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Search More Than 9 Million NARA World War II Army Enlistment Records Online at WorldVitalRecords.com Provo, UT, April 04, 2007 --(PR.com)-- More than 9 million World War II army enlistment records are now searchable online at WorldVitalRecords.com through a shipment provided by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), one of the largest archives in the US.“The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, preserves and provides access to billions of genealogical and historical records, photographs, and computerized resources. I am pleased that WorldVitalRecords.com is including these NARA records on its site,” said Kip Sperry, Professor of Family History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.NARA created the database in 2002 in conjunction with the Bureau of the Census. The World War II Army Enlistment database contains the majority of the Army enlistments during World War II from 1938-1946. "I am very grateful that the government went to such great lengths to track all of the valuable details of each individual's life over time. I am very excited to include that depth of detail for our members at WorldVitalRecords.com," said David Lifferth, President, WorldVitalRecords.com.The World War II database contains the serial number, name, state and county of residence, place of enlistment, date of enlistment, race, grade, Army branch, term of enlistment, longevity, nativity (place of birth), year of birth, civilian occupation, marital status, education, military occupational specialty (1945 and later), height and weight (before 1943), component, and box and reel number of the microfilmed punch cards."The World War II generation brought us out of the Great Depression and established much of the American modern infrastructure we enjoy today. We celebrate their lives with the inclusion of these records," said Yvette Arts, Director, Content Acquisition, WorldVitalRecords.com.At WorldVitalRecords.com, these NARA databases are part of a global search, allowing users to search all of the databases at one time. These records will also be enhanced with geomapping and the Google Book search features.“This new database at WorldVitalRecords.com adds a wealth of material from the rich resources of NARA. With this addition, the records of millions of veterans have been made available to researchers,” said Robert Freeman, Director of the Saints at War Project at Brigham Young University.About WorldVitalRecords.comFinding your ancestors can be overwhelming, and expensive. At WorldVitalRecords.com, they’ve made it easy and affordable for individuals to connect to their families and find answers to their genealogical questions. WorldVitalRecords.com was founded by Paul Allen, who also founded Ancestry.com, one of the leading genealogy companies. WorldVitalRecords.com aims to be a top player in the genealogy industry and will offer users international record databases, references to top genealogical resources, including Everton’s Online Genealogical Helper and Family Group Sheets and Pedigree Files, a blog planet, podcasts, videocasts, Webinars, expert advice, training, and user-generated content###

If you are planning on conducting any research in the Washington D.C. area, this is one guide you'll need.The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington has published the newly updated and expanded fourth edition of "Capital Collections: Resources for Jewish Genealogical Research in the Washington, DC Area". Resources, phone numbers, Web sites and security information have been updated. New sites have been added, along with a public transportation section and a DC Metro map. HINT: Do not bring any sort of drink down to the Metro platforms; you risk a fine. On my last trip, a friendly passerby advised me to ditch the iced tea before taking the escalator. At the bottom was an official waiting for unsuspecting travelers. I don't know if this tip, common knowledge for residents, is in the book, but it would help visitors.The 103-page guide includes the following sections and resources: Getting around the DC Metro Area; National Archives and Records Administration; NARA Archives II at College Park, Maryland; The Library of Congress; The US Holocaust Memorial Museum; National Museum of American Jewish Military History; Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library; Family History Centers; National Library of Medicine; House of the Temple Library and Museum; Washington, DC (includes DC city archives & courts); Maryland (inclding special sections on Baltimore and Anapolis); Virginia (including Northern VA and Richmond); Synagogues in the Washington area; Cemeteries in the Washington area and the Synagogues & Burial Societies using them; Cemeteries in the Baltimore area and the Synagogues & Burial Societies using them.This book is a must for individual genealogists and genealogy society libraries. Single copies are $18 + $5 S&H, though Jewish genealogical libraries may purchase them for $12. To order, send checks to the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, Inc., P.O. Box 31122, Bethesda MD 20824, Att: Capital CollectionsLabels: Books, Washington DC

Footnote.com for Historians, Genealogists and Many Others There's a new player on the genealogy field, and their launch this week announced a partnership with the foremost resource in the United States. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration announced a major new initiative to scan millions of historical documents and to make them available online. The documents will appeal to many different interests: genealogists, historians, re-enactors, railroad enthusiasts, aviation historians, and many, many others. Approximately 4.5 million pages are available at launch, and millions more historical documents will be digitized and placed online each year. The project is being launched in a partnership with a commercial firm called Footnote, Inc. The company's new web site went "live" at noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, January 10. I have spent some time using Footnote's new service and thought I would describe my experiences. Perhaps I should start with a bit of introduction. I suspect that many newsletter readers have never heard of Footnote, Inc. and may wonder, "Who is this new company that is going to digitize millions of National Archives records? Can they really make it happen?" In fact, Footnote, Inc. has been in business for years under the name iArchives, Inc., and has been involved in numerous genealogical and history-related high-tech projects. The company has been a contractor to several commercial and non-profit organizations, but its own corporate name has rarely been in the spotlight. The company has extensive experience in high-volume scanning of old records. About a year ago iArchives decided to launch its own product. While preparing for the launch of its huge new database, the company also changed its name to Footnote, Inc., to better reflect the collaborative model of its new business. NOTE:

The Under Secretary's rebuttal of the IG's report is withering. It takes the IG's report apart, brick by brick, and shows it to be false in every material respect. Much of the Under Secretary's response is devoted to bureaucratic matters; e.g., the Inspector General was simply wrong in asserting that the work in question was carried out by the Under Secretary for Policy's office. On the merits, the Under Secretary points out that the IG has no expertise to determine that the effort to re-evaluate the intelligence gathered by the CIA and other agencies was "improper," even though it was both legal and directed by the Secretary of Defense: The work found "inappropriate" was an exercise in alternative thinking that the second most senior civilian in this Department directed his subordinates to prepare and brief to the most senior official of this Department. The latter, after receiving the draft briefing, directed that it be shared with the [Director of Central Intelligence]. When the Deputy National Security Advisor requested the briefing, the Deputy Secretary's office directed that it be given to him. These are the activities that the Draft Report characterizes as "inappropriate," because it considers them to be "production" and "dissemination" of an "alternative intelligence assessment" contradicting assessments of the "chartered-intelligence community." If the OIG actually believes that it was inappropriate for the Deputy Secretary of Defense to have some non-[intelligence community] staff members do a critical assessment of some [intelligence community] work on a subject of major significance for national security, inappropriate for the Secretary of Defense to share the OSD work with the [Director of Central Intelligence], and inappropriate for the Deputy Secretary to share the work with the Deputy National Security Advisor when requested by the latter, the OIG should say so directly instead of finding fault with subordinate OSD offices and staff members who did as they were instructed to do.

For some time, there have been claims of Iran's direct involvement in attacks against Iraqi and U.S. troops, but without the presentation of sufficient actual evidence to persuade Congress or the American public at large. Congress - Members of both parties and key staff - have been very reluctant to trust any such claims ever since the Iraqi WMD intelligence debacle. That might change after today, when U.S. officials on the ground in Iraq - not just at the CIA or the Pentagon in Washington - revealed reliable evidence of Iran's direct involvement, from the highest levels in the government, in the attacks.