WWII Army Separation Notices

The World War II Separation Notices Digitization Project seeks to add greater online accessibility and awareness of the records of approximately a quarter of a million Virginians who served during WWII and connect them to researchers, genealogists, historians, educators, family members, and the broader public. The digital collection will be available through the Library of Virginia institutional repository and the data collected through indexing will be added to the Virginia Open Data Portal.

This record identification task will help separate the Army forms in two different groups to help create more accurate transcription fields.

The workflow for the WWII Separation Notices will ask volunteers to assist with two different tasks. Although AI and automation are extremely beneficial in some projects, because the typewriter text on these forms tends to be blurry, our tests indicate that they cannot always be identified through AI, therefore we need humans to help sort and organize the hundreds of thousands of files from this collection.

Phase 1: Identify Army forms by selecting their different types on Zooniverse

Phase 2: Index the WWII forms on From The Page. Only the Army forms will require sorting into types prior to transcription. Other branches of military service will be uploaded directly to From the Page.

In total, there are 11 different forms the Army used as Separation Notices. All will be indexed, including the Army Separation Qualification Records AND all the different form types that are sorted into the OTHER category. This identification process helps to create better groupings of records for more accurate data collection.

List of Army Separation Notice Forms used in World War II

1. Army of the United States Separation Qualification Record (WD AGO Form 100) 1 July 1945(2 Pages)
2. Army Separation Qualification Record (WD AGO Form 100) 15 July 1944
3. Report of Separation (WD AGO 53) 1 August 1943
4. Report of Separation (WD AGO 53) 1 Sept 1944
5. Enlisted Record and Report of Separation (WD AGO 53-2) 1 November 1944
6. Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge (WD AGO 53-55) 1 November 1944 (most popular form)
7. Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Discharge from the Army of the United States (WD AGO 53-56) 1 November 1944
8. Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Dishonorable Discharge (WD AGO 53-57) 1 November 1944
9. Enlisted Record and Report of Retirement (WD AGO 53-94) 1 Jun 1946
10. Military Record and Report of Separation Certificate of Service (WD AGO 53-98) 1 November 1944
11. Military Record and Report of Separation Discharge from the Army of the United States (WD AGO 53-99) 1 November 1944