Madison County Recorder: Free DD-214 Recording, and a FAQ That Calls It Public

Recording. The Recorder's fee schedule lists "Veteran's Discharge (DD214): Free of charge", as Counties Code section 3-5015 requires. Copies. The DD-214 Certified Copy Request Form asks for the veteran's name, the requester's name and relationship, the number of copies and photo ID, delivered to the Clerk and Recorder's Office, Madison County Administration Building, 157 N. Main Street, Suite 211, Edwardsville. Section 3-5015 allows the recorder a fee of $1.25 for each certified copy beyond the first, and gives the first one free only in counties over 500,000; Madison's page does not say what it charges. Privacy. The Recorder's FAQ says "everything in our office is public record" and that when DD-214s are recorded "we take every precaution to redact any identifying information". Section 3-5015 goes further: a recorded discharge "is not subject to public inspection" and is open only to the person named, dependents, the county veterans' service officer, representatives of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, or someone with written authorization, until the National Archives' archival schedule opens it. A veteran worried about recording should know the statute, not the FAQ, governs.