Oklahoma County Clerk brings light to program preserving important military doc
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A veterans discharge form called a DD-214 is a very important document. It serves as an official record of service that’s key to them getting veterans benefits. Sometimes though, they can be hard to come by or even find. However, the Oklahoma County Clerk’s Office wants veterans to know there’s a little-known program that files and preserves that document for them for free.
"Our military men and women have done a lot for us,” Oklahoma County Clerk Maressa Treat said. “We want to make sure that completing a government document isn't a headache."
Folders sitting inside the Oklahoma County Clerk's Office hold thousands of what Treat called gold to veterans across the country. They’re all DD-214s.
"That DD-214, it helps with your benefits,” Treat said.
It’s an official record of service that helps when applying for veterans benefits, burial honors or proving vet status for jobs and legal matters. Treat wanted to bring attention to Oklahoma County’s program where they preserve them and she called it a way for easy access to important information. The program even helped nationally at one point after a 1973 St. Louis fire that destroyed between 16 million and 18 million military personnel records.
"But because a lot of the clerks across the country had military documents filed in their office, there were some people that were able to go back to their local community and get that document,” Treat said.
In the program's 75-year existence, they’ve filed 52,000 of them. It’s also free and you just have to submit the DD-214 form with a notarized legal form you fill out. Veterans get the original copy of their DD-214 back. Treat is a daughter of a veteran herself. Her father has passed on, but she knows the process all too well.
"I say I share a little bit of his PTSD, you know, and so the kids and spouses, they go through a lot,” Treat said. “So, when it comes time to deal with the burial service of other veterans, we want to make sure that we do it right."
The Oklahoma County Clerk’s Office also does mobile services each month at select Metropolitan Library System Branches. You can get help with DD-214 filing there, but they also help with property protection, real estate, UCC records, and other public documents. You can find a list of dates and times for those events below.
Monthly Mobile Clerk Schedule
- Village Library – First Tuesday, 1:30 to 4 p.m.
- Edmond Library – Second Tuesday, 1:30 to 4 p.m.
- Almonte Library (South OKC) – Third Tuesday, 1:30 to 4 p.m.
- Bethany Library – Fourth Tuesday, 1:30 to 4 p.m.
- Del City Library – Quarterly, first Thursday, 1:30 to 4 p.m.
- Choctaw Library – Quarterly, second Thursday, 1:30 to 4 p.m.
For more information about how to file your DD-214 or protect your property and records, call (405) 713-1540.