Self Help

Finding military records will certainly add color and spice to your genealogy research. The number of military records available at the National Archives alone is inspiring. Below is a partial summary (not including documents at state and local archives) of records that are available:

1. Coast Guard records
2. Service records for enlisted men in the Marines, Navy, and Army
3. Navy Army Marines officer records
4. Civil War, Mexican War, Spanish-American War, WW1, Philippine Insurrection records
5. Muster rolls for the Army
6. Records of appointees to Annapolis
7. Prisoner of War records
8. Records of soldiers’ burials
9. Women soldiers

The National Archives gives information about military service records. For example, a World War 1 draft registration form contained name, age, address, birth date, birth place, citizenship, occupation, employer, dependency supports, next of kin, physical description, father’s birth place, marital status, and prior service.

Honorable discharge certificates also reveal telling data. But how do you know whether your relative served in a war? If you don’t have any family records, don’t give up. Death certificates typically require military service to be recorded. Keep in mind your relative’s age and compare that with the dates of all wars and police actions in which America has been involved.

All you need to know is which address to write to and which form to use. The more information you can provide about your ancestor the better. The amount of information that they can send back to you varies depending upon in which war your ancestor served (some older records are incomplete or lost), but it will surely help in constructing your genealogy.

Your best bet for service records is the National Archives. Be aware that, as with census records, military documents are considered private for 75 years, so you can only request specifically about your ancestor if the record is more than 75 years old. The earliest records, those from the 18th and 19th century, are often only muster rolls, a form of attendance registers that lists name, rank, and unit.

To obtain a copy of a service record, write to the National Archives and ask for a copy of NATF Form 80. Once you complete and mail back the form, a staff member will search for your ancestor’s records and mail you results for a small photocopying fee. To obtain a copy of a service record for a veteran of the Civil War, you can also use NATF Form 80.

If your relative served in the Confederacy, you may be out of luck, because the National Archives primarily houses records of the Union soldiers even though it does has some Confederate information, such as Confederate pension records. Instead contact the archives of the states that comprised the Confederacy for their records.