Over twenty-five hundred service people from Philadelphia lost their lives in the Great War, and each of them had a story. While some live on through their descendants, many died young with no heirs. As a result, there was no one left to remember and share the story of their lives.

Now, a project is underway to identify and document the lives of those who fell. Inspired by a list of names and addresses discovered in the Pennsylvania State Archives, volunteers from the academic and genealogical communities have come together to create an online database, “The Fallen of the Great War.” Drawing on the energy and expertise of experienced volunteers, the project will produce a biographical encyclopedia, a social science dataset, and an interactive map of Philadelphia, displaying where the service people lived before they left for the Great War. In this video, recorded at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on October 15, 2014, Joyce Homan and Kathryn Manz of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, and Ruth Martin of Heritage Reports share some of the stories the volunteer researchers have uncovered so far and also discuss the perils and rewards of undertaking such a venture.