US Military Records via BIRLS - My Beta User Experience

Our friends at Reclaim the Records have done it again.  The latest record set that they've helped to make accessible to us is the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) database, which includes people who served in the US military and received veterans' benefits in the twentieth century.  They've set up a user-friendly way for you to generate and send a fax (yes, a fax--but you don't need a fax machine) request for C-File (different than naturalization-related C-Files) records referenced in BIRLS.  I was a beta tester and have already received responses to many of my requests, so here are some of the things I learned about the system and about some relatives--as well as how you can do the same!

Application for my grandfather's first cousin to become a WAVE

I received an inch-thick package for my grandfather's first cousin Jeanette Supkoff's time as a WAVE, including her application (above) and letters of recommendation from her school and prior employer.  I received digital copies of a series of letters from a more distant cousin trying to tie every medical ailment he ever had to his time in the military.

I also received several responses saying that they had not found anything, but I immediately filed an appeal by emailing ogcfoiaappeals@va.gov and later did get information from some of those requests.  The VA also submitted requests (without my asking) to the National Personnel Records Center, which often generated even more information about relatives' time in the service.

The majority of the responses came on CDs sent by mail.  Some CDs contained files with hundreds of pages; other were just an official letter saying that they weren't able to find anything (which immediately appealed).  I learned about health issues that some relatives had had, found information on next of kin, got original letters written by relatives about their time in the service and more.  Some of the responses included birth, marriage and/or death records.

Copy of my great uncle's (slightly redacted) birth certificate

So how do you put in applications for your own relatives' records?  Go to https://birls.org/, do a search, expand any entry that looks interesting, and click on the button to generate a FOIA request.  You should get an email confirmation when your fax has been sent.

If you don't see an entry for someone you believe served, you can still put in a request for records, although it's more likely that you'll receive a negative response.  At the bottom of the list of matches for your search are instructions for what to do if you can't find a veteran in the database.

Happy hunting!

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