New access to the BIRLS database

 

Source: BIRLS.org & Reclaim the Records.

An unexpected Christmas gift arrived by email yesterday from Reclaim the Records, a non-profit with a mission to put important genealogical records in the public domain. Reclaim the Records has made available the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) database from the Department of Veterans Affairs. This covers more than 18 million American veterans. Reclaim the Records has built a website that allows anyone to search and file a free Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of a veteran's full VA claim file.

I've already used this process to request the file on my grandfather Leo Reid, and one for Allison's grandfather James R. Havens.

Huge thanks and congratulations to the Reclaim the Records team for making these available.