Over the past 15 years, we have identified well over 3,000 veterans of the 77th Artillery Regiment, and located about 2,600 of those same vets. Here are the primary methods we've used with much success:

PERSONAL CONTACT
    One of the first questions to ask anyone you find is, "do you remember any names, or do you know where anyone is today?" This is an easy way to quickly double your list.

OLD LETTERS & PHOTOGRAPHS
    Letters home from Vietnam often mentioned buddies - even naming their home towns. Sometimes we wrote names on the back of photographs identifying the guys in the picture. Are any still sitting around - perhaps in your folks' or another relative's papers?

ROSTERS & ORDERS
    Did you keep a roster or a journal of the unit's moves? When we received promotion, purple heart, R&R, etc. orders, they usually contained the names of others serving with us. Have you dug out those old orders lately for clues? HINT: If you were in Vietnam after 1967, those orders contain Social Security Numbers, which we can convert to identify the state they were issued in.

INTERNET
    There are numerous resources on the internet for locating others.  My favorite is http://www.zabasearch.com.  This site sometimes include birth date, so even some common names can be pinned down.  Another is http://www.whowhere.com.  Additionally, there are many subscription sites that use utility, court, voter registration, and credit records to provide addresses.  I recommend http://www.ussearch.com.

MORNING REPORTS
    Army units kept daily rosters (DA form 1) on the status of each person assigned. These records were microfiched, and can be obtained for a SPECIFIC battery, for SPECIFIC days (usually requested to support a VA claim) from:

 National Records Center
 9700 Page Avenue
 St. Louis, MO 63132
  (Be patient - it can take up to a year for them to respond!)

Click here  for more GREAT tips and information if you're serious about finding those old Army buddies!

UNIT ROSTERS