The Genealogy Tools & Resources hub on our website features a whole section for military research, linking you to resources like the Veterans History Project – a venture of the Library of Congress with the goal of collecting and preserving the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans – and the venerable Wisconsin Veterans Museum, which has grown since 1901 to become Wisconsin’s premier military history museum.

A poster commemorating Leonard Roy Harmon, who died showing remarkable heroism during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

I’d like to highlight another of these resources which you may not realize you have access to via our library: Fold3 (now owned by Ancestry). The name Fold3 “comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country and to maintain peace throughout the world.” Fold3 offers access to a wide array of materials including military and non-military government records, personal diaries, photographs, unit histories, honors, newspapers, and more. Materials are searchable by conflict, location, and military branch as well as record type.

Fold3 appeals to military and history buffs as well as genealogists, by offering brief historical overviews of each conflict (and links to relevant documents) through War Stories, and a blog that shares not only information on some of the collections available on Fold3, but also lesser known stories from conflicts focused on a singular aspect or individual. Examples include the story of how Nazis stole church bells throughout Europe to fuel their war machine, the mystery of the disappeared USS Cyclops, warrior profiles, and collection highlights. The blog also offers advice and explanations for family and military historians, through topics ranging from how to care for an ancestor’s military uniform to a resource for searching the history, eligibility, and symbolism of Military Medals.

Earl Joseph Aber, Jr., brave pilot and Wisconsin native.

Perhaps the most poignant feature on the website is the Honor Wall, where you can add a memorial for a veteran. Here you can create a timeline of your ancestor or family member’s life and service (including links to information sources), detail their assignments and decorations, upload photos, and write up their story for family and others to read and relate to.

Even if you don’t have a familial veteran you’d like to memorialize, you can contribute by volunteering to write the stories of WWII fallen as part of the Stories Behind the Stars project. This national project aims to write up all of the fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3, and to pair this effort with an app that will allow people to scan a fallen servicemember’s name in any war memorial or cemetery and read their story. If you’re interested in more ways to participate, Fold3 also periodically puts out calls for records – like unit histories or saved letters sent through V-Mail – so you can play a part in preserving history and making it accessible to countless others.