The BIRLS Database

Veterans' Records: The Early Days

Veterans have been given pensions by the US government dating back to the American Revolution. Pensions that predate the 20th century can generally be found at the National Archives (NARA), organized by conflict, and include voluminous tomes of information about pensioners from the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, etc. These pension files have been indexed online, and many of the files themselves have been digitized as well.

But where are the files for the veterans who served in later conflicts? Their records lie in what are called the XC Pension Files, which by and large still live untapped, under the custody of the Veterans Benefits Administration (the VBA), a subdivision of the VA, hidden away in 1.1 million boxes at Federal Records Centers scattered throughout the country.

In 1917, as World War I was ending, the US instituted a modernization of their veterans pension system. Veterans Claims Files (called C-Files, but not to be confused with USCIS' C-Files) were created, with one claims file for every veteran who filed with the federal government for benefits. Every veteran was assigned a claims number (or C-Number), and a file was created containing materials about their service, family, medical care, and benefits.

A veteran would apply for benefits via his local VA Field Office (or whatever predecessor locations were called) at some point after his separation from the service, and they would store the records there. A Field Office would periodically retire files when they were no longer needed for active agency use. Generally this would correspond to when nobody was claiming benefits from that veteran any longer, in other words, when the veteran and his dependents had died. When a veteran died, their file would be denoted an XC pension, and their VA Master Index Card would often be updated as well, to show that the veteran was deceased.

Field Offices would periodically send boxes of these now-inactive files to Federal Records Centers (FRC), a system of warehouses all over the country maintained by NARA. Whenever the FRC would accession boxes from a particular Field Office, they would be assigned an Accession Number, possibly reboxed, and files would generally be organized by their “terminal digit,” a system of organization many federal agencies used during the 20th century. It is unknown how many files there are exactly, but there could easily be 5-20 files per cubic foot, meaning that there are likely tens of millions of deceased veterans' files in total across the FRCs.

Part II: VAMI cards, 1917-1940 >>

The Veterans Administration Master Index (VAMI): the 1917-1940 series

In 1930, the various agencies that administered these benefits were merged into the Veterans Administration, and they subsequently undertook a project to create a Master Index of their many types of files, thus creating the Veterans Administration Master Index (VAMI). The VAMI indexed various records series, such as service records and pension files and life insurance policies and educational records, some of which no longer survive, except as noted on the index.

The first consolidation of this index was actively maintained until 1940, and it cataloged veterans who had active claims (that is, files which were still open, perhaps providing benefits to their heirs) between 1917 to 1940, although subsequent annotations were made in the index in later decades (sometimes written in pencil on the cards), before the series of the 1917-1940 cards were eventually microfilmed in the 1960s.

Those hundreds of microfilm reels were then stored at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facility in St. Louis, Missouri -- but not the main NARA facility in Washington DC, and not online anywhere. Despite having an incredible wealth of information, their existence were not well-known to researchers. Then about five years ago, the non-profit organization Reclaim the Records -- who also built this website here -- became aware of the value of the reels thanks to a military historian on its board of directors. They worked with the non-profit organization FamilySearch to finally get those reels digitized and freely published, for public use. FamilySearch even created the first-ever text transcription of some of the fields of data on the card images, including names, birthdates, service dates, and hometowns or residences of the veterans. Here is the VAMI entry in FamilySearch's Catalog.

Following the new digitization, the records were also finally added to NARA's own online Catalog; here is the entry for the VAMI in the NARA Catalog, which also contains the scanned images. The commercial genealogy company Ancestry.com has also inputted a scrape of FamilySearch's text database of the VAMI Cards into their system, but they do not have the underlying images.

Part III: VAMI cards, the post-1940 series >>

The Veterans Administration Master Index (VAMI): the post-1940 series

Soldiers who had claims active after 1940 were put into a different subseries of index, running through the late 1970s. This index is also stored at NARA St Louis and it has been digitized, but has not been made available to the public in bulk because it contains personally identifiable information about many living soldiers. However, it is important to note that NARA can do lookups of specific cards in this series for specific veterans, if asked by a researcher.

