If you're an Ancestry subscriber, you may have recently received family tree hints about "Bonus Case Files" for WWII veterans who'd lived in Iowa. The information in these files could potentially be very helpful. Here's Ancestry's explanation about the new resource: In May 1947, the Iowa Legislature approved bonus payments of up to $500 for men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. armed forces between 16 September 1940 and 2 September 1945. To qualify, applicants had to be legal residents of Iowa for at least the six months prior to their service. This database contains application for those payments. Along with name, birth date and place, place of residence for six months prior to enlistment or induction, and address where a check could be sent, forms may provide a wide variety of details related to the applicant's service:

• Applicant’s service or serial number
• Name the applicant served under
• Date of entry into and separation from active service
• Credit for foreign service
• School attendance during service
• Time lost to AWOL, desertion, confinement
• Branch of service
• Address at time registered for Selective Service
• Application made to any other state for compensation
• Units served in during WWII

The forms in this database were filled out by veterans. Beneficiaries could also apply for the payments, but did so using a separate form. Those forms will be added to this database in the future. For the individuals in my tree, I discovered details otherwise unavailable, e.g., exact dates of active service, specific foreign assignments during the war, and where they were living (after the war) when they completed the application. I wish more states had offered this bonus!