Are you interested in what your father did during the Vietnam War or what your grandfather did during World War II?  Maybe you are interested in what your great great grandfather did during the Civil War.  If you are, there has never been a better opportunity than now to find out.

 

Ancestry.com and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) have reached an agreement to make millions of documents available to anyone interested in researching the history of their family online.  The historical documents to be converted to digital form include military and immigration records, as well as birth, marriage and death records.  According to the joint press release on PRNewswire- “The new agreement provides critical access to these important historical records at a faster rate than ever before due to the placement of Ancestry.com technicians and scanning machines at NARA to continually digitize content for online access.”

 

The agreement signed this morning is being celebrated with a military theme in honor of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.  As part of the military theme, Ancestry.com is offering an unprecedented opportunity to search all military records for free today through May 30, 2008.

 

The ability for Americans to research their family military history on Ancestry.com is not new.  Ancestry.com has been digitizing copies of NARA military records, which cover most conflicts, and allowing their members to search them online for years.  They have collections of documents and photos from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and both World Wars.  Be sure to check out the complete collection of WWII news reels.  Whether you are researching your family military history or just a military history buff, this is a great resource and a great opportunity to have access to the records for free.

 

If you are interested in taking advantage of the opportunity you can go to Ancestry.com and check out their Military Collections.