World War I Soldiers

Military personnel records are a valuable tool in genealogical research. Most veterans and their next-of-kin can obtain free copies of their DD Form 214 (Report of Separation) and other military and medical records. Limited information is releasable to the general public without the consent of the veteran or the next-of-kin. You are considered a member of the general public if you are asking about a veteran who is no relation to you, or a veteran who is a relative but you are not the next-of-kin. Next-of-kin is defined as the unremarried widow or widower, son or daughter, father or mother, brother or sister of the deceased veteran.

Request veterans' service records from WWI at http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/.

Other Resources available at the National Archives:

• Military Records: World War I
  Go to: https://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/wwi

• Ancestry Library Edition database collection includes a number of databases relating to World War I. Available In-Library Only.
• Fold3 includes US military records, stories, photos, and personal documents of those who served.
  Go to: https://fold3library.proquest.com/barcode?accountid=11047 Log into Fold3 with your library card.
• Familysearch.org includes military draft registration cards and North Carolina service cards.
  • United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1919.(Name index and images)
    Go to: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1968530
  • United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940
    This collection contains an index to veterans who served at any time during World War I and who made (or whose heirs made) pension or benefits claims of the Veterans Administration between 1917 and 1940.
    Go to: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2968245
  • North Carolina, World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919. Index and images of statement of service cards for the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard, which was provided for by an act of Congress July 11, 1919.
    Go to: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2568864
    • Interpreting the North Carolina World War I Service Cards.
      Go to: https://ncarchives.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/interpreting-nc-wwi-service-cards/
  • North Carolina, Discharge and Statement of Service Records, 1940-1948 Includes "Enlisted Record and Report of Separation - Honorable Discharge" WD AGO Form 53-55 and Notice of Separation. (Search images by name)
    Go to: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2053639
  • North Carolina, Military Discharge Records, 1915-1981. Military discharge records for various counties in the state of North Carolina, ranging approximately from 1915 to 1981. Includes Honorable Discharge. (Search images by name)
    Go to: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/4163858
  • Military discharge records and index, 1922-1962, Gaston County, North Carolina Includes DD Form 214 and WD AGO Form 53-55 (Index and images)
    Go to: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/300125
• NOTE: Search all Discharge Record collections. Different Discharge Documents may appear for same individual in different collections.

• The North Carolina State Archives and State Library collections have online World War I materials :
  • World War I Collection
    Go to: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/spotlights/world-war-one

  • Local Draft Board Records, Gaston County. United States. Selective Service Board (Gaston County N.C.)  Lists compiled by the local county draft boards in North Carolina of men who enlisted or were drafted during WWI.
    Go to: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/local-draft-board-records-gaston-county/568482

  • Wildcats Never Quit: North Carolina in World War One
    Go to: https://web.archive.org/web/20160423050346/http://exhibits.archives.ncdcr.gov/wnq/default.htm
• The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center includes World War I photographs, newspapers, and letters.
  Go to: http://www.digitalnc.org/combined-search/?searchterm=World+War+I
• North Carolina World War I Dead, A.E.F. Series: Compiled Data on Casualties of the American Expeditionary Forces by State or United States Possession, 1917 - 1919 Record Group 407: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1905 - 1981.
• 355 GAS NCC OVER 2014. Saluting Our Veterans: 2014 Veterans Day Special Edition. Gazette Publishing Company.
• 359.70973 CAM NCC. Camp Chronicle: World War I Artillery Range in Gastonia, NC. Collection of newspaper articles about Camp Chronicle compiled by Jim Chandler.
• 929.81 REC NCC OVER. Recipients of Military Service Awards 1898-2004, North Carolina Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.
• 940.3 BRA NCC. North Carolina and the Great War, 1914-1918 by Jessica A. Bandel. Showcasing holdings of the North Carolina Museum of History and the State Archives of North Carolina
• 940.3 MAR NC. Memories of World War I: North Carolina doughboys on the Western Front by R. Jackson Marshall.
• 940.3 WOR NCC World War I, 1914-1918 100th Anniversary of World War I, June 6, 2018, : Gaston County Soldiers who died during the war. Gastonia, NC : William Gaston Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 2018. Collection of short biographies.
• 940.31 MIT NCC. The echo of the bugle call : Charlotte's role in World War I by Miriam Grace Mitchell.
• 940.45 U NCC. Officers and enlisted men of the United States Navy who lost their lives during the World War, from April 6, 1917, to November 11, 1918 by the United States Bureau of Naval Personnel.
• Search our Gaston - Lincoln Biography & History Index for names of individual soldiers.
  Go to: http://gastonlibrary.libguides.com/biography_index
• Soldiers Who Died in WWI: Gaston & Lincoln Counties
  Go to: http://gastonlibrary.libguides.com/wwi/soldiers-who-died-in-ww-i-gaston-lincoln-counties-north-carolina

Search our Catalog by Subject for: World War, 1914-1918

• 016.355 CON NCC. United States Army Unit and Organizational Histories, Volume 2: World War I to Present by James T. Controvich.
• 929.1 NGS NCC. "Military Service in the 'War to End All Wars’” by John P. Deeben. NGS Magazine. Vol. 37 No. 2 (2011): Pages 26 - 32.
• 940.3 DUD NCC. World War I genealogy research guide: tracing American military and non-combatant ancestors. by Debra M. Dudek. 2nd ed. (2019).
• Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet - World War I: The Great War
  Go to: http://www.cyndislist.com/ww1

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) furnishes upon request, at no charge to the applicant, a government headstone or marker for the grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world.
Go to: https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hmm/index.asp

Author: Gaston County Public Library
Title: Researching World War I Soldiers
URL: http://gastonlibrary.libguides.com/wwi/researching-world-war-i-soldiers
Revised: 21 October 2024