Researching Military Records

The National Archives in Saint Louis Missouri burned for July 12 through July 16 1973. This loss of historical records were the greatest loss of historical preservation the United States had ever occurrred.

In the late 1980's II wanted to see if my grandfather's WW1 military records were somewhere in the National Archives. I had previously sent away for several Revolutionary War Soldier records but not my Grandfathers.

I found the request form - paper - filled it out and sent it in. Months later I received a note from the Archives stating that they were sending my request to the Saint Louis Archives for that facility to research my grandfather''s records.

Morre than 3 months later I received notice that Granndfather's records were intact, but slightly singed around the edges but should be able to be restored. There was no time period stated in the letter.

Months went by.....

Finally I received am 8X14 manilla envelope in the mail. It was nearly an inch thick.

Inside there was my grandfather's photocopied military records.

In my mind - I figured that this was normal-waiting and communicating with people thousands of miles away.

Now, normal is going on line into Fold3 is normal.

I have found dozens of military records going back to the Revolutionary War. Others include two great great uncles' records who fought and died for the North in the Civil War.

These finds helped to add details to these men's lives and deaths. 

Technology has added so much to our study of our family and friends, it has also allowed "easier sharing" with other family members.

Blogging has given us a venue of storing and shareing what we have found with family and friends. It is also a way to save our new found memories of family and others.

Blogs can be saved on "thumb drives" off our main computer. I have made multiple copies of my blogs on thumbd drives as well as 5Gig storage units. One backup is in my youngest son's safe in Washington State. Another is always plugged into my hard drive. The  last is  in my safe.

Finding records and saving the information for others after us is essential to teach those, after us, what has been left to us regarding our family and natioal heritage.