The state of Washington’s World War I service statement cards are now available online. There are about 48,000 cards that cover Washington soldiers who served between 1917-1919. They’re available at http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/TitleInfo.aspx?TID=640.

If you’ve ever searched WWI cards before this collection is pretty straightforward; search by first, middle, or last name. My search for John Smith found 17 results. To get the actual record you have to click on a link that reads “Image” but that actually takes you to a transcription of the record and provides ANOTHER link to the card image. The image defaults to DJVU, which requires additional plugin installation (grr) but you CAN choose to view the image as JPEG, which I did and which worked just fine. The images are pretty small, but since all the ones I saw were typewritten they’re very easy to read.

Should you have ancestors from Washington and you find a useful card here, be sure and check back on the front page of these archives. You’ll find additional information on the “Veterans’ Bonus Applications,” which are not available on the site but can be obtained through the Washington State Archives.