Because of the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center that destroyed millions of 20th century Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs), the VAMI serves as one of the most accessible sources to indicate if someone served in the early-mid 20th century. It is not exhaustive, however, as the VAMI is an index of veterans who claimed VA benefits, and not of all veterans. Most soldiers wanted their benefits and pensions, but filing a claim was not obligatory, and some people may have not done so, or may not have been eligible for benefits.

While the now-digitized 1917-1940 VAMI series includes primarily WWI and Spanish-American War veterans, there were still living soldiers or dependents from prior conflicts as well, meaning that files from other wars were still considered active. These pensions became rolled into the modern C-File system. In other words, many Civil War Veterans whose pensions were still being paid in the 20th century, had their pension files taken from the Civil War Pension Files series, and consolidated into the modern C-Files series. These records subsequently often did not transfer to NARA, even though they pertain to an individual who was born more than 150 years ago. This is apparent if a Civil War solider appears in the VAMI. It's possible that in later years, a Civil War solder's file did move to NARA though, as the index has been static microfilm for more than half a century.

The Index Card itself is very valuable, because it contains many biographical details about the veteran, and is easily accessible online for free. In addition to containing the solider's name, date of birth, and C-Number, it includes their enlistment and discharge dates, their service number, their address (there is some debate as to when the listed address is from, but an address of the veteran is there), the unit in which they served, their rank, and often their date of death. There are a number of codes that are also included, but these generally do not lead to surviving files. NARA has a detailed description about what the codes indicate here. The later VAMI cards look substantially the same, although they were microfilmed terribly, and are often barely legible.

Part IV: The BIRLS Database >>

The BIRLS Database

Enter BIRLS. In the 1980s, The VA decided to modernize their systems, and created a database, the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (or BIRLS for short), rather than the paper index cards of the VAMI. This new BIRLS database aspired to input all of the information contained in the VAMI so as to render the index cards redundant.

But once again, much like the earlier Veterans Administration Master Index before it, BIRLS is a database of veterans who claimed (or whose heirs claimed) some kind of service-related benefit through the VA in the past half-century or so, and it is not a comprehensive data set of every veteran. Many veterans who did not have any contact with the VA (and whose families did not either) within the past forty to fifty years will not be included in BIRLS, although the VA may indeed still have some records about them, which would potentially be accessible to a researcher under the Freedom of Information Act.

While the VA originally planned to accomplish a comprehensive review of their files in the 1980s, their goal was never fully realized, and BIRLS only exists as a partial index to claimants, as they never fully backfilled the early 20th century veterans. It contains nearly every claimant whose file has been active in the last 40-50 years, along with many older ones. Because these files generally remain open until the death of the veteran and their spouse, many WWI (and even Civil War) veterans do appear in BIRLS. A WWI solder could have been born in 1890, and died in 1980, well into the era of automation. Had he had a spouse who was considerably younger, the file could have yet remained open for decades further. As a general rule, most WWII and later veterans who claimed benefits would be in BIRLS. While WWI soldiers are not guaranteed to be listed in BIRLS, they are exhaustively indexed in the earlier VAMI.

For later veterans who aren't in BIRLS, it's always possible to email NARA St Louis and have them search for a VAMI card from the later not-yet-published series. Additionally, the BIRLS database extract that is available online here, both for search and for download, only contains information for people for whom the VA was able to confirm the veteran was deceased as of 2020. It's possible that a veteran's name might be listed in the full and unredacted version of the BIRLS database that is still held at the VA, but if the veteran was not yet known to the VA as having died, the information was not provided here.

Furthermore, not every single BIRLS entry corresponds to a Claims File (C-File), but the majority do. It's possible that someone could be listed in BIRLS who had a different type of file, generally one that has been destroyed, although occasionally the VA has something else, such as an insurance file.

Part V: FOIA'ing the Files >>

Using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for Deceased Veterans' Files

Once you've found someone of interest listed in the VAMI index cards or the BIRLS database, the next step is to request a copy of their Claims File (C-File) from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) sub-agency within the Veterans Administration, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). For these types of files, and for this particular agency, the best way to submit your FOIA request is via fax - yes, a fax.

