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Kimberly's Genealogy Blog

By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide to Genealogy since 2000

Search Military Records Free Through D-Day

Thursday May 24, 2007
Ancestry.com has just added many new records to its U.S. military collection, bringing the total number of military records available to more than 90 million names contained in 700 titles and databases from all 50 states. Previous documents such as the WWI Draft Registration Records, are joined by hundreds of new military databases including the poignant WWII United Newsreels from 1942-1945. These counter-propaganda films were produced by the Office of War Information and shown in U.S. theaters and abroad during WWII. Other records found in the collection include burial registries, military yearbooks, unit rosters, muster rolls, Civil War pension records, casualty lists and the Stars & Stripes newspaper.

Ancestry.com, which is owned by The Generations Network, spent $3 million to digitize the military records. It took nearly a year, including some 1,500 handwriting specialists racking up 270,000 hours to review the oldest records.

The records through are available for free until D-Day (June 6) as part of a promotion tied to Memorial Day. After that, you'll have to be a subscriber to view the records.

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