What is the BIRLS database you ask? It’s the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) database, 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.
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.” 1 See if your ancestor is listed in the BIRLS database here.
1 United States Department of Veterans Affairs, “The BIRLS Database,” Search the BIRLS Database, (https://www.birls.org/ : accessed 29 December 2024)
Submitted by Robin McCarthy
