Fold3 has Created a Military Honor Wall

You can make an online, collaborative, memorial for your relatives who served in the United States military on the Military Honor Wall that was created by Fold3.

Fold3 is a genealogy resource that provides access to US military records. It also includes stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. The name comes from the traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country.

As you may know, Fold3 is owned by Ancestry.com (one of the most popular genealogy websites). Those who wish to use Ancestry.com can take advantage of a 7-day free trial. The same is true for Fold3.com (which also offers a free 7-day trial). After that, a genealogist who wishes to continue to use either website must pay for a subscription.

That being said, anyone can access the Military Honor Wall Fold3 created for free. That makes it an excellent, and frugal, resource for genealogists who are on a budget. It offers you a unique way to commemorate relatives who served in the United States military.

Those looking for information about their ancestors can search the Military Honor Wall for free. It is recommend that you do a search for your relative before you create a Memorial Page for him or her on the website. If no Memorial Page exists for that person, you can go ahead and make one.

If one already exists, you are able to update it with photos and stories of that person (even though you weren’t the one who originally created the memorial). Doing so prevents the problem of having multiple Memorial Pages for the same individual. It helps compile information and makes it easier for genealogists to locate it.

In addition to creating a memorial for your ancestor, the Memorial Page allows you to do other things. You are able to highlight historical documents that you found on Fold3 right on the Memorial page. It is also possible to highlight the historical documents that you found on other websites, outside of Fold3. Some of those resources include the National Archives and Record Administration, Ancestry.com, and TogetherWeServed.com.

Those of you with an Ancestry.com subscription can connect the Memorial Page to your Ancestry.com family tree. The Military Honor Wall was rolled out on Veterans Day, November 11, 2013. It is a nice way to create a collaborative memorial for you relatives who served. Veterans are also welcome to create a Memorial Page for themselves. Part of the purpose of the website is to bring military records “to life”.

What if you have more than one relative who served in the military? It is perfectly acceptable for you to create a Memorial Page for each of them. (Assuming, of course, someone else hasn’t already created one for them). Some people may assume that they would be limited to making only one free Memorial Page at Fold3. The reality is you can make as many as you need.

Photo Credit: Image by Beverly & Pack on Flickr.