National Archives News

Veterans Day - Resources at the National Archives

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Marines come ashore near Da Nang Air Base on March 8, 1965. (National Archives, RG 127; National Archives Identifier 26382181)

Each year, we acknowledge the work done and sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. The National Archives and Records Administration is proud to serve veterans and their families, especially through our work at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO. We are also proud to include many veterans among our staff. Find out how we help veterans access their records to receive benefits, read about the work our Preservation staff do to make these records accessible, watch historic films that our staff have restored and digitized about the experiences of veterans, and learn more about the records in depth through video presentations from our experts.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

Vietnam telegramVeterans’ Service Records

If you've been discharged from military service, your personnel files are stored here at the National Archives and Records Administration. 

Vietnam. Private First Class David Sletten, medic, Company B, !st Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, paddles a three-man assault boat down the canal toward a breaking point during Operation Tong Thang I.Research in Military Records

Explore the wealth of records documenting U.S. military encounters from the 18th century through the 20th century. 

Accordion

 

Historic Videos

The True Glory, 1945 (restored)

Let There Be Light, 1946

Making of a Marine

The Lonely Eagles

Diary of a Sergeant, 1945

Welcome Home

A Special Day (Veterans Day 1963)

Veteran's Day PSA with John F. Kennedy

President Reagan's Remarks at a Veteran’s Day Ceremony at Arlington Cemetery on November 11, 1985

President Clinton's Remarks at a Veterans' Day Ceremony (1993)

President Obama Honors Veterans

Additional Videos

Remembering Vietnam: 12 Critical Episodes in the Vietnam War exhibit promotional video

In Honor of Our Veterans: Caring for Our Heroes. A bipartisan panel discusses issues facing veterans, November 2015.

Women Vietnam Veterans: Our Untold Stories. Vietnam veteran Donna Lowery discusses the participation of American military women during the Vietnam War.

Veterans Personnel Records at the National Archives, St. Louis. This Inside the Vaults video short illustrates the primary purpose of the National Military Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO—to preserve the nation's military personnel files in perpetuity and to make them available to veterans and other interested parties.

Vet Records Short Clip. Scott Levins, the Director of the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis, which houses individual Military Personnel Records, shares one of his stories about responding to requests for veterans' service records.

Records for Veterans: Gathering Evidence for Claims and Benefits. A presentation at the National Archives aimed at veterans and their families seeking documentation in support of a benefit or claim.

Still Images

Military Images and Posters

Civil War Photographs

World War I and World War II Photographs

Veterans Day Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, 1963

Teach your students about World War I and World War II with resources on our DocsTeach website. On DocsTeach you can access thousands of primary sources — letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and more — spanning the course of American history. And we're always adding more!

The 100th Anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Teaching About Pearl Harbor

The War in Vietnam: A Story in Photographs

National Archives News

Philadelphia 15 Exonerated Thanks to NARA Personnel Records Research

National Archives Marks 75th Anniversary of Executive Orders Integrating the Armed Forces and Federal Workforce

Fellowship Recipient Explores History of Women’s Conscription

Bisa Butler Quilts Harlem Hellfighters into History

Eleven Military Stories Honoring Veterans at the National Archives

Utah Honor Flight Veterans Visit National Archives

National Personnel Records Center Continues Serving Veterans During COVID-19 Pandemic

The Rediscovered Life of the Lost Soldier of Chickamauga

U.S. Army Photographers Captured ‘Human Toll of War’ in 1945

Veteran Pilots Display Vietnam-Era Helicopters at National Archives

Combat Photographers talk about ‘Shooting’ the War in Vietnam

Archives Recalls Fire That Claimed Millions of Military Personnel Files

Combat Artists Share War Experience

Utah Honor Flight Veterans Visit National Archives’ “Remembering Vietnam” Exhibit

Hagel Brothers Share Vietnam War Story

 

Prologue Articles

1 Archives Drive: Personnel Records Are Consolidated at New Location in St. Louis (Fall 2011)

20th-Century Veterans' Service Records: Safe, Secure—and Available (Spring 2005)

Caring for Veterans in the Nation’s Capital: Records of the U.S. Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C., 1851–1943 (Spring 2015)

The National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (Spring 2004)

"I Am Still in the Land of the Living”: The Medical Case of Edson D. Bemis (Spring 2011)

Genealogical Records of the War of 1812 (Winter 1991)

 

Blogs

AOTUS: Heroes Work Here (2020)

