Calling Aspiring Authors:
If you are thinking about writing about an ancestor who was a veteran or wish to choose one from the online WPA database, please examine the resources listed below or contact a member of the current Researcher editorial committee.

An Excel spreadsheet, developed in 2011, contains the names of veterans with up to eight associated data fields per entry, not just the two items in the online database. This information offers a valuable head start for anyone interested in researching and writing a veteran’s mini-biography. To request access to this spreadsheet, please reach out to a member of the current Researcher editorial committee.

Download the following documents for guidance on formatting a veteran's bio:

These two articles, published in 2024, will help with researching and writing about a veteran:

Useful Sources for your research:

For a veteran who died in Pierce County before 1939 (the date the WPA compiled the death

records), one of the best online sources is the Washington State Digital Archives (free) (https://digitalarchives.wa.gov/). Here you can find not only records of the men who applied to the Washington Soldiers’ Home, but among the other digitized county and state collections, there are often images of birth, death, and marriage certificates.

Ancestry (subscription) and FamilySearch (free) ( with their vast holdings, vie for first-stop honors.

Fold3 (subscription) is accessible through Ancestry. Fold3’s military collections are not as extensive as a researcher would like, but the site is much improved from a few years ago, and occasionally, surprising and useful records appear in hit lists.

Probably the other most-used resources are Find a Grave (free) and the US Censuses, accessible at Ancestry, FamilySearch, and other major genealogical websites.

For obituaries, the online sites of Newspapers.com (subscription), Chronicling America (free), and Washington Digital Newspapers (free) are helpful, and a host of other relevant news articles might turn up in your search.

City Directories, often found at Ancestry and other large websites, also prove very useful.

Selecting a veteran from the list of names:

Select any name you wish. There is no hard and fast rule, other than do not select one for whom a mini-biography was already written. The obvious first choice is an ancestor of yours. Or perhaps one buried in a particular cemetery, or who served

in a specific war. If you are having trouble choosing, please contact a member of the editorial committee for a list of several dozen veterans who seem interesting for one reason or another.

If the names in the database don’t stir your imagination, perhaps the story you're meant to tell lies closer to home. A veteran ancestor whose legacy lives quietly in family memories may be waiting for their chapter to be written. We deeply value these personal tributes and would be honored to help you share their story with others.