Let's find him.

Tell us who you're looking for and what you already have. There are no wrong answers — but every detail you can pin down is one more thing that tells him apart from the other men who shared his name.

About five minutesMost families finish in one sitting. If a paper is somewhere in the house, it is worth going to get it before you start.
Yours aloneWhat you share goes only to us. We never sell it, post it, or add it to any public database.
A free, honest first readIn one to two weeks we'll reply with what we think we can recover. It costs nothing, and you owe nothing unless you ask us to go on.

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Our work today centers on World War II. We focus on the men and women who served between roughly 1939 and 1946 — the era whose records we know most deeply, and where we can do the fullest work for your family. If your veteran served in another time, we may not be the right fit just yet.

Research request

Start the search

Only a few fields are required. Every extra thing you can tell us — a date, a hometown, a hunch — narrows the search and gets him back to you sooner. Skip anything you don't know; we'll dig for the rest.

01 About you

Your first name

Please tell us your first name.

Your last name

Please tell us your last name.

Please enter an email we can reach you at.

Phone number — optional

You asked us to reach you that way, so we'll need a number.

It's okay to text me at this number

How should we reach you?

Email Phone call Text

Your relationship to the veteran — optional

How did you find us? — optional

Where did you hear about us? — optional

02 About the veteran

Do you have his discharge paper?

Yes — I have it, or a copy of it

Sometimes called a WD AGO 53-55, or just a “Report of Separation.” It is the most useful single thing a family can have: his service number, his unit, his rank and his dates are all printed on that one page. If you don't have it, we can help you track one down — but it takes the two of us. The offices that hold a copy will generally only release it to family, so we'll tell you who to ask and what to say, and the request goes in over your name.

Their first name

We need at least one of his names to begin — either is enough.

Middle name or initial — optional

Their last name

We need at least one of his names to begin — either is enough.

Where was he from? — city and state

The town and state he called home when he went to war. It tells us which draft board sent him and which local paper wrote about him — the county he enlisted from is often where the rest of his paper trail still sits.

Date of birth — optional

Month Day Year

Roughly when he was born — optional

His obituary almost always carries it, and Find a Grave is free to search. Even the year on its own is worth a great deal — it is usually what separates him from the other men with his name.

Date of death — optional

Month Day Year

Roughly when he died — optional

His obituary and his gravestone both carry this. Leave it empty if he's still living.

Service number — optional

Look on his discharge paper (WD AGO 53-55) or dog tags. Don't worry if you don't have it — tracking it down is the first thing we do, and there's often a copy of his discharge still filed at his county courthouse.

Branch — optional

Conflict or era

We currently reconstruct World War II service — roughly 1939–1946.

Roughly when he served — optional

03 What you already have

Check anything you can lay hands on. None of it is required, and you don't need to send it now — knowing it exists tells us what we can ask you for later.

Photographs Letters or diaries Medals or insignia Only family stories Nothing yet

Anything already written about him? — optional

A link to any of these gives us a running start — each one often names his unit, his rank, or where he served.

Link to his obituary

Link to his gravestone

Where is he buried? — optional

What do you most want to know? — optional

Anything else we should know? — optional

A quiet security check keeps automated junk from crowding out real family requests.

No payment now. We'll read it, look into him, and come back to you in one to two weeks with an honest read on what's recoverable.

We have him.

Thank you for trusting us with him. We'll read every word, start looking into him, and come back to you soon with what we think we can recover.

Your reference: —

We've emailed you a link to your veteran's page, where you can send us photos or papers you've kept, add anything you remember later, and see how the search is going.

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