Research is a little easier these days, much if not all of the information you'll need can be obtained through Internet resources. Here we'll guide you through the best resources available for creating a War Biography.

As you conduct your research, we suggest you keep all relevant material in a single folder on your computer, perhaps named 'WarBiography'. Copy relevant text based information you find into a text file or a Microsoft Word document so may use it as a single reference when you begin to collate your research into your War Biography. You can also save scanned images of family photographs, letters, newspaper clippings and diary entries to this folder. This will be a useful folder to access when you create and layout your book with our BookBuilder software.

As you go along, keep notes of where you found the information. This serves two purposes 1.) you may wish to come back to it later and 2.) you may also wish to include these in a reference list.

Here we provide a list of records to start looking for:

1. Service records.

A service record is a collection of files documenting a persons activities and accomplishments while serving as a member of the armed forces. Service records are valuable and vital sources of information when creating a War Biography.

Read about how to attain

United States Service Records
British Service Records
Canadian Service Records
Australian Service Records
New Zealand Service Records

2. Discharge papers.

3. Commonwealth War graves commission/ American Battle Monument Commissions’ details.

4. Medals awarded.

5. Correspondences sent and received during service.

6. Newspaper articles.

7. Historical background information.

8. Photos.

9. Technical data on war machines / weapons used.

Go to:

United Kingdom Research Library

United States Research Library

Canada Research Library

Australia Research Library

New Zealand Research Library