Military Records

Individuals born 20-30 yearrs before a war began are the likeliest candidates to have served in the military, or to have married a serviceman

You can request copies of military services records by following the instructions here

DD-214 Forms, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, have been issued for all military services since January 1, 1950. They generally contain a wealth of information. Visit National Archives and Records Adminsitration (NARA) for information on ordering these records.

CSMR – Compiled Military Service Records

• Compiled for pre-WWI military service by the War Department Record and Pension Office

• Contains a variety of information, name, rank, military unit, term of enlistment, date he left the company, notations about illness, wounds, or desertion, etc.

• Held at National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C.

  • Use NATF Form 86 to order records

• If your ancestor re-enlisted or served in two different companies during a war, he’ll probably have two separate CMSRs

Draft Records

• Conscription Acts were in place for the Civil War, World War I, and World War II

• Many of the registration lists from the Civil War and World Wars have survived

• Typical information includes; registrants’ name, residence, age, date and place of birth, race, U.S. citizenship and occupation

• American Battle Monuments Commission is dedicated to American war dead buried in overseas cemeteries

• Ancestry has over 1,000 military records collections

• $ Fold3 is a paid site that allows you to search U.S. military records

  • Premiere online source for U.S. military records

  • Key resources include: Revolutionary War pension files, War of 1812 pension records, Civil War service records, FBI case files, WWII “Old Man’s Draft” registration cards, Navy cruise books and casualty lists and much more

• FamilySearch has multiple military collections including:

  • Australia, New South Wales, Cemetery, Military and Church Records Transcripts, 1816-1982

  • Austria, Carinthia, Military Personnel Records, 1846-1897

  • Colombia, Military Records, 1809-1958

  • German, Bavaria, Traunstein, Military Records, 1830-1918

  • Italy, Napoli, Pomigliano d’Arco, Military Conscriptions (Comune), 1898 -1929

  • Italy, Torino, Torino Military Conscriptions (Comune), 1790-1886

  • U.S. Headstone Applications for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1949, and

  • US. Military Personnel who Died During the Vietnam War, 1956-2003

• Heritage Quest is available at all AZRLS facilities through Galileo

  • A useful guide for Heritage Quest can be found here

• The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) allows individuals to order military veterans’ service records

  • CMSR’s = Compiled Military Service Records are held at NARA. They are a set of cards that provide an overview of an individual’s service in a military company. These were compiled prior to WWI

• National Gravesite Locator is a great resource to search for veteran graves within the U.S.

• Navy and Marine Information can be found here