To help families discover their ancestors WorldVitalRecords provides free access to U.S. Military Databases

WorldVitalRecords.com Invites Family Historians to Honor Their Veteran Ancestors by Researching Military Records

To help families discover their ancestors WorldVitalRecords provides free access to U.S. Military Databases

PROVO, UT, May 26, 2010– WorldVitalRecords.com, an online family history resource, today announced free public access to all of its United States Military databases  from May 27, 2010 through  June 1, 2010 in honor of Memorial Day.

 “Providing free access to our U.S. Military Records allows the public a chance to find their ancestors and remember their sacrifices,” said Gena Philibert Ortega, Genealogy Community Director for FamilyLink. “Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and was a day to honor those who died in the Civil War. Since then it has become a day to honor all of our soldiers who have died during war time.”

Featured free U.S. Military records include:

World War II Army Enlistment

This collection includes the names of over 8 million people who enlisted in the army during World War II (1938-1946).  Information in this database includes an enlistee’s birthdate and birthplace, marital status, education level, occupation and more. Researchers can use this information to order military records for their ancestor from the National Personnel Records Center.

Air Force Register Extracts

Over 1.65 million names of Air Force solider who were promoted to the rank of officers are listed in this database from the Uniform Officer Records published by the Department of the Air Force.

Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps

This database includes names and information about  Navy and Marine officers from 1864 to 1973.

Revolutionary War Collection

This new collection of digitized books chronicles the names of the men who fought in the American Revolutionary War  as well as the events. Nine states are represented in this collection: Rhode Island, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Vietnam Memorial Index

Dedicated in November 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors members of the United States military who died in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War or were still categorized as missing in action (MIA) at the time the monument was built. Its black granite walls are engraved with nearly 60,000 names. The Vietnam Memorial Index pinpoints the panel and line numbers needed to locate a veteran’s name upon the walls of the shrine.

U.S. Korean Causalities 1950-1957

This database contains selected descriptive data about U.S. military personnel who died by hostile means (i.e. battle deaths) as a result of combat duty in the Korean War. The data were usually extracted from Department of Defense Form 1300 (Report of Casualty) as well as from each of the four military services of the Department of Defense. The variables available from each casualty record may include: Name, Military Service Branch, File Reference Number, Service Number, Military Grade or Rank, Pay Grade, Date of Casualty, Service Component, Home of Record (place and state), Birth Date, Cause of Casualty, Aircraft Involvement(air/non-air casualty), Race and Citizenship.  

“All of these military records and more can be found at WorldVitalRecords.com,” added Ortega. “What  better way to honor our ancestors than taking some time to research those who have served in the military.”

Service Records of Confederate Soldiers

This index includes records from the Confederate government and the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The records are card abstracts of original muster roles, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, inspection reports, etc. A given soldier may have multiple documents.

World War II Reserve Corps Records

Documenting the period 1938 – 1946, this series contains records of approximately nine million men and women who enlisted in the United States Army, including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. In general, the records contain the serial number, name, state and county of residence, place of enlistment, date of enlistment, grade, Army branch, term of enlistment, longevity, nativity (place of birth), year of birth, race, education, civilian occupation, marital status, height and weight (before 1943) and military occupational specialty (1945 and later).

About WorldVitalRecords.com
WorldVitalRecords.com, www.worldvitalrecords.com, is simplifying family history research by providing many easy-to-use tools and resources to discover and connect with others interested in family history. WorldVitalRecords provides access to more than 1.5 billion international and U.S. records. WorldVitalRecords.com provides affordable access to genealogy databases and family history tools used by more than 258,000 monthly visitors. The site registers 3.6 million monthly pages views and serves tens of thousands of paying subscribers. With thousands of databases—including birth, death, military, census, and parish records—WorldVitalRecords.com makes it easy to fill in missing information in your family tree.

WorldVitalRecords  was recently named one of the 50 Most Popular Genealogy Websites by ProGenealogists, http://www.progenealogists.com/top50genealogy2010.htm. WorldVitalRecords is part of the FamilyLink.com, Inc. network of family-focused interactive properties including, GenealogyWise, FamilyLink and the My Family application on Facebook.