Reclaim the Records Does It Again! -- the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Database is Freely Available!

 I received the recent newsletter from Reclaim the Records, and it has wonderful news for genealogy researchers.  The Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) database is available to search for FREE, and the user can order via a FOIA request the complete file for any deceased veteran who served and received Veteran Affairs (VA) benefits.

What is BIRLS?  Here is the description on the Reclaim the Records BIRLS website:

The Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) database was originally created and maintained by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA). It provides an index to basic biographical information on more than 18 million deceased American veterans who received some sort of veterans benefits in their lifetime, including health care, disability or life insurance policies, educational benefits (the GI Bill), mortgage assistance (VA loans), and more. The BIRLS database includes people who served in all branches of the US military, including some branches that no longer exist, such as the Women's Army Corps (WACs) and the Army Air Corps, as well as a few associated non-military groups and government agencies, such as NOAA. It even includes files for some non-US nationals, including veterans of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Philippine Scouts and Guerillas, who served prior to and during the Second World War.

In 2018, the non-profit organization Reclaim The Records filed what would become a multi-year but ultimately successful Freedom of Information Act or FOIA lawsuit against the VA, winning the right to obtain and publish the majority of the BIRLS database. The data was finally handed over by the VA in 2022. Through this website, the BIRLS database is now freely searchable online and even downloadable as free, public, and open data, for the first time.

Finding a name listed in the BIRLS database means that you can make a free FOIA request for a copy of that deceased veteran's full VA claims file, which may contain hundreds of pages of never-before-seen biographical and historical material about the veteran, their military service, and their interactions with the VA. These files are an incredible resource about the lives of American veterans who served from the late nineteenth century up through the present day. But because 95% of these claims files have not yet been transferred out of the VA to the National Archives, and because until very recently it was almost impossible to access the records through FOIA, these materials were largely unknown and inaccessible to historians, journalists, and genealogists -- until now.

There is a large button to Search the BIRLS Database on the webpage. The user can put in information for their veteran.

 

I put my father's first, middle and last name into the system, hit the "Submit My Request" button at the bottom of the form, and received no results.  I took out the middle name (as on the image above), and got results:

My father is the first name on the results list for some reason.  This is not an "exact" search - the results list also shows alternate name spellings.  However, the birth date for my father is incorrect - their records may not have a birth date for some reason (they assumed 90 years of age at death, I think).  And the index says "Unknown" for the branch of the service he was in - it was the U.S. Navy.

There may be more information when I click on the "carat" link on the left of his name on the results list.  It shows:

It appears that the BIRLS system does not know when my father enlisted, was released from active duty, his service time, his cause of death, or his gender.  It does know his Social Security Number.  

The botton at the bottom of the image above says "Submit a Free Request Online for this Veteran's C-File -- FREE!"  When I did that I could fill out a form and send it via email for FREE using a request letter formatted by Reclaim the Records.

The Reclaim the Records page says:

The VA might ask you to pay a few cents per page for any file that they find and copy, but we've found that they usually don't bother to charge FOIA requesters for this service. Occasionally, small parts of the file may be redacted (withheld, or blacked out) if any part of the information in it refers to a possibly-living person, or for other legal reasons. Processing times for these types of FOIA requests usually take a few months, and the documents will most likely be sent to you as digital files placed on a DVD sent by postal mail (even though the VA is legally supposed to provide copies to you via e-mail or file transfer website, if asked).

There are 6 steps - Veteran's Info, Your Info, Agree to Terms (you have to check a box), Sign Form (with your finger), Review Request, and Send FOIA Letter.

This is FREE.  The Reclaim the Records site says they fax a PDF of your request letter to the special FOIA group within the Veterans Benefits Administration and they also send you an email with the request letter.  

The Reclaim the Records site indicates that it may take 6 to 8 weeks to receive a response once they receive the fax of the FOIA letter.  

I also requested information on my maternal grandfather, Lyle L. Carringer (1891-1976) who was the U.S. Marines Reserve during World War I.  

This is really easy to do, and it may result in information that I don't have about the military service of my father and grandfather.  I will report on what I receive when I receive it.

One more thing:  You can sign up for the email list for Reclaim the Records on their website at the very bottom of the page.  While you're there, check out all of the other records that they have provided, for FREE, from several government agencies, on their Records Request page.

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