Cryptic number relating to Naval boot camp in early 1950's

September 24, 2014 7:35 PM

My brother was in the Navy when I was very young. In going through his keepsakes after his passing last year I have found a note with some cryptic numbers on it. I need some help with what it means.

My brother underwent training at San Diego in (probably) 1952. The note I found has the following information:

440-nn-nn
U.S.N.T.C.
C#52-0566
San Diego 33
Calif.

I have figured out that the 440- number was his service number.
USNTC is obvious.
The C#52-0566 is a mystery to me.

Any ideas regarding the C# designation?

Thanks.

posted by royboy to Law & Government (7 answers total)

Best answer: Company number. Equiv. to "class," typically a group of about 80 recruits who all show up individually until they all get there, then start training together under a single company commander. the 52 probably means it was in 1952.

0566 might be sequential, or the 05 might be a certain subgroup or something like that. They must have stopped including the year part; I was in C093 in Orlando in 1989.
posted by ctmf at 7:42 PM on September 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for the quick response! Much appreciated.
posted by royboy at 7:50 PM on September 24, 2014

If you're interested in some info on what your brother's experience was like there's a Navy brochure from the '50s that covers recruit training.
posted by macfly at 7:56 PM on September 24, 2014

The whole thing looks like an address, like you would use to send him a letter.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:02 PM on September 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: macfly, thanks for the link to the recruit training document...that was a treat!

And thanks to all for your help.
posted by royboy at 8:24 PM on September 24, 2014

You can also research veterans' records online here. If his records aren't online (and it sounds like they might be too recent to be), you can request them to be sent free of charge, if you're next of kin--more info about that here.
posted by carrienation at 8:56 PM on September 24, 2014

The whole thing looks like an address, like you would use to send him a letter.

Yes, I assumed the OP was just asking about the first and third lines, but in case they didn't already know, the "San Diego 33" part is a pre-Zip Code zone address (big cities were divided into zones for mail sorting); zip codes weren't developed until the early/mid-60s.
posted by aught at 5:34 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]