Sharon, This service from NARA is really excellant, however, ask for PENSION records as well as military records. Military records seldom have much. Pension records, however are chock-full of really great info. My great-grandfather had to list all of his children "living or dead" and their dates of birth, his wife's name and their date of marriage, if she was living or dead and the date of her death if no longer living. Among all the papers were medical documents, affidavits from character witnesses and letters from his children to the gov't. His military record, on the other hand, had one little piece of paper that told which company and regiment he had served in and when. Whenever I go back to DC, I always am willing to do lookups in the Nat'l Archives. If you are on-site, this information is free and the copier is 10c per page. Best Regards, Sharon CAMARIPO List step-mom