May 25, 2007 — The world's largest database of U.S. military records, spanning more than four centuries from the 1600's to the Vietnam War, is now available and searchable online, according to Ancestry.com.
Highlights from the collection include World War I and World War II draft registration cards; prisoner of war records from the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War II, and Korea; unit rosters for the Marine Corps and Navy; burial registers; service records from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War; and casualty listings from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
The database also includes all 267 United Newsreel Motion Pictures. The Office of War Information produced these counter-propaganda films between 1942 and 1945. German language versions were dropped behind enemy lines.
The WWI records are most extensive, with more than 40 million names.
"One in four Americans who had relatives born in this country during the last quarter of the 19th century will find family members there," Megan Smolenyak, chief family historian for Ancestry, told Discovery News.
Smolenyak said that, while working on the project, she found 116 records for her own relatives.
"A lot of times, fellows who served swallowed painful memories and did not share them with their families, so you might be surprised by what you find," she added.
Some of the documents even include personal affidavits from neighbors, describing what the individual's character was like, or physical descriptions. Actor Tom Cruise's great grandfather was described as "short," "stout," and "bald" on his WWI draft registration card.
Other political and celebrity links include information on Senator Barack Obama's grandfather, Stanley Dunham, who served in WWII, as well as the senator's great-grandfather, who served in WWI.
Although mob boss Al Capone dodged his taxes, he filled out his draft registration card for WWI, listing his occupation as "paper cutter" for a box company. Elvis Presley's great-great grandfather enlisted in the Confederate Army, but wound up deserting not once, but twice, after he each time collected the $300 men were paid for a year of service.
