Current Projects
Heritage Data Labs is dedicated to preserving military history at a scale and level of precision that has never been possible before. Our projects combine advanced AI, archival expertise, and deep historical research to recover stories that were once scattered across millions of pages of fragile documents. From World War I through Vietnam, we work to digitize, decode, and connect records that illuminate individual service, unit actions, and the human experiences behind major conflicts.
Each initiative reflects our mission: to make military history accessible, searchable, and meaningful for families, researchers, and future generations — transforming raw archival material into living history.
WWII General Orders & Enlistment Records Index
A large‑scale initiative to index every World War II General Order and Enlistment record, enabling direct correlation between personnel data, unit actions, and medal awards. This project aims to create the first comprehensive, searchable record of WWII decorations and citations.
Project Details:
- ▸Digitizing and indexing hundreds of thousands of General Orders
- ▸Linking Enlistment records to award citations and unit‑level actions
- ▸Extracting medal awards, personnel metadata, and citation text
- ▸Building a unified database of WWII decorations and honoree
Impact:
This project uncovers long‑buried connections between service records and acts of heroism, helping families, historians, and researchers trace individual contributions with unprecedented clarity.
South African WWI & WWII War Diary Search Initiative
A comprehensive effort to digitize and make fully searchable the complete set of South African World War I and World War II war diaries. These records document daily operations, movements, and experiences of South African units across multiple theaters.
Project Details:
- ▸Digitizing battalion, brigade, and divisional war diaries
- ▸Applying AI‑powered transcription and entity extraction
- ▸Identifying personnel, locations, operations, and daily events
- ▸Creating a searchable research platform for scholars and descendants
Impact:
This project preserves a critically under‑digitized segment of Commonwealth military history, making the experiences of South African soldiers accessible to families, educators, and researchers worldwide.
Vietnam War Intelligence & MIA Records Collaboration
In partnership with Healing Through History, this project focuses on digitizing, analyzing, and correlating Vietnam War intelligence reports and Missing in Action (MIA) documentation to support ongoing historical and humanitarian research.
Project Details:
- ▸Digitizing intelligence summaries, field reports, and archival documents
- ▸Extracting structured data on personnel, locations, and operations
- ▸Analyzing patterns related to MIA cases and recovery efforts
- ▸Supporting nonprofit and family‑driven research initiatives
Impact:
By illuminating the context surrounding unresolved MIA cases, this project helps families, researchers, and humanitarian organizations better understand the circumstances of loss and preserve critical historical records.
Support Our Work
These projects require significant resources and expertise. Your support helps us continue uncovering and preserving these important stories.
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