My grandfather, Lee McNeill, was in the Navy sometime during the 1930s. He was born approximately in 1912 and was living in Asheville, Buncombe Co., NC in the 1930 census, which is also the place I believe he was living when he enlisted in the Navy. He had a falling out with his family and after a visit home on leave, he snuck out of the house and never had any further contact with his parents or siblings. He was living in Stockton, CA by 1937 where he obtained a SSN number. On this application, he changed his last name from McNeill to Lambert, and gave some inconsistent information about his parents (used a sister's name as his mother's), but enough to know that I have the same person.

My grandma has pictures of him in uniform standing in front of a ship. However, there are no ship numbers visible in any of the photos. She believes he was in some sort of medical assistant type position and had aspirations of medical school following the Navy, though that never happened. He refused to talk about his family, gave limited info on his Naval career and didn't talk about why the name change was necessary. He passed away in 1971.

So based on the above information, what is the best way to approach getting his military records? I have records showing him as McNeill prior to joining the service, but then I also have a SS application showing Lambert and I could get a copy of his death certificate with Lambert. Do I have enough information to obtain the records? What forms do I need to complete or would a letter and back-up documentation be better due to the name problem? Also, my grandma (his widow) is still living so does she have the best chance of obtaining these records since I am not considered next of kin?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.
Tracy