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Ancestry.com has Added Military Burial Record Sites

Flag Ancestry.com has added two brand new collections of records. They were made available, and searchable, in time for Veterans Day 2012. The collections are a going to be a permanent part of what Ancestry.com can offer genealogists who use the popular genealogy website.

In the past, Ancestry.com has released certain collections that relate to a particular noteworthy date shortly before the day that the holiday was celebrated, honored, or commemorated. For example, in February of 2012, they released their World War II Japanese – American Collection and their Internment Camp Documents (from 1942 through 1946) collection for free, (for a limited time). This was their way of commemorating the Seventieth Anniversary of Order 9066, which was issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.

This time, Ancestry.com released two new collections of records. The records cannot be accessed for free. I tested it out shortly before writing this blog, and it turns out you cannot access the records unless you have an Ancestry.com membership. I do not know if I missed the timeframe where it was free to access, or if the record collections were not offered for free this time.

There are two records collections being released. A blog post on the Ancestry.com website notes that the new collections are available in time for Veterans Day 2012.

One collection is called “U.S., Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862 – 1960”. It is a database that contains burial records for National Cemeteries, Army posts, and other U.S. veterans’ burial sites. Genealogists might find the following information about their ancestor in the records: name, rank, company, regiment, date of death, cause of death, date of burial, grave mark/number, grave location, and/or the original place of burial.

The other collection is called “U.S., Headstone Applications, 1925 – 1963” As you might expect, the collection has applications for headstones to be provided for deceased U.S. military personnel. The applications were made between 1925 and 1963, but they include veterans who were in conflicts going back to the Revolutionary War.

Genealogists can find information about their ancestor who was in the military in this collection. It is possible to find out things from this collection that you could not discover in the other one.

The application form might say your ancestor’s name, birth date, enlistment date, rank, unit, discharge date, death date, cemetery name, cemetery place, market type, religious emblem, and medals your ancestor earned. You might also find information about the name of the person who filled out the application and how that person related to your ancestor.

Image by Denise Krebs on Flickr