This project has always been a community effort in conjunction with the Rye Historical Society, American Legion Post 128, Rye High School & Middle School and numerous volunteers. To our knowledge no other community has ever attempted anything on this scale and this project could serve as a template for all other interested municipalities across the United States.

Mission Statement
To research all available archival sources and create a short biography for all veterans who served from Rye N.Y..


History
We have spent ten years collecting information to create this website. Locally, it is time to honor all Rye veterans who served their country by attempting to create a brief biography. Until now these men and women were just a list of names on a plaque. It is our goal to give each veteran a permanent identification with a snapshot of their service and lives.

The original goal of this effort was to produce a booklet of Rye and WWII (1941-1945) similar in nature to that published in 1923 for WWI, “The World War History of the Village of Rye 1917-1918.” Upon further reflection, the committee felt a website, creating a living time capsule for future Rye generations, to be a more appropriate vehicle by which to tell the story.

Original Website was launched as RyeWW2.org in 2012. In January of 2020 it was renamed and it is now Ryevets.org. The Rye veteran’s project as of today encompasses over 2100 men and women who served in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

Brief Overview of Work Completed

• Created database of over 300 WWI veterans from WWI Memorial. Since no existing list existed photos were taken and the names transcribed into spreadsheet and a database created.
• Created new WWI section on Ryeverts.org
• Created individual page for each veteran with links to their records, including Census Data and U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 in Ancestry.com
• Successfully found and uploaded discharge records for over 250 veterans thru New York, U.S., Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919
• Using above information split Veterans by branch of Service and created categories for Army, Navy and Unknown
• Successfully completed brief biographies for eight WWI men who died in service
• Created link to Rye Chronicle Articles to further research each veteran and find obituaries.

• It is now possible to write a brief biography for all WWI veterans from Rye NY - See sample for Martin F. Kirby
• We need volunteers to write brief biographies on these men as detailed here How to Write a Veterans Biography

• Created database of 1,449 WWII veterans from City Hall Plaque. Since no existing list existed a photo was taken and the names transcribed into spreadsheet.
• Searched National Archives for each WWII veteran to determine Branch of Service, US Army (681) , US Army Air Corp (155), Coast Guard(260), Marines(68), Navy(336), Womens Army Corp.(10), Merchant Marines(17), Other(47), Killed(59), Unknown,(76)
• Copied service number, enlistment date and year of birth. Over 1373 Veterans Identified.
• Information above used to create request form SF-180 for discharge records for each veteran from National Archives. PDF request are on each veterans page.
• Cross referenced list with Rye High School Directory identifying 500+ RHS Graduates and year of graduation. We used this information to scan high school graduation photos of veterans obtained from yearbooks. Eg. Philip A. Oldham
• Actively searched census data from 1930 and 1940 to find (1397) home addresses and year of birth.
• Website created to showcase veteran’s (website will be updated with all new info)
• Comment section added to each veteran’s page to obtain and edit information.
• Discovered site Fulton History to search information on each veteran as reported by The Rye Chronicle (1910-1978) ie; Search Fulton History for "Helene Houston" Rye NY Chronicle
• Created a database with links to Census information and shared with Rye High School for students to create short biographies for each veteran.
• Successfully completed brief biographies for fifty eight WWII men who died in service
• Researched Hundreds of Newspapers finding obituaries for over 1200 veterans.
• Created Internship and Community service programs for high school students.
• Created insructional page with videos on How to Write a Veterans Biogaphy for each veteran.
• We are looking for information regarding these men and women including: Discharge Records, Pictures, Rye Address During the War and Branch of Service. Also, the specific outfit in which they served, Example for Army: (K Company, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division).
• On every WWII Veterans page, there is a link to a form SF-180. This form is populated with the information, gathered over years of research, required to request the discharge record of each veteran. The discharge record will tell us many things needed to complete the service part of their biographies. We need help in mailing these requests.
• It is now possible to write a brief biography for all WWI veterans from Rye NY - See sample for John E. Bassett
• We need volunteers to write brief biographies on these men as detailed here How to Write a Veterans Biography

• Created database of over 200 Korean War veterans from City Hall Plaque. Since no existing list existed photos were taken and the names transcribed into spreadsheet and a database created.
• Created new Korea section on Ryeverts.org
• Created individual page for each veteran with links to their records, including Census Data and U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 in Ancestry.com
• Searched thousands of old Rye Chronicle articles and added 180 pictures using high school yearbooks
• Using above information split Veterans by branch of Service and created categories for Army, Navy, Marines, Airforce and Unknown
• Created link to Rye Chronicle Articles to further research each veteran.
• Created instructions so that 100 short biographies were successfully written by RHS APUSH students.

• It is now possible to write a brief biography for all Korean War veterans from Rye NY - See sample for Robert A. Larson
• The 1950 census will become available in 2022, this will gives us a much better idea of where the veteran lived at the time of the Korean War.
• We are looking for information regarding these men and women including: Discharge Records, Pictures, Rye Address During the War and Branch of Service. Also, the specific outfit in which they served, Example for Army: (K Company, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division).
• We need volunteers to write brief biographies on these men as detailed here How to Write a Veterans Biography


• Created database of over 200 Vietnam War veterans from City Hall Plaque. Since no existing list existed photos were taken and the names transcribed into spreadsheet and a database created.
• Created new Vietnam section on Ryeverts.org
• Created individual page for each veteran with links to their records
• Searched thousands of old Rye Chronicle articles and added 120 pictures using high school yearbooks
• Using above information split Veterans by branch of Service and created categories for Army, Navy, Marines, Airforce and Unknown
• Created link to Rye Chronicle Articles to further research each veteran.

• We are looking for information regarding these men and women including: Discharge Records, Pictures, Rye Address During the War and Branch of Service. Also, the specific outfit in which they served, Example for Army: (K Company, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division).
• Since there are very few online resources, we need Vietnam Veterans and their families to write their own brief biographies. If you choose, you can submit information for us to try. You can get a great idea of what we need as detailed here How to Write a Veterans Biography