New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records

In plain words

Reclaim The Records is a non-profit organization that retrieves historical and genealogical data from government agencies and makes them freely available to the public. Through FOIA requests, the organization obtained BIRLS, a database indexing veterans' benefits claims files maintained by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs since the 1970s. The project provides public access to veteran records that were previously difficult to obtain, allowing researchers and genealogists to search historical military service information through their web platform.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Search the BIRLS Database - over 19.5 million records about deceased US veterans, from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, now online and FREE from Reclaim The Records

The Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) database was originally created and maintained by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA). It provides an index to basic biographical information on more than 19.5 million deceased American veterans who received some sort of veterans benefits in their lifetime, including health care, disability or life insurance policies, educational benefits (the GI Bill), mortgage assistance (VA loans), and more. The BIRLS database includes people who served in all branches of the US military, including some branches that no longer exist, such as the Women's Army Corps (WACs) and the Army Air Corps, as well as a few…from birls.org

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hi HN. I'm the president and founder of a small non-profit called Reclaim The Records that identifies historical and genealogical materials and data sets held by government agencies, archives, and libraries -- and then returns them to the public domain, for free public use. Back in September 2017, our organization…

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