memphis, Tennessee. I went to Aviation Machinist School at Norman, Oklahoma – the last three weeks of school, I got scarlet fever and spent three weeks in the hospital.

In August of that year, 1945, the war ended. I was in sick bay at that time with Pneumonitis.

From there I was sent to Naval Air Gunner School at Jacksonville, Florida. After completing training, I was transferred to Caranda [Coronado] Naval Air Station, San Diego to await assignment to a ship. After two weeks, we received an assignment to the USS Antietam. It was already at sea so we had to hitch a ride on a destroyer. After we caught up to the Antietam, we were transferred by boatswain chair to our new home.

While on the Antietam, we visited Tsingtoo [sic], China and Shanghai, China. When it was time for me to be mustered out of the Navy, they dropped us off at Guam and we caught a troop transport for San Francisco.

I was discharged at Camp Shoemaker, California and hitched a ride home to Sanger.

Bob and friends

Historical Context

Bob’s history mentioned several different places, and the records included many unfamiliar terms that needed research to better understand.

27 April to 27 June 1945: Naval Training Center – Memphis, Tennessee

Bob indicated that he first went to Memphis, Tennessee, for boot camp, and the records show this as the Naval Training Center, which was actually north of Memphis in Millington. The base had been part of the Navy’s wartime aviation training ground, but by 1945, no flight training was taking place. ³

27 June 1946 to February 1946 – Naval Air Technical Training Center – Norman, Oklahoma

NATTC Norman was the Navy’s wartime aviation repair and maintenance school at South Base in Norman, Oklahoma. It trained enlisted men and women for technical aviation work needed to keep Navy aircraft flying. The Navy base at Norman included the Advanced Aviation Machinist’s Mate program that Bob would have attended.

An information article published in 1945 goes into great detail about what life was like at Norman for the AMM’s. The trainees spent an hour a day in conditioning with a variety of games and exercises to prepare them for combat duty. Basic gunnery was required of all trainees to prepare them for their service with the fleet. As an aviation machinist mate, Bob spent 80%  of his time in the shops learning the jobs required of ground crew and aircrewmen. ⁴

February to April 1946 – Naval Air Gunner School – Jacksonville, Florida

Following his training at the NATTC, Bob was transferred to the Naval Air Gunner School, where he trained for aircrew duties involving aircraft-mounted machine guns and related combat skills. This was technically called the Yellow Water Naval Air Gunnery School, where trainees spent six weeks learning all phases of aerial gunnery.⁵

April 1946 Naval Air Station – Coronado/San Diego, California

The Naval Air Station San Diego was located on North Island in Coronado and was a major Pacific aviation base for the Navy. During the war, it supported carrier aviation and was the logical place for Bob to be sent as he awaited his assignment to an aircraft carrier. ⁶

28 April to 21 June 1946 – USS Antietam (CV-36)

The USS Antietam was an Essex-class aircraft carrier that set out on its South Pacific mission from Pearl Harbor on 12 August 1945. Three days later, the Japanese surrendered, and the original combat mission became an occupation support duty. The carrier arrived in Chinese waters on 2 September 1945 and remained in the area for the next three years. From April 1946 to August 1946, it was part of Carrier Air Group 19.⁷

Bob spent about eight weeks on the USS Antietam.

Bob indicated that when he had completed his service on the Antietam, he was “dropped off on Guam and caught a transport home.” We don’t have any information about the transport, but Bob certainly looks happy in the photo, which could be Guam.

Future Research

Doing a more in-depth study of Bob’s experience during World War II certainly added to his story. However, there are still more avenues for research, such as ordering his complete Official  Military Personnel File (OMPF) from the National Archives. 

With more resources available online and with the help of AI, I was able to verify Bob’s history and learn more about his years in the Navy.

Best of luck with all your genealogical endeavors!

 

1. “Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities,”” digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHJ-1QRR-5SK4-D : accessed 18 April 2026), entry for Bobby Gene Shults, service no. 379 66 47, S1c; “”Report of Changes,”” NATechTraCen, Norman, Oklahoma, for the month ending 1 Oct 1945, page 175, line 3; Image Group Number 114285905, image 1456 of 1,587; Archival Reference Number 594996_191161554.
2. Bob Shults, “Bobby Gene Shults,” memories, bobby Gene Shults (1927-2011), KWZM-TKN, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/6478542 : accessed 29 January 2023.
3. “Formal Naval Air Station Memphis,” NAVFAC (https://www.bracpmo.navy.mil/BRAC-Bases/Southeast/Former-Naval-Air-Station-Memphis/ : accessed 25 May 2026).
4. Technical Training, Naval Aviation News, November 15, 1944; imaged, Oklahoma Naval Air History (https://www.oklahomanavalairhistory.com/techarticle01.php : accessed 24 May 2026).
5. Lelan Kent, “Yellow Water N.A.G.S. & Weapons Storage,” Abandoned Southeast (https://abandonedsoutheast.com/2023/10/11/yellow-water-n-a-g-s-weapons-storage/ : accessed 254 May 2026). 
6. Andrew Bucholtz, “San Diego in WWII, Part IV: Home Base of the Pacific,” posted 11 October 2023, SDHist (https://sdhist.com/home-base-pacific-san-diego-wwii-iv/ : accessed 24 May 2026).
7. “CV 36/CVA 36 / CVS 36 – USS Antietam,” Seaforces-online(https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/cv/CV-36-USS-Antietam.htm : accessed 24 May 2026).