National Archives News

Eleven Military Stories Honoring Veterans at the National Archives

By Victoria Macchi | National Archives News

Guests salute during a Veterans Day ceremony at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., November 11, 2011. Photo by Pete Souza.

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WASHINGTON, November 9, 2022 — As the U.S. marks Veterans Day on November 11, the National Archives is sharing 11 of the most-read stories from National Archives News related to military service.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the primary custodian of U.S. military records. Every day, staff devote themselves to caring for these records and providing copies to veterans of every branch.

Known outside the U.S. as Armistice Day, the holiday marks the signing of the agreement in 1918 that ended World War I, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. In commemoration of that day, here are the 11 military stories that stand out to readers and staff.

Additional stories are linked in our Special Topics page: Veterans Day—Resources at the National Archives.

For more information about military records at the National Archives, visit the Veterans' Service Records on Archives.gov, which includes guidance on how to request military service records, research using military records, replace lost medals and awards, and browse World War II photos.

National Archives Helps 100-Year-Old Tuskegee Airman Achieve General Rank (2020): Long-time serviceman Charles McGee (1919–2022) becomes a brigadier general at age of 100.
Vietnam Veteran Pilots Reunited With Helicopter They Flew in Combat (2018): Two men who served in the U.S. Army visit a Bell UH-1M Iroquois displayed at the National Archives.
National Archives Unveils Photos of Buffalo Soldiers at West Point (2021): Recently digitized negatives show photos of Buffalo Soldiers serving at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, that were previously unavailable to the public.
Merchant Marine Records Document Maritime Service (2019): Public access opens to Merchant Marine Licensing Files, providing information on former merchant mariners and their maritime service.
World War II Code Girls: What’s in a Name? (2020): An archives specialist advises how to track down “Code Girl” personnel records at the National Archives at St. Louis.
NARA Digitizes More than 500 Volumes of U.S. Navy Muster Rolls (2019): Nineteenth-century naval muster rolls debut in digital form, revealing names, birthplaces, and physical attributes of enlisted seamen and “contraband sailors”—African Americans who escaped enslavement and served in the Navy during the Civil War.
Confederate Slave Payrolls Shed Light on Lives of 19th-Century African American Families (2020): The digitized documents furnish African American genealogists, local historians, and researchers on slavery during the war with names and locations of enslaved people.
The Rediscovered Life of the 'Lost Soldier of Chickamauga' (2020): Records tell the winding story of Hugh Thompson, the veteran with the largest Civil War pension file found in the National Archives to date.
Utah Honor Flight Veterans Visit National Archives (2021): Former military personnel visit the founding documents in Washington, DC, on a trip designed exclusively for them.
National Personnel Records Center Continues Serving Veterans During COVID-19 Pandemic (2020): National Archives powers through the complications of the early pandemic days to continue processing records.
Records Help Tell Story of USS Juneau, Sullivan Brothers (2018): When a downed cruiser is discovered off the coast of the Solomon Islands, National Archives holdings piece together the stories of those who died on board.

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