Free Online Access to Military Records This ANZAC Day

Free Online Access to 20 Million NZ, Australian & UK Military Records This ANZAC Day

Ancestry will open up collections spanning more than 100 years of military conflicts involving New Zealanders, including the Crimean War, NZ Land Wars, Boer War, WWI & WWII

AUCKLAND, New Zealand. Friday 22 April, 2016. To commemorate ANZAC Day – a time of great significance to our nation – Ancestry, the leader in family history and consumer genomics, is providing access to its impressive collection of military databases to New Zealanders free of charge.

This includes all of Ancestry’s New Zealand and Australian military history collections, as well as UK military collections that contain information on Commonwealth soldiers. Over 20 million records will be freely accessible from Friday 22 April to Tuesday 26 April 2016.

The first ANZAC Day commemorations; what happened 100 years ago?

This year will mark 100 years since large crowds gathered across New Zealand to attend the first commemorations of ANZAC Day in 1916. In London, 2,000 New Zealand and Australian troops marched through the streets to Westminster Abbey, many of them Gallipoli veterans, where a special service was held to commemorate the Dardanelles landings on the 25th April the previous year. New Zealand soldiers in Egypt commemorated the day with a remembrance service, including the Last Post, followed by sports and games.

ANZAC Day during WWII; bittersweet 25th anniversary during retreat from Greece, 1941

ANZAC Day commemorations in 2016 will also mark 75 years since New Zealand and Australian soldiers were evacuated from Greece on 25th April 1941, as Nazi troops swept through that country. During the last week of April more than 50,000 Allied troops were evacuated from mainland Greece, including most of the 2nd New Zealand Division. In this brief campaign nearly 300 New Zealanders were killed, and 1,800 captured. Poignantly, it was the first time that New Zealand and Australian soldiers had served together since WWI.

Over 20 million records, representing more than 100 years of military history

Ancestry offers online access to an extensive collection of New Zealand military records. With millions of individual military records pertaining to Kiwi and Aussie soldiers, this collection is a valuable resource to anyone wishing to find out more about their family history.

Ben Mercer, Australia and New Zealand Senior Content Manager at Ancestry, says: “The information in these military records offers fascinating insights into New Zealand’s past, and the role New Zealanders played in some of the most significant military events from 1840 to 1945. Over the coming ANZAC weekend, exploring these records could help you re-connect with your ancestors, and come to understand the life-changing episodes they lived through and experienced first-hand.”

Apart from the purely military information – who enlisted where and when, who served in what capacity and what happened to them – many of the records show addresses, occupations and next of kin. Combined with Ancestry’s other extensive collections, including electoral rolls, and births, death and marriage records, you can build a picture of what your ancestor was doing before, during and after the war they served in.

The military collections that will be free to access during this period include:

Ancestry’s New Zealand Military Collections

• New Zealand, Roll of Honour, 1840-1903

• New Zealand Army Medal Rolls, 1860-1919

• New Zealand Army WWI Nominal Rolls, 1914-1918

• New Zealand Army WWI Casualty Lists, 1914-1919

• New Zealand Army WWI Roll of Honour, 1914-1919

• New Zealand Expeditionary Force Record of Personal Service, 1914-1918

• Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F., 1916-1919

• New Zealand Army WWI Reserve Rolls, 1916-1917

• New Zealand WWI Military Defaulters, 1919-1921

• New Zealand Army WWII Nominal Rolls, 1939-1948

• NZ, World War II Appointments, Promotions, Transfers and Resignations, 1939-1945

• New Zealand, World War II Ballot Lists, 1940-1945

Ancestry’s Australian Military Collections

• Australia, Imperial Force Burials at Gallipoli, 1915

• Australia, WWI Service Records, 1914-1920

• Australia, World War II Military Service Records, 1939-1945

• New South Wales, Australia, Cowra Military Camps Personnel Photo Index, 1905-1970

• ANZAC Memorial, 1914-1918

Ancestry’s UK Military Collections

• UK, Silver War Badge Records, 1914-1920

• UK, Naval Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1972

• UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949

• UK, Citations of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1914-1920

• British WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920

• British WWI Service records 1914-1920

• British WWI Pension records 1914-1920

• British Commonwealth War Graves Register 1914-1918

• The National Roll of the Great War 1914-1920

• UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947

• UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945

• UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970

• UK, WWI War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920

• UK, WWI War Diaries (Gallipoli and Dardanelles), 1914-1916

The records will be freely accessible from 12:01am NZST on Friday 22 April to 01:59am NZST Tuesday 26 April 2016 atwww.ancestry.com.au/anzacday2016[i].

###

ABOUT ANCESTRY

Ancestry, the leader in family history and consumer genomics, harnesses the information found in family trees, historical records, and DNA to help people gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Ancestry has more than 2.3 million paying subscribers across its core Ancestry websites and more than 1.5 million DNA samples in the AncestryDNA database. Since 1996, more than 17 billion records have been added, and users have created more than 80 million family trees on the Ancestry flagship site and its affiliated international websites. Ancestry offers a suite of family history products including Archives, Fold3, Newspapers.com and AncestryDNA sold by its subsidiary, Ancestry International DNA, LLC.

ends

© Scoop Media