Military Records for Genealogy Research: WWI and Later Conflicts

Records relating to military service after the Philippine Insurrection are held at the National Personnel Records Center of the National Archives (St. Louis). Although these records are generally beyond the scope of this research guide, a few details will be provided here. 

The most important thing to know about military records at this facility is that a 1973 fire destroyed the majority of personnel files for veterans serving in the following:

• The Army between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960. The fire destroyed 80% of the records held for Veterans discharged from the Army during this time period. The fire didn't involve records for retirees and Reservists who were alive on July 12, 1973.
• The Air Force between September 25, 1947, and January 1, 1964. The fire destroyed 75% of the records held for Veterans discharged from the Air Force during this time period with surnames beginning with “Hubbard” and running through the end of the alphabet. 

In addition, records of individuals who left service less than 62 years ago are not available to the general public (as of 2021, this means access is restricted for records 1959 and later).  They can be requested only the service member, or, if she or he is deceased, a spouse who hasn’t remarried, a parent, a child or a sibling.

For additional help researching ancestors in WWI and later conflicts, the following guides may be useful:

ONLINE GUIDES

• NARA
  • Researching Individuals in WW1 Records  
  • World War I Articles in Prologue Magazine
  • World War II Records
  • The World War II Army Enlistment Records File and Access to Archival Databases
  • Korean War Records
  • Electronic Records of Korean and Vietnam Conflict Casualties
• FAMILYSEARCH RESEARCH WIKI
  • Discover Your Ancestors in World War I Records
  • Finding a World War II (1939-1945) Veteran's Records
  • United States Korean War 1950 to 1953
• OTHER ONLINE GUIDES
  • World War I & World War II U.S. Veteran Research, The Brue Family Learning Center at American Ancestors

  • Online WWI Service databases, National WWI Museum and Memorial (provides links to state-level records which can help feel the gap of NARA's destroyed personnel files)

PRINT GUIDES AT NYPL

• The great war : a guide to the service records of all the world's fighting men and volunteers / Christina K. Schaefer.
•  WWII military records : a family historian's guide / by Debra Johnson Knox.
• Finding your father's war : a practical guide to researching and understanding service in the World War II US Army / Jonathan Gawne.