AOTUS: “Remembering Vietnam” this Veterans Day (20180

AOTUS: Veterans Day (2016)

AOTUS: We Salute You (2012)

Education Updates: The 100th Anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Forward With Roosevelt: A Veterans Day to Remember: 11/11/42

Forward With Roosevelt: A First Lady on the Front Lines 

NARAtions: How to participate in the US National Archives’ Remembering WWI: A Guide for Local Institutions 

NARAtions: The Wartime Films Project: Remembering WWI

Pieces of History: Contact, Brawls, and Chambering: The Combat Action Ribbon

Pieces of History: Carlisle Indian School’s World War I Soldiers

Pieces of History: National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers

Pieces of History: From Armistice to Veterans Day

Pieces of History: From the Battlefield to the Oval Office: Presidents Who Were Veterans

Pieces of History: National Archives Remembers “Monuments Man” Harry Ettlinger

Pieces of History: Gerald Ford: President and Veteran

Pieces of History: New in Our Catalog: Famous Faces in the Military Veterans’ Military Records

Pieces of History: Burned and Brittle Records Are in Good Hands

Pieces of History: Veterans’ Military Records

Pieces of History: Surrender? Nuts!

Pieces of History: Minnie Spotted Wolf

Pieces of History: The Lost Battalion of World War I

Pieces of History: U.S. Entry into the War to End All Wars

Pieces of Histor: Remembering “A date which will live in infamy” 

Pieces of History: Gerald Ford: President and Veteran

Pieces of History: Vietnam and the Women Who Serve

Pieces of History: Escape and Evasion Files at the National Archives

Rediscovering Black History: Mustering Out: The Navy’s First Black Yeowomen

Rediscovering Black History: Who Is He? A Long-Delayed Search for the Identity of the Airman Portrayed in a World War II Poster

Rediscovering Black History: An Uncensored Digital History of the Black GI in World War II

Rediscovering Black History: Remembering Those Who Served: A Tribute to Veterans

Rediscovering Black History: “And They Thought We Couldn’t Fight:”* Remembering the Nine Soldiers in a World War I Photograph

The Text Message: Escape and Evasion Reports, World War II

The Text Message: Beneath His Shirt Sleeves: Evidence of Injury, Parts 1 and 2

The Text Message: Civil War-Era Personal Tintypes Exposed, Parts 1, 2, and 3

The Text Message: The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, 1918

The Text Message: “Until the Glad News Comes”: A Letter from Verdun after the Great War

The Text Message: “Cutting Capers on the Sands of North Africa”: A Soldier’s Art Before, During, and After World War II

The Text Message: Accessing Veterans’ Records

The Text Message: Now Available Online: Burial Cards of World War I Soldiers

The Text Message: Towards a History of Mexican American Participation in World War I

The Text Message: The War After the War: The American Indian Fight for the Vote After WWII

The Text Message: The Blue Arrowhead 

The Text Message: Hometown Hero: Walker Kirtland Hancock, St. Louis’s Monuments Man 

The Text Message: The Last Box 

The Text Message: Stories of American Escapees from Prisoner of War Camp 59, Servigliano, Italy

The Text Message: Seicheprey, Crucible of the 26th Division

The Unwritten Record: How to Search Still Photographs for World War II Navy Personalities

The Unwritten Record: Drawings for the National WWII Memorial Design Competition

The Unwritten Record: No Mail, Low Morale: The 6888th Central Postal Battalion

The Unwritten Record: Veterans Day Military History Link Roundup

The Unwritten Record: Batter Up: World War I Amputees Play Ball

The Unwritten Record: World War II Veteran Lloyd Heller Shares Details About Production of 1943 Tank Training Film

The Unwritten Record: Newly Digitized Series: Initial Burial Plats for World War I American Soldiers

The Unwritten Record: World War II Veteran Lloyd Heller Shares Details About Production of 1943 Tank Training Film

The Unwritten Record: Remembering the Vietnam War this Veterans Day

The Unwritten Record: Spotlight on Veterans: Navy Women in Parachute Rigger Training

The Unwritten Record: A Brief Look At African American Soldiers in the Great War

The Unwritten Record: The Preservation and Restoration of John Huston’s “Let There Be Light”

The Unwritten Record: Photographs of Military Mascots in WWI 

The Unwritten Record: A Worthy Resting Place: American Military Cemeteries Overseas 

The Unwritten Record: The Women of World War I in Photographs

In commemoration of Veterans Day, the National Archives History Office conducted a series of oral history interviews with veteran National Archives employees.

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