Reclaim the Records Scores Another Victory for Genealogists

We have written several times in the past few years about the nonprofit organization called Reclaim the Records and its endless battles against governmental agencies on our behalf to open public records. This bold and tireless group is pretty much the David vs. Goliath of the genealogy world, taking on bureaucracy in state after state to ensure that genealogists have access to both indices and records that are, by law, open to the public. In their latest triumph for all of us, they have gone into action against the Department of Military Affairs, and they have won! We now have access to millions of records generated by the Veterans Administration for those military personnel who received benefits during the late nineteenth through the early twenty-first centuries! This victory opens a huge record set that most of us have likely never known about. Read on for all the details!

The Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) of the VA

According to the Reclaim the Records website, the BIRLS was created by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide an index of "more than eighteen million deceased American veterans who received some sort of veterans benefits in their lifetime." This includes educational benefits like G.I. loans, health benefits, mortgage assistance, insurance policies, and more for all branches of the service, even those that are no longer in existence, like the WACs and the Army Air Corps.

It took more than nine years to get this index and the ability to order copies of the actual records to the public. Reclaim the Records filed their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the VA in September 2017 and then went through a rollercoaster ride of denials, appeals, and lawsuits until finally a judge in March 2020 ruled that there was no reason for these records not to be released to the public. One argument used by the VA to block the release was that they couldn't be sure that all the people in their own database of deceased veterans were actually deceased! Needless to say, the judge came down hard on what he called "the shoddy quality of the agency's record keeping."

How Does This Work?

Most older military records have been moved to the National Archives. But many of the newer records are still sitting on shelves at the VA. The index that is now open to us is not complete, due to the sheer size of this record set, but if you know someone served and he or she is not in the database, you can still now request a search under the FOIA. 

If you had anyone in your family who served in the military who likely received benefits and who is deceased, you can begin your search on The BIRLS Database website. Be sure you read the text so you understand what you are seeing and how you can request an actual record, as this is just an index. There are samples of actual records you can look at before you start your search. (See below).

If your surname is unusual, you can do a general search, but if you are looking for something specific or have a common surname, keep adding details into the optional fields. There are quite a few fields on which you can search, so you may want to keep reading before you click that "Submit" button.

Here is an example of what your search results will look like for the author's unusual family surname of "Boches." The name spelled as submitted will be at the top of your list, but the search will also include variations if you ask for them. The instructions are easy to follow, and, as you can see below, will yield names, birth and death dates, and branch of service. Then, if you click on the small arrow to the left of a person's name (marked with the blue circle below), you will get details on the veteran's period of enlistment and cause of death, if known.  This additional information may be just what you need to separate people with the same name, so be sure to take a look at it.

If you would like to get a copy of the veteran's complete benefits package, simply click on the large green "Submit a FOIA Request" button (marked with the blue arrow above). It's a multi-step process, but the instructions on the website are easy to follow. You do not have to be a relative of the person to file a request.

 

Reclaim the Records: Who Are They?

As we told you in February 2020, when we first wrote about them, Reclaim the Records has been working diligently to open records that, according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), are public, and they have succeeded via lawsuits in Missouri, New York, New Jersey, and several other states. We wrote our first blog post about them as they were working to open the Missouri birth index, and if you missed that post, you can read it here.

In September 2023, we shared more news about them as they won lawsuits that provided access to records from Connecticut and New Jersey. (You can read that post here.) And then, just a few weeks later, they announced that they had won a stunning lawsuit against the state of Missouri, which opened up thousands of names on the Missouri Birth Index and Missouri Death Index. These are now online and fully searchable for free. (That post is accessible here.)

And now, in their latest amazing victory, Reclaim the Records has taken on the federal government and won access to a phenomenal database that will benefit just about any researcher who had a family member serving in the military who received military benefits during the past two centuries. With that in mind, after you enjoy this excellent new gift, scroll down to sign up for their free newsletter, and please do consider making a donation to this worthy group. Of course, you can do it right from the website, and with the support of all of us, they can continue to fight for genealogists wherever bureaucrats are blocking access to public records.