This guide provides information on locating military unit histories and individual service records of discharged, retired, and deceased military personnel. It also provides information on locating and replacing military awards and medals. Included is contact information for military history centers, websites for additional sources of research, and a bibliography of other publications, including related CRS reports.
This report will be updated as needed.
The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), Military Personnel Records, holds most existing military personnel, health, and medical records of discharged and deceased veterans of all services from World War I to the present. Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) records may be requested online at https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records, by mail (the appropriate address listed on the back of the form), or fax (314-801-9195) using the Standard Form 180.
Veterans and their next-of-kin (NOK) may request these records. According to the NPRC, for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, the NOK is defined as the unremarried widow or widower, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister; and for the Army, the NOK is defined as: the surviving spouse, eldest child, father or mother, eldest sibling or eldest grandchild.
If you do not meet the definition of NOK, you are considered a member of the general public and may request military records via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). See Access to OMPFs by the General Public at https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/public/general-public.html.
In 1973, a disastrous fire at NPRC destroyed approximately 16 million to 18 million Army and Air Force official military personnel files. In such cases where files were lost, NPRC uses alternate sources of information to respond to requests.
More information about obtaining military personnel files can be found on the NPRC website, http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/, or by contacting the center at
National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis, MO 63138
Tel: [phone number scrubbed] congressional line
Tel: [phone number scrubbed] public line
Status Update Request Form: https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/forms
Older military personnel records (generally prior to 1917) are located at
National Archives and Records Administration
Textual Archives Division
Washington, DC 20408
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-ww-1-records.html
The NPRC also provides information on how to request military awards and decorations online and by mail for veterans and their NOK; replacing certain military medals; and obtaining a Cold War Recognition Certificate. The general public may also purchase a copy of the veteran's OMPF to determine the awards due and obtain the medals from a commercial source.
Request information on Military Awards online at https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/public/awards-and-decorations.html.
By military service (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force including Army Air Corps & Army Air Forces) via mail:
National Personnel Records Center
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis, MO 63138
For Coast Guard:
Coast Guard Personnel Service Center
4200 Wilson Blvd, Suite 900 (PSC-PSD-MA)
Stop 7200
Arlington, VA 20598-7200
Cold War Recognition Certificate is at https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/public/awards-and-decorations.html#cwc.
The NPRC will provide copies of DD-214s (or equivalent) or SF-50s to authorized requesters upon request. These documents may be used to apply for the Certificate. This is in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (P.L. 105-85, Section 1084). This Certificate is awarded to all members of the armed forces and qualified federal government civilian personnel who served the United States during the Cold War era from September 2, 1945, to December 26, 1991.
The Modern Military Records office of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has custody of records relating to World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The records vary by conflict and branch of service. The records for Army units active during the interwar periods (1920-1939 and 1945-1950) are incomplete. For more information, contact the Textual Records office at
Textual Records Office
National Archives and Records Administration at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Tel: [phone number scrubbed]
Email: [email address scrubbed]
If a military unit record is not publicly available, a FOIA request may be submitted to the agency where the record is held. For example, for special access records held at the National Archives at College Park, contact the Archives FOIA office at
Special Access and FOIA Division
The National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Tel: [phone number scrubbed]
Email: [email address scrubbed]
For more information on how to submit a FOIA request, visit https://www.foia.gov/how-to.html.
Auxiliary and organizational records, including morning reports, unit rosters, officer pay cards (Army), muster rolls (Navy), U.S. Army Surgeon General's office records and Veterans Administration index cards are maintained at the National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. Further information is available at http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/archival-programs/other-records/index.html.
Certain published unit histories can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress or the military history center of each U.S. military branch (see Table 1).
|
Center or Museum |
Telephone Number |
|
Air Force |
|
|
U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
Air Force Historical Support Division |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
Army |
|
|
U.S. Army Center of Military History |
Congressional Inquiries Division* |
|
U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center (USAHEC) |
[phone number scrubbed] research assistance |
|
Coast Guard |
|
|
U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
Coast Guard Museum |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
Marine Corps |
|
|
Marine Corps History Division |
[phone number scrubbed] research inquiries |
|
Marine Corps Heritage Foundation |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
Merchant Marine |
|
|
American Merchant Marine Museum |
[phone number scrubbed] |
|
Navy |
|
|
Naval History & Heritage Command |
[phone number scrubbed] archives |
Source: Table compiled by the Congressional Research Service.
CRS Report R41386, Veterans' Benefits: Burial Benefits and National Cemeteries, by [author name scrubbed]
CRS Report R42324, Who Is a "Veteran"?—Basic Eligibility for Veterans' Benefits, by [author name scrubbed]
CRS Report 95-519, Medal of Honor: History and Issues, by [author name scrubbed]
CRS Report R42704, The Purple Heart: Background and Issues for Congress, by [author name scrubbed]
Official military:
Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress
The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans.
http://www.loc.gov/vets/
Veterans Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator
The database contains burial locations of veterans and their family members.
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/
American Battle Monuments Commission
The website contains databases of veterans interred or memorialized at overseas American military cemeteries and memorials.
http://www.abmc.gov
Philippine Army and Guerilla Records at the National Archives
The collection includes records of the Philippine Commonwealth Army of the United States Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE), including recognized Philippine Guerrilla forces (not the Army of the United States or Philippine Scouts) during World War II.
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/philippine-army-records.html
The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service
This website contains a database of the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War, as well as information on regiment histories, significant battles, and some prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm
Beers, Henry Putney. The Confederacy: A Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America. Washington: National Archives and Records Administration, 1998.
Bradford, James C. A Companion to American Military History. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Pub, 2010.
Center of Military History. Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Washington: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1988. 3 volumes.
Controvich, James T. United States Army Unit and Organizational Histories: A Bibliography. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
——United States Air Force and Its Antecedents: Published and Printed Unit Histories, a Bibliography. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2004.
Dinackus, Thomas D. Order of Battle: Allied Ground Forces of Operation Desert Storm. Central Point, OR: Hellgate Press, 2000.
Dornbusch, C. E. Military Bibliography of the Civil War. New York: New York Public Library, 1971.
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1959.
Stanton, Shelby L. World War II Order of Battle, U.S. Army (Ground Force Units). Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006.
——Vietnam Order of Battle. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003.
U.S. Department of the Army. Office of Military History. Order of Battle of the United States Army Ground Forces in World War II, Pacific Theater of Operations: Administrative and Logistical Commands, Armies, Corps, and Divisions. Washington: Department of the Army, 1959.
U.S. Naval War Records Office. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Harrisburg, PA: National Historical Society, 1987. 30 v.
U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: GPO, 1880-1901. 70 v.
Author Contact Information
Acknowledgments
Carly Miller, CRS intern, assisted in the update of this report.