The search for Paul Fairly began like this:

Mr. Shear,

I have no information pertaining to a LT Paul Fairly. You may be able to track him down in the Register Commissioned Officers the U.S. Navy.  [Author's note: Efforts to find Fairly's name in the Register, which is on deposit at Davis Libarary at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, were unsucessful.] The Naval Historical Center and Nimitz Library at USNA have the registers dating all the way back to the 18th century.

The amount information available from the Register (if any) will be contingent upon when he was first commissioned. Prior to World War IIthe Registers gave a considerable amount information including place birth dates promotions and shore duty and current duty assignment. After the United States became actively involved in World War II and the ranks the navy expanded exponentially the amount data on individual officers was limited due to the sheer volume people coming into the ranks. I would recommend the Register as the starting point for your research on this individual.

If you do establish him as a real person I recommend you check the USNA clippings files in the Special Collections Division if the Naval Academy was the source his commission. If he is deceased you may be able to get information from NARA – you will have to check their website for the specifics obtaining records. I know they recently opened considerably more records to the public but I don’t recall the exact requirements for access. Their website is very user friendly and you should be able to find that information without much trouble.

Another potential source information if you can get access to itis an ancestry database like Proquest where you can query census birth death and directory records.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Randy Balano

Randy Carol Balano.D.
Command Historian
Office Naval Intelligence (ONI-ODE)
4251 Suitland Road
WashingtonDC 20395-5720
(301)-669-2975