United States World War II Prisoner of War Records

World War II Prisoners of War Data File
The National Archives has an online searchable database.

This series, part of Record Group 389, has information about U.S. military officers and soldiers and U.S. civilians and some Allied civilians who were prisoners of war and internees.

The record for each prisoner provides serial number, personal name, branch of service or civilian status, grade, date reported, race, state of residence, type of organization, parent unit number and type, place of capture (theater of war), source of report, status, detaining power, and prisoner of war or civilian internee camp site. Records of prisoners of the Japanese who died also document whether the prisoner was on a Japanese ship that sank or if he or she died during transport from the Philippine Islands to Japan. There are no records for some prisoners of war whose names appear in the lists or cables transmitted to the Office of the Provost Marshal General by the International Committee of the Red Cross.


 * World War II Prisoners of War Data File, 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946 (National archives)
 * World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946 (Ancestry) ($)
 * World War 2 POW Search (Public)

World War II Prisoners of the Japanese Data Files
This collection contains information on military personnel and a few civilians who were prisoners of the Japanese during World War II. The series includes records principally derived from the series "Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942-1947" (ARC Identifier 583428) and supplemented with military organization and other information.


 * World War II Prisoners of the Japanese File, 2007 Update, ca. 1941 - ca. 1945 (National archives)
 * World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945 (Ancestry) ($)
 * Imperial POWs held in Japan
 * Far East POWs

Related Books
The following guide will also be helpful in locating prisoner records:


 * Records Relating to Personal Participation in World War II: American Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees by DeWhitt, Benjamin L., and Jennifer Davies Heaps, comps. Ref. Information Paper 80. Washington, D.C. National Archives and Records Adminstration, 1992 (Worldcat)

Prisoner of War Camps

 * Prisoner of War Camps in the United States