If you’ve ever lost someone who served, or even just want to understand your family better, listen to this. I was poking around online, and I found my dad’s actual WWII draft card application. His name, his handwriting, his signature, where he lived. It was all there. I didn’t expect to get so emotional, but wow.
I remember him telling me a few stories. In the Korean War, he put up radio towers. I always found that ironic.
🔍 Get official military records and medals
You can request service records, replacement medals, even discharge papers (the famous DD-214) from the National Archives. It’s free. You just need the person’s name, service branch and birth/death dates if you have them.
Dig up old draft cards and enlistment records. It’s hard to beat Fold3 (offers a free seven-day trial). It has a massive military record collection, including digitized WWII draft cards like the one I found. You could also try FamilySearch (totally free).
🇺🇸 This Memorial Day, help a veteran
We honor the fallen on Memorial Day, but it’s also a chance to make sure the veterans still with us aren’t forgotten.
If someone in your life served, ask them to talk. Their stories matter. One of my favorite projects is StoryCorps’ Military Voices. They record and preserve veterans’ memories for future generations.
The Veterans History Project from the Library of Congress also makes it easy to submit interviews, photos and memoirs. Many local VA hospitals offer writing or oral history workshops, and even your local American Legion or VFW may help document life stories.
I can’t tell you how cool it is to find that piece of someone’s story and hold it in your hands. Someone who stood in line, filled out forms like we do … then shipped off into history.
Memorial Day isn’t about sales or hot dogs. It’s about remembering and sometimes, rediscovering. If you find something amazing, I’d love to hear about it. Know someone who needs this info? Use the handy icons below to send it via email or post a link on your social media.
