If your family history includes ancestors who lived through a war — either as combatants, civilians on a home front, refugees, or survivors of occupation — that period of their lives is often the hardest to research and the most important to find. The historical weight of wartime experience, combined with the silence that many survivors chose, makes this a research challenge that requires both practical skill and emotional sensitivity.
This guide explains how to find, verify, and preserve wartime family history.
Start With the Living Memory
Before you open any archive, talk to anyone who has living memory of the period. This is urgent work: the last surviving veterans of the Second World War, for example, are now in their late nineties, and survivors of later twentieth-century conflicts are ageing rapidly.
Wartime memories are often held silently for decades. Many veterans and survivors did not speak about their experiences to protect their families, to avoid reliving them, or because they assumed no one wanted to know. If you approach the conversation with genuine curiosity and patience — and without pressure to disclose anything they prefer to keep private — you may be surprised by what is shared.
Record the conversation with permission. Even fragmentary memories — a name, a place, a single incident — can unlock an entire research path.
Key Record Types to Search
Military service records
For ancestors who served in the armed forces, military service records are the starting point. In the United Kingdom, First World War service records are held by the National Archives (many were damaged in the Second World War and may be incomplete), while Second World War records are still held by the Ministry of Defence and must be requested with proof of death or next-of-kin identity. In the United States, military service records are held at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and many pre-1973 records were affected by a major fire.
Service records typically show: dates of service, units served with, rank progression, campaigns or theatres, wounds or citations, and discharge information. They rarely tell you what the experience was actually like — that comes from other sources.
Medal records and citations
Awards for gallantry and meritorious service are separately recorded and can often be found through national archives, regimental museums, and the London Gazette (for British forces), which published all official awards. Medal index cards for First World War British soldiers are freely available online through the National Archives.
War diaries and unit histories
Military units kept official war diaries — day-by-day operational records — that are now held in national archives and many are digitised. Finding your ancestor’s unit and reading its war diary can place their individual story into a vivid operational context. You may find the specific battles, locations, and even incidents that shaped their experience.
Prisoner of war records
If an ancestor was captured and held as a prisoner of war, specific records exist for most twentieth-century conflicts. These include the International Committee of the Red Cross archives in Geneva, national archives, and in some cases records held by the former detaining power.
Civilian records in occupied territories
For ancestors who lived under occupation or were displaced as refugees, records vary enormously by country, region, and historical period. Local civil registration records, church records, and national archives in the countries of origin are the primary sources. The Arolsen Archives hold records relating specifically to victims of Nazi persecution and may be searchable if your family was affected.
Online and Specialist Resources
- Fold3 — digitised US military records, including service records, unit histories, and pension files
- FindMyPast — strong for British and Irish military records
- Ancestry — military collections for many countries, including immigration records that document wartime displacement
- The National Archives (UK) — holds extensive First and Second World War records, including POW and casualty records
- Europeana — a pan-European digital archive with significant First World War collections
- Regimental museums — many hold unofficial records, photographs, and oral histories not found in national archives
Visiting Battlefields and Memorials
If an ancestor served in a known theatre of war, visiting the relevant battlefield or memorial can be a profound and research-productive experience. War cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are searchable online and document every Commonwealth soldier killed in the World Wars, with the grave or memorial location. The CWGC website allows you to find out exactly where an ancestor is commemorated.
Local village war memorials in both the UK and France typically list all those from the community who served or died, and local archives in the region often hold additional material.
Sensitive Aspects of Wartime Research
Wartime research sometimes surfaces difficult material: desertion, shell shock, crimes committed under orders, collaboration with occupying forces, or the experience of civilians caught between sides. Approach these findings with the same care you would apply to any difficult family discovery — with an understanding that people behaved within the constraints of their historical moment, and that judging from the safety of the present is rarely instructive.
Wartime experience also often reveals displacement, migration, and new family formations that connect to present-day family identity. If your research intersects with immigration history, understanding the wartime context can explain family patterns that otherwise seem puzzling. For families who want to connect their children to these heritage stories in age-appropriate ways, 2createyourlife.com offers ideas for bringing family history to life within home education contexts.
Preserving What You Find
Wartime documents, photographs, medals, and uniforms require careful preservation. For physical items:
- Store medals and metal objects in acid-free boxes away from humidity and direct light
- Scan documents at high resolution (600 dpi minimum for text, 1200 dpi for photographs) and store multiple copies in separate locations
- Handle fragile paper documents with clean cotton gloves
- Label scans with the person’s name, the item, and the approximate date before you file them
Regimental museums and local history archives are often willing to receive donations of significant wartime material if the family cannot care for it properly — and they may be able to tell you more about the items in return.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if military service records were destroyed or are sealed?
This is a real obstacle in many countries. Alternative sources include pension records, unit histories, casualty and medal records (which survived separately), newspaper archives covering local servicemen, and the memories of surviving family members. The absence of service records does not end the research — it redirects it.
How do I find out which battles or campaigns an ancestor was involved in?
Service records usually list the units served with. Finding the unit’s operational history — through unit war diaries in national archives or regimental histories published as books — will tell you where and when that unit was deployed. Cross-referencing those dates with your ancestor’s service dates gives you a good approximation of their campaign experience.
Can I find out if an ancestor received any medals?
Yes. For British and Commonwealth forces, the CWGC and the National Archives hold medal records. For US forces, NARA holds military personnel files that include medal information. Many other national archives have similar holdings. Some countries have online searchable medal databases specifically for this purpose.
What if the wartime history involves countries other than the UK or US?
Research becomes more complex but is entirely possible. National archives in France, Germany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and many other countries hold substantial wartime records. The International Genealogical Index (FamilySearch) and country-specific genealogical societies can help direct you to the right national resources.
Should I try to contact descendants of people my ancestor served with?
This can be very fruitful. Other families researching the same regiment or unit may have photographs, diaries, or letters that mention your ancestor specifically. DNA testing and genealogical forums are both useful ways to find these connections. What one family preserved, another may have lost — and sharing research is a hallmark of the best genealogical communities.