How to Use Official Military Records to Help Build Your Family Tree

Our family has been investigating and documenting our family history for 40 years. In the early 1900's, long before I was born, my grandfather told my grandmother he was going out to buy cigarettes. He never returned. Decades later, after my grandmother passed on, we began genealogy research to learn more about who our grandfather was and why he would disappear from our family with no trace.

We searched hundreds of genealogy databases in the U.S. and in foreign countries along with family history centers to find our grandfather. After 20 years of searching, the only information we could find was that he might have been buried in upstate New York. We ran into difficulties finding our grandfather because our family name was changed when his father entered the United States from Germany after World War II. The spelling of the new family name was often not recorded accurately and many times it seemed as if our grandfather just vanished or changed his identity after leaving my grandmother.

A few years ago, we decided to search military records in the U.S. using several different family names we had investigated for our grandfather, but all using the same birth date that we knew about from my grandmother. Amazingly, we found out that after our grandfather left our grandmother, he enlisted in the Army from the state of Illinois. We never knew he lived in Illinois or that he was in the military, and from official military records we were able to find out much more about him and other missing links in our family tree.

How to Request Free Official Military Records

DO NOT get scammed by the many online web sites that claim to provide official military records or government records for a small fee. Official military records are FREE and provided as public documents by The National Archives of the U.S. federal government.

There is also some good information at Military.com for requesting free official military or veteran personnel records. You should begin your family tree missing link search by requesting official military records from The National Archives web site, which is the official repository for records of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and other government agencies.

Most military records are not available online, however you can search for casualty reports, photos and other selected military records in the collection of Online Documents for Veterans provided by The National Archives. You can also search online for official military reports at the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) or at the online Access to Archival Databases (AAD).

How Can Military Records Provide Missing Genealogy Links

The National Archives has a great Genealogy Tutorial on how military records can help find missing links in your genealogy research and family tree. Military records include basic biographical information, basic medical information, and pay voucher information. Military records for people who served between 1775 and 1916 include pension applications and pension payment information that usually have supporting documents like narrative events during service, marriage certificates, birth certificates, death certificates, pages from family Bibles, family letters, depositions of witnesses, affidavits, and discharge papers.

Additional family military history information you can request from The National Archives is:

Enlistment and Appointment Information

Duty Stations and Assignments

Awards and Medals

Separation Information Including Your Family Member's DD Form 214

Administrative Performance Information

Insurance Information and Emergency Data for Your Family Member

Training and Qualifications Reports

Disciplinary Actions

Discharge or Retirement Information

Obtaining official military medical or dental records is a bit more complicated, but it is possible. More information about this can be found at Military Medical and Health Records of The National Archives.

Other Official Military Records Search Links

If you still cannot find the missing link of your family tree through the above sources for official military and veteran records, there is a comprehensive list of other FREE resources for finding official military records of family members. Visit Recommended Veterans and Military Research Links from The National Archives web site.

These additional family military history research links include free military record information found at military museums, military institutes, military history centers, war memorials, the Department of Defense documents, the Library of Congress documents, state and national veterans cemeteries, government missing persons databases, and more.

Sources:

http://www.military.com/benefits/resources/military-records/requesting-military-personnel-records

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/genealogy.html

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/medical.html

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/online.html

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/arc.html

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/aad.html

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/research-links.html