New York, U.S., Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919

New York sent more soldiers to fight in World War I than any other state in the Union. In fact, New Yorkers represented more than 10 percent of U.S. troops. This collection includes cards listing details abstracted from federal military service records for Army officers, enlisted men, sailors, Marines, and nurses who enlisted or were drafted in New York. The majority of the records begin in 1914 and continue through 1919.

Because the service records for most World War I Army veterans were destroyed in a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center of the National Archives, this collection is a particularly important resource.

What You Can Find in the Records

The cards include the following details:

• name
• serial/service number
• race
• place and date of enlistment or induction
• place of birth
• age or date of birth
• service organization(s) with assignment dates and transfers
• rank (grade) with date of appointment
• engagements
• whether wounded in action, how badly and date
• overseas service dates
• discharge/separation date and information
• degree of disability at discharge

Women in the Records

This collection does includes some women who served as Army nurses or Navy yeomen (women working in secretarial and clerical jobs) or nurses.

Corrections to These Records

These cards were created in 1920. Because these records are abstracts, there is a possibility that errors crept in during the transcription process. According to the New York State Archives catalog, some errors were noted and corrected in 1935, so you may see notations that were written in after the initial extraction.

While these records were arranged alphabetically, it is not a true alphabetical order and occasionally cards will appear in an unexpected location.