Mississippi Free Vital Records and Discharge Recording for VA Claims

Four short statutes make Mississippi records free when they are needed for a VA claim. Together they remove a cost that lands on claimants at the worst moment, usually a survivor assembling documents after a death. The Mississippi Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, furnishes copies of birth and death certificates without charge when they are needed to establish claims for dependency, disability, or survivor benefits for any veteran who is a legal resident of Mississippi, or for their claimants. Miss. Code Ann. Section 35-3-9. Chancery and circuit clerks furnish copies of marriage licenses, divorce decrees, adoption decrees, and any and all other records without charge when needed to establish the same claims for Mississippi resident veterans or their claimants. Miss. Code Ann. Section 35-3-11. The phrase "any and all other records" is broad, and it is worth quoting to a clerk who is only prepared to waive the fee on a marriage license. Chancery clerks record, without cost, all honorable discharges and all certificates of service of members of the Armed Forces residing in the same county, and furnish certified copies free of charge. Miss. Code Ann. Section 35-3-13. Recording the DD-214 with the chancery clerk in your county of residence gives you a permanent, retrievable, free source of certified copies, which is the cheapest insurance available against a lost discharge. Do it once, on arrival in a county, rather than when a copy is urgently needed. A note on that, though. A recorded discharge in a county land or miscellaneous record may be a public record, and a DD-214 carries a Social Security number and other identifying detail. Ask the clerk how the recorded document is indexed and whether it can be sealed or restricted before recording it. Separately, the State Bureau of Vital Statistics furnishes, at no expense and immediately on application, a certified copy of a birth certificate for any person volunteering for service in one of the Armed Forces. Miss. Code Ann. Section 41-57-25. That one is for enlistment, not for a claim. Mississippi Veterans Affairs runs online request forms for a DD-214 and for birth and death certificates, and its claims division and the county veterans service officers will assemble the documentation. County veterans service officers are listed in the state benefits guidebook by county with addresses and phone numbers, and they complete forms, check claim status, and advise veterans and dependents at no charge. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History holds historical service records for earlier conflicts, and the Mississippi Military Department holds personnel and discharge records for the Mississippi Army and Air National Guard, which is the right office when an NGB Form 22 rather than a DD-214 is what is missing.