Archives - Military Records

Importance

A valuable source of information for family history and biography are the records of a person's activities while in the military. These records can sometimes supply information not readily available elsewhere and provide a record which will help the researcher separate myth from reality. The two types of military records are: the Service Records and the Record of Veterans' Benefits. All military records are maintained by the National Archives and access to them is obtained only through written request. Check their web site for further information and for access to the required forms. Most veterans and next of kin of service members can get a copy of the DD Form 214 (Report of Separation) free from the National Archives. Forms can also be requested through the email address.

National Personnel Records Center
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63138
www.archives.gov

Books and records which may be of assistance in your search are available at the State Historical Society of North Dakota are noted below in bulleted lists.

• How to locate anyone who is or has been in the military. By Lt Col Richard S Johnson, 7th edition. Spartanburg, SC: MIE Publishing, c1996. 929.1072073/J687h-/1996

• Searching American military records by Fran Carter. Bountiful, Utah: American Genealogical Lending Library, 1996. 929.1072073/C3235s/1996

• Some of the military records of America, before 1900; their use and value in genealogical and historical research, by E Kay Kirkham. Washington, 1963. 929.3/K635s

• US Military Records: a guide to federal and state sources, colonial America to the Present, by James C Neageles. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1994. 929.373 /M338u

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