Ancestry.com has scanned the original, hand-written citations of the medal citations of British and Commonwealth soldiers (it doesn't say anything about sailors, but check it out) during the First World War. Many Irish enlisted. I don't know if there was a draft. These wouldn't be the full service record of the soldier, but the description of the event for which the medal was awarded. Every soldier received at least one medal for their service. That citation might list the unit with which he served and where he served. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/20/military.news A website fit for heroes: 14m first world war medals recorded online Scans of record cards reveal exploits of 5.5m soldiers - and some famous names This article appeared in the <http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian> Guardian on Wednesday <http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/feb/20> February 20 2008 on p9 of the UK news <http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/feb/20/mainsection/uknews> section. It was last updated at 12:17 on February 20 2008. On June 8 1917 the London Gazette carried a report about Captain Albert Ball, a fighter pilot who had been awarded the Victoria Cross "for most conspicuous and consistent bravery". Between April 25 and May 6 Ball had taken part in 26 combats, bringing down 11 hostile aircraft, on one occasion fighting six singlehandedly. "Several times his aeroplane was badly damaged, once so seriously that but for the most delicate handling his machine would have collapsed, as nearly all the control wires had been shot away. On returning with a damaged machine he had always to be restrained from immediately going out on another. In all, Captain Ball has destroyed 43 German aeroplanes and one balloon, and has always displayed most exceptional courage, determination and skill." It was not the first time he was mentioned in dispatches, having already been awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order three times. But the Victoria Cross would be his last medal; he was killed in action on May 7. The accounts of Ball's medal-winning valour have been publicly available since his death, but from today it will be much easier for historians and amateur genealogists to access such details. For the first time the full medal records of the 5.5 million British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the first world war are being made available to view online, comprising a total of 14m medals. Since almost every soldier who fought was awarded at least a campaign medal, the record is comprehensive. And because most of the first world war service records were destroyed during the second, the medals record is the most extensive archive of the conflict in existence. "Quite simply, this is the most complete first world war collection of what we are calling heroes' exploits," said Simon Harper, managing director of the genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk, which has digitised the archive. "There are other records already online which capture parts of the service record, but unfortunately a lot of records no longer survive, so to have a collection this complete is extremely important." Though other organisations, notably the National Archives at Kew, allow users to order specific microfiched records for a fee, this is the first time they can be browsed online. The records take the form of colour scans of handwritten cards, on which details of the medals awarded are recorded, along with soldiers' addresses, rank, regiment and details of their service history. The cards carry references to mentions in dispatches, where appropriate. More than 50,000 records include details of covert operations. Alongside the ordinary Tommies are a large number of medal-winners who were or would go on to be well known - among them Oswald Mosley, AA Milne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lord Louis Mountbatten. Ernest Shackleton, newly returned from the South Pole in 1917, was considered too old for the western front but sent to South America on a propaganda mission, for which he was awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The young Noel Coward was awarded the Silver War Badge, having served briefly before being discharged for ill health. Britain's last surviving western front veteran, Harry Patch, is also represented. Though the spindly writing and military acronyms can appear difficult to interpret, they are the missing keys to unlocking further intriguing facts about one's ancestors, according to Harper, who discovered the existence of the archive after being approached by a private historical society, the Western Front Association, which now holds the records at a secret Salisbury location. Six people worked for six months using hi-tech scanners and word recognition software to convert the documents into a searchable archive. The website, which operates commercially and requires users to pay a subscription, also allows users to search first world war pension records, held at the National Archives, and the remaining military service records. "There has been a fantastic growth recently in people's interest in family history, and military history is an important part of that," said Fergus Read, of the Imperial War Museum, which keeps regimental histories and more personal documents which, he said, can also help genealogists. "World war one is a conflict that seems to have a great resonance for the British people. We're good for fleshing out the story but these records are essential for starting the story." . Ancestry.co.uk/military <http://www.ancestry.co.uk/military>