The VBA recently stopped accepting emailed FOIA requests for files, and anecdotally, even FOIA requests that get mailed on paper often do not get processed properly. (Yes, this is a violation of the more than fifty-year-old law.) The VBA's Centralized Support Division is the office that processes these requests, and their workflow is simply not well-oiled to manage FOIA requests. They are used to processing requests by veterans and their next-of-kin for files, but not from the general public. Not many researchers and genealogists had been making requests for these Claims Files, because they usually had no easy access to the underlying indices or database, and no easy way to make a request for the C-File to the agency even if they did find someone's name - until now.

This new BIRLS website enables researchers to not only search through the previously-inaccessible BIRLS database -- or rather, the portion of that database where the VA has determined the veteran is deceased -- and even download the raw data set, if preferred. But better yet, researchers can now use the search results on this website to build and launch their own FOIA request, right from their web browser, creating and sending a personalized FOIA request to the VBA via fax, using an online fax API system, thereby circumventing the agency's general FOIA non-compliance.

Because the agency is not used to processing large numbers of FOIA requests from the general public, the responses that researchers and genealogists have gotten from these FOIA requests are often a bit messy. The VBA sometimes can't find files on the first try, or they may try to send out partial files, or they might redact things they shouldn't redact, especially on a deceased person's record where there should be few or no privacy concerns.

Under FOIA, agencies can generally only provide records about deceased individuals, but there is widely followed case law that allows agencies to presume death, if the individual was born more than 100 years ago.

Best practices would be to include proof of death of the subject of record, their spouse, and anyone else thought to be mentioned in the file, so as to avoid any possible redactions. For the case of veterans who served in the early 20th century, this is less relevant, but if someone were to request a file someone who only died recently, this would be more important.

In the cases in which a file is not properly produced, it is necessary to file a FOIA appeal to the VA's Office of General Counsel at this email address: ogcfoiaappeals@va.gov. Provide a copy of the response letter, and explain why the search / production was deficient.

In the cases where they say a file cannot be found, attach a copy of the BIRLS entry or the VAMI Card, to show that a file should exist. If redactions were made improperly, call out what pages have things that should be unmasked. If they left out pages, tell them!

The Appeals Office is usually able to handle these issues promptly, and can instruct the VBA to properly process the request. In cases where the record truly cannot be found, they will provide more of an explanation about why.

Once the VBA properly sends out a file, the results can be glorious.

Part VI: What to Expect >>

What to Expect in the Claims File (C-File)

These files can be a goldmine for a genealogist, historian, journalist, or other researcher. They often include records from the veteran's civilian life that may be annoying or even otherwise impossible to obtain.

There may be copies of vital records, meaning birth, baptismal, marriage, divorce, or death certificates. There may even be records of formal or informal name changes, to justify why benefits are going to someone who served under a different name.

The documents will often talk about the veteran's next of kin: generally a spouse or a child. They often ask for parents' and siblings' names and biographical information. One file we've seen even had a whole chain of correspondence with an immigrant veteran's mother back in Italy, who was being paid some sort of allowance while her son was enlisted.

There is often a lot of content discussing medical treatment, which often show the extent of the service member's war or training injuries, and often their end of life care. There are letters from doctors, medical exam results, reports about surgeries, things that will never exist anywhere else.

The files do not usually have a significant amount of material from the OMPF, but there will almost always be a copy of the record of discharge. In the post-WWII era, this means the DD-214, but other forms were used before that. The DD-214 provides a decent summary of the service, any awards received, and employment information. Occasionally, large portions of the OMPF will be copied in this file, and it's very common to at least have a handful of pages of the OMPF be present.

The bulk of the file is often fairly mundane, and concerns financial calculations of benefits, but these files are lengthy. While they are sometimes only a dozen pages or so, the majority of the claims files are 100-400 pages long, so even if 90% is banal, the remaining 10% can still be substantial. The photos and scans included at the top of this website, with their diverse and sometimes very interesting material, all came from papers provided in previous FOIA requests for these types of C-Files.

