On Nov. 8, 1862, young Ebenezer S. Killian was drafted into the military, donning the blue kersey uniform of a Union soldier to take up arms in a struggle to preserve freedom and end slavery.

The Lancaster County man was made a member of a local militia organization, the 178th Pennsylvania Infantry. He became a private in Company B of that regiment.

Luckily for Killian, the 178th was a nine-month regiment, so he was mustered out on July 27, 1863, and returned home.

On March 24, 1941, 26-year-old Israel Spencer Gockley traveled from Lancaster County to Harrisburg, where he was inducted into the U.S. Army. Single, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 184 pounds and with just two years of secondary education, Gockley became a private in the army. After serving in Europe with the 84th Infantry Division, he returned to his Lancaster home a sergeant.

These two men — relatives of this reporter — are just two of the 100 million U.S. military veterans whose records can now be accessed free for a limited time.

The National Archives has teamed up with Ancestry.com to make available the military records of veterans from the present to as far back as U.S. military records go.

The public may access the records for free by going to www.ancestry.com/military. The free preview, however, lasts only until May 31. After that, Ancestry.com will charge a monthly subscription fee for the service.

"It's a valuable service," said Daniel Tooth, director of Lancaster County's Department of Veterans Affairs. "We use it all the time. It's a good way for people to secure veterans benefits."

For years, Ancestry.com has been buying microfilmed copies of military records from the National Archives, transferring them to a digital format and allowing its members to access them.

Almost every conflict in U.S. history is available, including draft-registration cards from both World Wars, images of headstones of Civil War soldiers and service records of Americans taken prisoner during the Vietnam War.

The agreement between Ancestry.com and the National Archives expedites the microfilm to digital process.

When completed, Ancestry.com will give the digital files back to the National Archives, under the stipulation the Archives must wait five years before placing them on their own online database.

John Zagorski, senior vice commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1463 in Lititz, said the online service is a "great idea."

"To have the ability for someone to say 'I want to look up what my grandfather did or what my father or my Uncle Bob did or Aunt Sally,' I think that's great to have something like that available," he said. "The only downside is that there will be a fee to it. I think that might stop some people, especially younger ones."

Zagorski said he's eager to learn about two of his uncles who served during World War II.

"The only reason I know they served is that I read it on their grave markers," he said.

Currently, the National Archives holds these military records, and they can be viewed by the public, but only in research rooms at the various National Archives locations.

E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com