GN 00302: Proof of Age

Effective Dates: 09/29/2015 - Present

BASIC (09-87)

A. Introduction

Evidence of age is often available from military records including a discharge from military service (MS), service records, and draft records.

B. Discharge certificates

The claimant may possess

The discharge from MS, or
A “Certificate in Lieu of Lost or Destroyed Discharge.”

Document	Shows	Recordation Date

Discharge certificate	Age at the time of entrance into MS, or Exact DB	The date of entry into MS

Certificate in Lieu of Lost or Destroyed Discharge	DB	The date of completion of the certificate since the service departments make corrections in records based solely on allegations

C. MS records

Ask the claimant for evidence of MS in his or her possession to help establish the claimant’s age. For instructions about establishing a DB when no preferred evidence exists, see GN 00302.100.

D. Requesting Information From Draft Records

Request information from draft records as follows:

Oriiginal Request	Second Request	Third request
The requesting DO should Prepare one copy of Form SSA-2647 (Request for Information from World War II Selective Service Records), assuring that: The draft registrant signs the consent statement The claims representative or other DO employee signs the “SSA official” block All information items outside the block reserved for the FRC's reply are completed The DO's return address is stamped in the requesting office block. (The form is designed so that this block appears in the “window” of the window envelope used by the FRC.) NOTE: An exhibit of Form SSA-2647 follows below Forward the completed SSA-2647 to the appropriate FRC shown in D. above.	20 days after the original request, the requesting DO should Prepare another SSA-2647, marking it “second request” Forward it to the appropriate FRC shown in D. above.	After at least 15 days have elapsed since the second request was sent, the requesting DO should: Send a copy of the SSA-2647 with an SSA-562-U3 (Request for Assistance) to the servicing DO shown in D. above

Oriiginal Request

Second Request

Third request

The requesting DO should

Prepare one copy of Form SSA-2647 (Request for Information from World War II Selective Service Records), assuring that:
- The draft registrant signs the consent statement
- The claims representative or other DO employee signs the “SSA official” block
- All information items outside the block reserved for the FRC's reply are completed
- The DO's return address is stamped in the requesting office block. (The form is designed so that this block appears in the “window” of the window envelope used by the FRC.)

NOTE: An exhibit of Form SSA-2647 follows below