Filed under MOD Records for Deceased Persons: A Method Guide
What should you look for first?
In general, a request goes to the holder with identifying details for the person, the service and the dates, and the holder applies its disclosure rules before releasing anything. This site does not submit requests; it explains the shape of the process so you can approach the holder directly.
A person who served in two periods, two units, or two services will look like two people until the threads are joined by dates and numbers. A record you cannot place is not a wasted find. File it with its reference and its filters, and let a later record place it.
How do you read what you find?
A medical entry, a pay entry, or a disciplinary entry should not be read as a character judgement. These are administrative categories, and they record process, not personality. Abbreviations are the easiest place to go wrong, because the same letters can stand for different things in different periods and different services. When a file is thin, read it twice: once for what it says, and once for what kind of file it is. A thin file read as a thick one will be over-interpreted.
Where this kind of research usually stalls
If the trail ends at a particular holder, the next step is to ask that holder where the record went, not to search the same catalogue harder. Do not confuse a record that is hard to find with a record that does not exist. Difficulty is a property of the search, not of the record. A record that is closed, a record that is withheld in part, and a record that is lost are different outcomes with different remedies. The holder reply says which.
Working through it in order
A good session ends with the next step already named. If you finish a step without knowing the next one, the timeline, not the record, is telling you. A method that works is a slow one. Each step below earns the next, and skipping a step does not save time, it creates a check you will have to do later.
- Fix the service, the dates, and the branch of service from what you already know.
- Check the holder current guidance for proof of death and next of kin requirements for your case.
- Prepare the identifying details the holder asks for, name, number, unit and dates, before making any request.
- Note what is released and what is withheld, and keep the holder reply with the record.
What to open after this one
If the next step is unclear, return to the timeline and find its weakest link. The weakest dated entry, not the most interesting gap, is what to strengthen next. The strongest timelines are short and referenced. Resist the urge to add unreferenced detail at the end of a session, when checking discipline is weakest. The record set will not hurry for you, and you should not hurry for it. Slow, referenced work is the only kind that survives checking.
Primary sources for this guide
This guide keeps its claims general and points to the official holders, so the holder itself is the place to check the current position. It is general educational information only, not personal professional advice, and it offers no record lookup service and no determination of any individual's service.