Researching the Veterans in Your Family Tree

As Veteran’s Day remembrance events pass by, we have time to reflect on those veterans in our community and family whom we have not met and thanked them for their service.  Honoring them and remembering their accomplishments is essential.  As former House Representative, Henry Waxman once said, “The sanctity of our battlefields, monuments, and veterans institutions is of utmost importance to preserve military history and pay respect to those who fought.”

Interested in finding out more about family members who served our country? For recent records, most veterans and their next-of-kin can obtain free copies of their discharge (DD Form 214 Report of Separation) and other military and medical records from this website: https://vetrecs.archives.gov/VeteranRequest/home.html  You can also mail a letter or a Form SF-180 to National Personnel Records Center 1 Archives Drive in St. Louis, MO 63138.  You can download and print the form at the Crawfordsville District Public Library.

What do you need to know before searching? Certain basic information must be included for the search such as the veteran’s complete name as used in the service; service number; Social Security Number (if applicable); branch of service; dates of service; date and place of birth. For records affected by the 1973 Fire, additional information, such as place of discharge; last assigned unit; and place of entry into service may be useful. Federal law requires that all written requests are signed in cursive and dated within the last year.  You may include more than one request per envelope, but each request must be on a separate sheet of paper or a separate Form SF-180.  The National Personnel Records Center will most often provide a response electronically (if an email is provided) or in writing by mail.

The National Archives does not hold state militia records. To access those records, you can contact the appropriate organization for the veteran’s service.  A list of the State Archives and a contact address for each organization is listed on this website from the National Archives:   https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/state-archives.html Links are also provided to a state request form if applicable. 

If you aren’t the next of kin to a veteran, you can still access older records.  Military records are open to the public 62 years after the person left the military.  Records of any veteran who left the military 62-plus years ago can be ordered by anyone for a copying fee. These archival records can be obtained through an online form, by fax, or by mail.  More information can be found at this website along with the fees: https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/military-personnel/ompf-archival-requests

Some records were lost on July 12, 1973, when a fire erupted at the National Personnel Records Center.  The fire destroyed 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPH), duplicates of these files were not maintained, and records hadn’t been indexed so they do not know what records were destroyed.  In the years following the fire, the NPRC worked to collect auxiliary records to reconstruct the basic service files for veterans.  Those records, affected by the fire, are for Army personnel discharged between November 1912 and January 1, 1960, and Air Force personnel discharged between September 25, 1947, and January 1, 1964.

The Crawfordsville District Public Library has additional resources in the Marian Morrison Local History Collection on the second floor. If searching our library website, from the Services drop-down menu select “Local History” to see the information available, including the Veterans database.

The project for a Veterans database originated when staff at the Crawfordsville District Public Library realized that its collection of graves registration cards was incomplete and unusable. Thanks to transcription efforts by Latter Day Saint Elders volunteers and Reference & Local History staff member Adam Rice, we were able to begin a database that Dellie Craig is correcting and supplementing by using some of our existing records. Some of this recorded information will not be found through any other sources; thus, this list may provide genealogical data unlocking the door for many family historians of our area. If you would like to contribute information to the project, contact the Reference and Local History Department at CDPL for more information.

Finally, the WPA (Work Projects Administration) created maps for each county cemetery in 1940 as part of the Veterans’ Graves Registration Project. Each map gives the location of the cemetery and marks veterans’ graves. CDPL holds the original grave registration cards (also found at the Indiana State Library). Each card has the name, death date, cemetery, grave number, row, lot, and section (as well as rank, outfit, enlisted/discharged dates, and notes). You may call the library at (765)362-2242 to set up an appointment with Dellie to learn how to use them, and where to find the above information. You may also request an appointment by email at ref@cdpl.lib.in.us.

If you need help doing genealogical research visit the Marian Morrison Local History Collection at the Crawfordsville District Public Library and join the Genealogy Club of Montgomery County.  The Genealogy Club meets regularly at the library and has a Facebook page. Interested in learning what’s new in Local History? Join the Local History Facebook page. Dellie Craig maintains our patrons up to date with posts and photographs about new items.

CDPL is open Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 9 pm; Fridays and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm; and on Sundays from 1 pm to 5 pm. Please watch for our Holidays closings. We will be closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 23rd starting at 5 pm, and remain closed on Thursday and Friday for family time. The library will reopen on Saturday, November 26th at 9 am.