Tracking down a GI stationed here in the 50's

[4Q]

My wife would like to track down her paternal grandfather who was an American solder based in Lincolnshire in the 1950's. He went back to the US when her father was a baby and there has been no contact since, in fact it's a little vague if he even knew about his son as he was put up for adoption when he was less than a year old. The ancestry type websites don't have any info, so wondered if there's any way to find out about soldiers stationed over here? She has his name and the State he was from and although it's quite a common name there can't have been many people with the same name here at the same time.

Edited by 4Q on Friday 23 June 15:28

[Johnniem]

Is this a great idea? Unless her father has passed away there may be some fallout if she finds him. Sorry to point out the obvious as I am sure that has been thought about and discussed at great length.

I wish her luck

[austinsmirk]

there was an article about this on the BBC news website about a month ago: maybe it has some useful pointers ?

[TooMany2cvs]

4Q said:

My wife would like to track down her paternal grandfather who was an American solder based in Lincolnshire in the 1950's. He went back to the US when her father was a baby and there has been no contact since, in fact it's a little vague if he even knew about his son as he was put up for adoption when he was less than a year old. The ancestry type websites don't have any info, so wondered if there's any way to find out about soldiers stationed over here? She has his name and the State he was from and although it's quite a common name there can't have been many people with the same name here at the same time.

She knows when he was here, and - I presume - which base he was serving at. Shouldn't be hard to find which units were stationed there at the time.

[jeff m2]

He may not live in the same State now!

You could use any of "find this person" sites, they usually have a nominal charge.

I don't think you will have a problem with the name being common as he will be approaching 90.

Is she after a green card

[4Q]

No not after a green card my daughter is a citizen so we could use that route if we were so inclined. Her mother died when she was four and her father was adopted so she's just tying to find some roots. Maybe a mid-life crisis type thing for her and it's highly likely he's dead, she doesn't want to rock the boat or cause embarrassment for his family but she just wants to know a little about where she came from.