In the past eight years, CGS has offered its members two projects led by Marsha Peterson-Maass that focused on research in today's U.S. military resources --- with the goals of building a detailed bio for specific veterans, and also finding their portrait photos.  Throughout the years, our researchers developed military research strategies (primarily based on finding WWI, WWII and Vietnam records) that Marsha is delighted to share.  Topics will include: veteran's biography + timeline; first things first; working with resources online + on site; resources in genealogy databases; often overlooked resources like military histories + maps; newspapers; checking with veterans' groups; social media and more.  Since National Purple Heart Day will occur two days later (on August 7th), Marsha will discuss general purple heart medal information + how to order a replacement if your family can't find your hero's original.  And Marsha will conclude with a brief case study highlighting the records that built a Chicago WWII veteran's identity and biography.

Marsha Peterson-Maass is a genealogy researcher, educator and author.  She has taught at Chicago's Newberry Library for over 20 years, at two local community colleges and has lectured in genealogy topics at many Chicagoland libraries and genealogy groups. Marsha published the Fundamentals of Genealogy® textbook series which she teaches from.  For eight years, she led a research team for Purple Hearts Reunited that has returned hundreds of lost military Purple Heart medals to veterans or their families at no cost.  Marsha is also a Board Member of the Chicago Genealogical Society.

Registration is required via the Chicago Genealogical Society website under Events. Registration will close 1 hour prior to the event. The meet-up will take place virtually via ZOOM. All people registered will receive an email the morning of the event with log-in instructions and a link. This information is not to be shared.

Note: This webinar is FREE for everyone!