A search of the Social Security Death Index (http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/) lists a William Brazenor who was born on February 19,1902 (there is no birth location in the record) and who died in November 1981 while living in Queens, New York. His Social Security Number was 052-09-9548, which was issued in the state of New York. Presumably you would know from the above whether this was the William J. Brazenor in whom you are interested.
A search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) finds a William J. Brazenor arriving in New York City on March 1, 1945, as part of the Armed Guard crew aboard SS JOSIAH COHEN. The ship had sailed from Newport, England, on February 11, 1945.You may have already found this record. He and his Armed Guard shipmates had been aboard the ship since December 9, 1944. The record indicates that William J. Brazenor was a seaman first class (S1/c) with a serial number of 824 22 03.
You may be able to obtain the military service record for William J. Brazenor, which may contain details matching (or not matching) any of the information above. Please see this page on the Armed Guard website, http://www.armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular, see section A.1. Records of Individuals - U.S. Military. You will have to contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, requesting a copy of his records, and providing as much identifying information about him as possible: full name, date of birth, birth location, military serial number, etc.
If you are not next of kin (spouse, parent, child, sibling) to William J. Brazenor, you may not be able to obtain his complete service record. Therefore if someone who is next of kin to William J. Brazenor is living, the request for military records should be made by that person. You can do all the leg work of preparing a request but the next of kin should sign any such request. If there is no next of kin available, go ahead and make the request on your own. Again, any service record that you obtain may have details (Social Security Number, for example) that may match or not match the information on William Brazenor as found in the Social Security Death Index and/or Ancestry.com.
Just a thought on my part: if William J. Brazenor was born in 1902, he would have been in his mid-40s when he served in JOSIAH COHEN. That is rather old for an Armed Guard sailor, most of whom were probably in their late teens or early 20s. It is not impossible that a 40-year-old served in the Armed Guard, just somewhat unusual.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard website
www.armed-guard.com
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