Other Records From Commercial Databases
Some personal information from U.S. Military records is available to the public, without authorization from the veteran. This includes name, rank, service number, dates of service and medals awarded. If the service person is dead, the place of birth, place of death and location of burial may also be available. No information is available via the Internet, however. Requests must be made in writing. For more information see the National Archives and Records Administration's National Personnel Records Center at http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/index.html.
That said however, there is a strong possibility that the record you want no longer exists, after a major 1973 fire that destroyed millions of U.S. Military service records. It's estimated that 80% of all U.S. Army files for personnel discharged between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960, as well as records for approximately 75% of U.S. Air Force personnel discharged between September 25, 1947 and January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) were destroyed. It does not appear that Navy or Marine records were affected.
Personnel records of living civilian personnel are not available to the public.
OTHER RECORDS FROM COMMERCIAL DATABASES
For access to public records such as state corporate and limited partnership records, UCCs, liens, judgments, bankruptcy records, aircraft, watercraft and stock ownership, death records and lawsuits, that you did not find in any of the sources previously listed, you will have to use a commercial database.
Fortunately, many commercial databases are available on the Web and you can pay as you go without subscribing in advance or installing their software on your computer. Some of these databases are: Westlaw at http://www.westlaw.com, Lexis at http://www.lexis.com/xchange and Choice Point (formerly CDB Infotek) at http://www.choicepointonline.com/. KnowX at http://www.knowx.com is one of the fee-based public record web sites that also provide some free information (summary information is displayed in single-only state searches). Registration with a credit card is required to purchase more detailed information (from $.95 - $15.00).
The volume and diversity of public records available for free on the Internet is truly astounding, particularly in light of the fact that most of this information has only recently been placed on the Web. Despite the widespread availability of information on the Internet, for the near-term at least, it remains a hit or miss proposition whether the specific information you might be looking for will be available. Even though new information is added to the Internet, literally, every day, that doesn't do you any good, if the material you're looking for isn't available yet.
It will still be awhile before the public has access to all "public" records from our computer desktops. In the mean time, there are still the old stand-bys like the phone, mail and commercial databases available to access this information. They'll still cost you, but the good news is, in most instances, will cost much less now than it used to.
