June Stone, a member of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society (OGS), is requesting our help in gathering information about Oklahoma World War I veterans. OGS is planning to publish an index to honor these veterans and June is a member of the board and serving on the committee for this project.

There are some lists, by county, that are available at the Oklahoma Historical Society Library. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a list of those who were killed in action but does not have a list of all those who served and the American Legion Department of Oklahoma does not have a list.

Requested information includes full name of veteran, date and place of birth, date and place of death, date and place of marriage, name of spouse, names of parents, rank, branch of service, medals earned, obituary, pictures and anything that would contribute to the veteran's file.

June did not ask for this information, but I think the place of burial should be included.

To contribute to this project send information to: June Stone, 3601 NW 19th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73107-2815, by e-mail to JuneCStone@aol.com or fax 942-0546.

I will be sending OGS information on my father-in-law, Oscar Ellis Shawn, who served in World War I, as did his two brothers and his two brothers-in-law. If you do not have the military information on a family member you may check for that information at the courthouse in the county where the veteran lived when he was discharged.

Many World War II veterans also registered their military information in the local courthouse.

The Veterans Administration, Nationwide Gravesite Locator, will provide the name of the veteran, branch of service and what conflict they served in, if buried in a national cemetery.

Veterans buried after 1997 in a private cemetery also are listed in this gravesite locator database.

My husband's brother died in 2002 and is buried in a private cemetery, but is listed in this database. It includes the name of the veteran, rank, branch of service, conflict served in, date of birth, date of death, name and address of the cemetery, including the telephone number of the cemetery.

That Web site address is http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1.

Information pertaining to veterans buried overseas, may be found by searching the Web site of American Battle Monuments Commission at www.abmc.gov/ home.php When I accessed this site I found the World War II Monument in Washington, D.C., listed. You can access this site and search for a veteran by name, or as I did by surname.

My husband's brother had been added by his daughter and included was a picture of him in uniform, where he served and other information.

As time allows I want to spend more time searching this Web site.

Remember to honor your Oklahoma veterans of World War I by submitting their information to the OGS for the compilation of the planned index.