First look carefully through family papers for items that may reveal pertinent facts or clues. Items to look for include letters the relative sent home from the time he arrived overseas up to the time of the surrender. Make note of where he was and the military unit to which he was assigned. If you cannot find the actual unit designation, maybe you can at least learn the type of organization (Infantry, Air Corps, Coast Artillery, Field Artillery, Marines, Engineers, etc.) or the type of weapons his unit had (tanks, bomber aircraft, pursuit aircraft, artillery, type of ship, etc.).  Details like this may enable others to help you learn your relative's unit designation.

Next, search family papers for cards or letters that may have been sent home after he became a POW. These may reveal the names or numbers of POW camps. You may also find other valuable information.

Also in family papers, look for correspondence from the War Department or Navy Department that gave notification about the status of your relative (Missing in Action, Prisoner of War, Presumed Dead or Deceased). Look also for official correspondence relating to the award of medals or decorations.

Search the internet for facts or clues. Use the list of "Internet Sites" on this web site to get started. A good place to start is with the National Archives, Access to the Archival Database (AAD) site. Make a record of the relative's Service Number since this is very important for communications with any government agency. Then, if the person died during World War II, check the American Battle Monuments Commission site. Once you have learned the relative’s unit designation or the type of his unit, go to the ADBC (American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor) web site to perform "Pico Searches" that may lead to more information or contacts. Scroll down the main page until you see the "Pico Search" feature. Once you have determined POW camps the relative was in (or may have been in), go to Roger Mansell’s "Center for Research, Allied POWs under the Japanese" and Wes Injerd’s site to learn more about these camps or to see rosters that confirm he was there.  NOTE: Roger Mansell's site has many links to very valuable information including rosters for many POW camps.  Be sure to check out this site carefully.  Also, it is updated frequently so you should return often.  Likewise, check out all parts of Wes Injerd's site and return often.

Use the "List of Books and other publications" on this web site to find books you may want to read so you can gain a better understanding of life in the POW camps and on the Hellships (a general term for Japanese ships that carried POWs – some were much worse than others).  If your library does not have a book you want, ask the librarian to obtain it for you via interlibrary loan.

When you have learned which Hellship(s) the relative was on, look at the "Hellship Information and Photographs" page of this web site for information, photographs and paintings of that Hellship.

When you are ready for more in-depth study, consider visiting some of the "Research Facilities" listed on this web site. Most of them have internet sites that can be viewed to see their holdings and organize your efforts in advance of a visit. For those facilities that are on a military reservation, check before you go to be sure that you have car insurance, car registration, personal ID cards and other items that may be needed for entry.

Make efforts to share information with others that have a relative that was in similar circumstances with your relative. The Japanese-pow Listserv has been established to facilitate such efforts. See the link on this web site to information about this listserv. Sharing information with others is an excellent way to improve your understanding as well as helping other persons.

Be sure to document all of the facts you learn and record them in such a manner that future generations of your family can benefit from your work. Much of what you learn will not be available to them in school. If it is not researched and documented now, the information could be lost forever.