It is absolutely worth submitting a FOIA request to the VBA for any veteran who is a research interest - even if they don't appear in the VAMI cards or the BIRLS database (although that probably indicates there is no file). After all, merely submitting a FOIA request is free!

Part VII: Why Aren't the Files at NARA? >>

Why Are Almost All Claim Files Still Held at the VA and not at NARA?

Considering how historic and unique and massive these files are, one may wonder why they are languishing at the VA. This is going to change, but not anytime soon.

In 2010, the VA and NARA signed a disposition agreement, memorialized by the Standard Form (SF) 115, which states that the VA will send retired boxes to FRCs annually, and that sixty years from the date of retirement, the boxes will transfer into NARA's custody, who could then serve the boxes to patrons at NARA. And in fact, tens of thousands of cubic feet have transferred. For the files that have not, access is supposed to be granted via the VA, although anecdotal evidence suggests that NARA has informally facilitated access to these files as well.

The FamilySearch Wiki provides some more information about these records, and lists the four different accessions of XC Files that have already moved to NARA. These four accessions can be found in the NARA Catalog, but there is little way to know whose records are included in them, because it is unknown to the public at this time which retiring Field Offices' records are included, or how to determine for sure when a veteran's file was retired. We do know that they consist entirely of files retired before 1960, so if the veteran was alive after then, the file will not be at NARA.

For now, it's best to assume that any desired file is still in the custody of the VA, as the files that NARA legally controls represent less than 5% of the total. As time goes on, more accession with move to NARA, but because NARA does not have a complete index of their holdings, they are not able to make these readily available. The only way to know who has it, is to specifically ask.

Part VIII: What if you can't find a veteran's name in the database? >>

What to do if you can't find a veteran's name in the BIRLS database

The BIRLS database is not a comprehensive database of all American veterans, but rather a partial and incomplete index of veterans who were eligible for VA benefits or whose heirs had some kind of contact with the VA regarding benefits. Furthermore, the version of the BIRLS database on this website only includes the names of people who were known to the VA to have been deceased at the time when Reclaim The Records won their FOIA lawsuit in 2020, with the subset of the database being exported and turned over in mid-2022.

That being said, almost all veterans who served in the late nineteenth or twentieth centuries probably do (or did) have some sort of claims file stored with the VA, likely in one (or more) of their warehouses, and that file may simply have never been indexed for inclusion in BIRLS. This is especially likely if the veteran (or their heirs) had no contact with the VA after the database first started being compiled and computerized in the 1980s.

If you cannot find a known-deceased military veteran's name or information in the BIRLS database, but you still want to try to get a copy of their full claims file, there are a few steps you can take to try to get the VA to dig deeper and attempt to locate their records. It may not be as successful as a standard FOIA request based on known-extant BIRLS data, but it's still worth a shot. And in any case, it's free!

Note that for these types of "build your own FOIA request" cases, where a veteran's name was never included in the BIRLS database (or at least not in the public version), the VA will need to do a more thorough search of their records to try to locate any surviving materials, and it may take many more months to receive a response. If they eventually tell you that they are unable to find any files, then you can (and should) file a free FOIA appeal with the VA's Office of General Counsel at this email address: ogcfoiaappeals@va.gov. The Appeals Officer can instruct the VBA to re-run the search for you, or else explain more specifically why they believe the veteran's file truly is no longer extant.

Examples of some famous deceased American military veterans (most of whom served in WWII or later) who are not listed in the BIRLS database include Humphrey Bogart, Yogi Berra, Woody Guthrie, Stan Lee, Henry Fonda, Jackie Robinson, Buddy Hackett, Jack Kerouac, Herman Wouk, Carroll O'Connor, Ralph Ellison, Harlan Ellison, Haskell Wexler, Peter Falk, James Garner, Lenny Bruce, and Kirk Douglas.

(FOIA requests asking for copies of the C-Files for all of these veterans are currently in progress. 😉)