Veteran-owned · Every branch · Every era
Every veteran leaves a trail, from hometown to boot camp, duty stations, homecoming and the family that came after. VetTrails gives your family free tools to record that story and preserve it in the national archive, then helps you turn it into a book you'll keep for generations.
About 15 minutes. Tell us about your veteran, and we'll email the question list, recording guide and Library of Congress checklist. Photos are optional.
The Trail Map
How the trail works
01
Tell us about the veteran in about 15 minutes. A son, daughter or grandchild can fill it out, and photos are optional. Your free interview kit arrives by email.
Get the free interview kit02
Get a question list built for their branch and era, then record a 45–60 minute conversation on your phone. Would you rather a fellow veteran do the interview? VetTrails can come to you or meet by video.
Build your question list03
Send the recording to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project with our step-by-step checklist, or let us handle it for you. Then, if your family wants, we turn it into a printed book.
See the submission checklistFree tools
No account and no cost. What you type stays in your browser until you choose to share it.
What your family receives
We check your recording, complete the forms and recording log, and ship it to the Library of Congress for you.
Free with any book.
The book that started VetTrails
VetTrails began with one book: the life story John put together for his family's veteran, Paw. Every VetTrails book follows the same trail, one Waypoint chapter at a time, from hometown to homecoming.
The page shown is a sample layout.
A $99 memory book has you fill in prompts. A VetTrails book is written from a conversation with a fellow veteran, in Waypoints chapters from hometown to homecoming.
Softcover
The veteran's own words, a service timeline and up to 20 photos. Includes 2 copies.
$750
Hardcover
A written story in Waypoints chapters, the Trail Map and up to 50 photos, with a QR code beside each chapter that plays the veteran telling it. Includes 5 copies.
$1,500
Hardcover + video
Everything in Legacy, plus a second interview, research into the unit's history and a short family video. Includes 10 copies.
$2,500
Ready to talk about a book? Tell us about your veteran at the Trailhead and check the book you're interested in. John will reach out personally, with no obligation.
Ask about a bookThe Trail Remembered
Many families find us after the funeral home calls. We help with the days before the service first, and with the story when you're ready.
The Trail Ahead for funeral honors and VA benefits, and our free obituary builder so their service gets more than two sentences.
Help requesting their service records, family interviews with our memorial question list, and stories from the men and women who served with them.
A memorial edition of any of our books, timed for the first anniversary, Memorial Day or Veterans Day. We'll also add their story to their VA memorial page, free.
Delivered in 48 hours
$149, credited toward a memorial book. Here's exactly what you get:
Free planning sheet
Military funeral honors aren't automatic. Someone has to ask, at least 48 hours before the service. The Trail Ahead is our free one-page planning sheet, so no one has to figure it out on the hardest day.
Share it while they're here
Give your veteran a page of their own: their photo, story and Trail Map, the interview video, and their ribbon rack with every award they earned. We'll also write a ready-to-share Facebook post and help you add their story to their VA memorial page. You choose whether the page is public or family-only.
Build it free, or have us build it for $49. Free with any book.
About VetTrails
VetTrails was started by John Gallagher, a U.S. Army veteran from Pickens, South Carolina. After putting together a printed life story for his own family's veteran, Paw, he saw how much it meant, and how many stories are lost because no one asked in time.
At VetTrails, veterans talk with a fellow veteran, someone who already knows what a duty roster, a long deployment and a homecoming feel like. That makes it easier to tell the stories that matter.
Common questions
Yes. All six tools are free, and you can submit the interview to the Library of Congress yourself at no cost. You only pay if you want us to handle the submission, write a book or build a tribute page for you.
Any U.S. veteran of any era or branch. Family members can start the Trailhead on a veteran's behalf.
Those books send prompts and print the answers. A VetTrails book is written from a real conversation, often with a fellow veteran, and includes their Trail Map, research into their unit and, in Legacy and Heritage books, their own voice on every chapter.
Yes, and most families do. A phone, a quiet room and our question list are all you need. Keep your original file, since the Library of Congress asks whoever records an interview to keep a copy for at least a year.
That's fine. The veteran decides what's covered, and any question can be skipped. Our question lists mark the hard ones so you can decide ahead of time.
Yes. Start with The Trail Ahead and the obituary builder. Our Service Pack is ready in 48 hours for the service, and a memorial book can be built from family interviews, records, letters and photos.
No. We never need service records, and you should never upload them or a Social Security number. Just type the service details into the Trailhead, and keep the originals safe at home.
No. Many veterans have a free memorial page from the VA. We help you add their story, photos and Trail Map to it, and our tribute page adds the video, the ribbon rack and a guestbook.
Only what you approve. For living veterans, we leave off birth dates, home addresses and images of service records, to protect against scams that target older adults.