Military Records

The National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. houses records for the following types of military personnel:

• Volunteer enlisted and officers from 1775 to 1902

• Regular Army enlisted who served from 1789 to 1912

• Regular Army officers who served from 1789 to 1917

• Navy enlisted who served from 1798 to 1885

• Navy officers who served from 1798 to 1902

• Marine Corps enlisted who served from 1798 to 1904

• Marine Corps officers who served from 1798 to 1895

• Coast Guard personnel who served from 1791 to 1919

Military records for more recent veterans are housed in the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Records created after 2002 have been digitized and are generally housed in electronic databases. If you are looking for very recent records, contact Veterans Affairs for your branch to find out about the process for requesting recent military records.

Military Veterans

Certain military veterans records are not archived in either Washington D.C. or in St. Louis, Missouri. These records can be obtained by contacting other agencies.

• For Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) records, you must call the VA at 1-800-827-1000.

• If you are looking for health records created in the last 20 years, contact the VA at their toll-free number.

• Most recent pay records are not available.

• Records of military veterans who are either in active or inactive reserve status are available from the Reserve Component of their branch of service.

• Army records since 2002, Navy records since 1995, Marine Corps records since 1999, and Air Force records since 2005 are available from the Personnel Centers for each branch of service.

• Current National Guard member records are available from the Adjutant General of each state. National Guard members who were not called to active service are also available from the Adjutant General.

Save yourself time and frustration by contacting a private sources search company to conduct a military veterans record search. A records search company covers all relevant databases at once and delivers detailed reports regarding your military veterans records of interest.

Naval Records

Navy records created between 1885 and 1939 are stored in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. More recent Navy records are housed in St. Louis, Missouri at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).

Records stored in the National Archives in Washington D.C. are pulled Monday through Friday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. No records are retrieved on Saturday or in the evening. Contact information for the National Archives is:

National Archives and Records Administration

700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20408

Phone:  (301) 837-0700

NPRC hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., excluding weekends and Federal holidays. Contact information for the NPRC is:

National Personnel Records Center

Military Personnel Records

9700 Page Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

Phone:  (314) 801-0800

Information In Naval Records

Navy records search can result in a wealth of information about the military veteran and family members. Compiled service records include pay, promotions, dates of service, biographical information and medical information, and an overview of what the person experienced while serving in the U.S. military.

Pension payment records also contain relevant information on those who served in the Navy from 1775 to 1916. These Navy records searches will tell you about marriages, births and deaths as well as often containing family letters, narratives of events that happened during service, and even pages from the family Bible. These historic documents are fascinating and useful for genealogists and family historians.

Air Force Records

Air Force records for officers and enlisted personnel, separated after September 24, 1947, are held in the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Please note that many records were destroyed in a 1973 fire at the NPRC but employees will do their best to reconstruct information for records requests. Air Force records for personnel discharged or retired after September 30, 2004 have been digitized and are held by the Air Force.

Searching Air Force records can be a confusing and involved process. Save yourself time and frustration by contacting a private search company. A records search company covers all relevant databases at once and delivers detailed reports to order. Whether you are an Air Force veteran, a family member, a genealogist, or a student searching for historical information about Air Force personnel, contact a private records search company to make your records search much easier.

Army Records

Army records are stored in two places in the United States:  at the National Archives Building in Washington D.C. or in National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Army Records Available in Washington, D.C.

• Regular Army enlisted personnel 1789-1912

• Regular Army officers 1789-1917

• Volunteers 1775-1902

Army Records Available in St. Louis, MO

• Army officers separated after June 29, 1917

• Army enlisted personnel separated after October 31, 1912

• Army records of personnel discharged or retired after September 30, 2002 are available in electronic form.

Contact the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. at:

National Archives and Records Administration

700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20408-0001

Phone:  (202) 357-5400

Contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis at:

NPRC

Military Personnel Records

9700 Page Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

Phone: (314) 801-0800

Fax: (314) 801-9195

War Records

Historic war records are stored at either the Military Records Holdings in Washington, D.C. or in the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. So you know which war record holder to contact, the breakdown is as follows:

National Archives in Washington, D.C.

• War records from the Revolutionary War through 1912

• Military volunteers from 1775-1902

• Regular Army enlisted personnel 1789-1912

• Regular Army officers 1789-1917

• Navy enlisted personnel 1798-1885

• Navy officers 1798-1902

• Marine Corps enlisted personnel 1798-1904

• Marine Corps officers 1798-1895

• Coast Guard and related military services 1791-1919

• Confederate States personnel war records 1861-1865

National Personnel Records in St. Louis, MO

• War records from World War I to the present

• Army officers post-1917

• Army enlisted personnel post-1912

State Militia Records

The Federal archives do not include records about those who served in state militias. If you are searching for war records and know that the person served in a state militia (not regular Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard), you must contact the individual state's archivists for war records requests.

Searching war records can be a confusing process. Save yourself time and frustration by contacting a private search company. A records search company covers all relevant databases at once and delivers detailed reports to order, helping you gather the right information to make your search successful.