Download our guide to learning about ancestors who served in World War II
Discover the stories of brave ancestors who served their country in times of conflict — from before the Revolutionary War all the way up to Vietnam. The world’s largest online collection of family history records is here to help.
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Search World War II (1941-1945) Military Records
U.S. Involvement in World War II (1941-1945)
WWII's roots lie in the end of WWI - beginning with a treaty that left Germany destitute and hungry. Adolf Hitler easily charmed the German people with ideas of a greater Germany - which ultimately extended into the occupation of other nations and led to full-scale world war that would involve more than 70 nations and claim more than 40 million lives world wide.
The United States again resisted joining the war until attacked on the home front by Japan. The next day America declared war. By war's end, more than 16 million U.S. service members had become involved with the worldwide conflict that claimed more than 400,000 battle and non-battle related deaths and some 670,000 non-mortal woundings.
The Ancestry.com World War II Collection
In our collection of WWII military records, Ancestry.com has more than 15 million names and 11 million images from documents created during and around WWII, roughly 1936-1946. Although the majority of WWII records are not publicly available, Ancestry.com has gathered together enlistment records, draft registration cards, POW records and more.
We’ve added 27 million new records from World War II and the Korean War.
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Watch her short video on making discoveries in military records.
Featured Collections
The first installment of “young men’s” draft cards includes almost 2 million filled out by men living in North Carolina.
Find images of all gravestones and memorial from the final resting place of more than 13,000 service personnel who died during WWII.
This collection of more than 33 million records give facts about WWII enlisted Navy personnel, like occupational specialty and service number.
An index of 30,000 records containing the names of prisoners of war, plus their ranks, service numbers, units and prison camp information.new
Almost 6 million draft cards of men who registered for the fourth WWII draft in 1942.updated
Yearbook-style books detailing sailors and others on board U.S. Navy ships, dating from 1950.
More than 80,000 names of military personnel reported Missing in Action or Lost at Sea during World War II.
Images of the Stars and Stripes newspaper distributed to U.S. servicemen and women in the Pacific, 1945-1963.
Collection of more than 8 million names of U.S. Army enlistees during WWII, 1938-1946.
Photos and short biographiess of approximately 60,000 soldiers from Young American Patriots, a commemorative yearbook series published shortly following World War II.
Images of the Stars and Stripes newspaper distributed to U.S. servicemen and women in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa from 1942-1964.