GREENVILLE — Darke County Recorder Hillary Holzapfel brought part of her office to the Great Darke County Fair on Wednesday, continuing a five-year tradition of helping local veterans record an important piece of their military history.
Holzapfel, joined by office staff member Abi Garrison, spent Veterans Day at the fair in the Veterans Building recording veterans’ DD214 discharge documents and helping them take the steps necessary to obtain a veterans identification card.
“For the past five years, we’ve come out here to the Great Darke County Fair and we record DD214s for the veterans,” Holzapfel said. “That way they get them recorded, and then they can get their veterans card at the same time.”
The DD214 is an important military document issued when a service member separates from active duty. Recording the document with the county recorder provides veterans with a permanent local record that can be accessed when needed.
Holzapfel said the recorded document also provides information necessary for veterans seeking a veterans identification card.
“The veterans card requires them to have those recorded because they use the book and page from our office,” she said.
Veterans who were unable to visit the Recorder’s Office booth at the fair can still have their DD214 recorded by visiting the Darke County Recorder’s Office.
Holzapfel said the office needs an original DD214 or an acceptable copy obtained from the National Archives.
“We do need an original or something that comes from the National Archives, and we can record that,” Holzapfel said.
Once the document is recorded, veterans receive paperwork they can take to Darke County Veterans Services to obtain their veterans card.
The service is available at the Recorder’s Office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Holzapfel and Garrison were also using their day at the fair to introduce residents to the county’s property fraud alert program.
Unlike the DD214 service being highlighted for veterans, the property fraud alert is available to anyone who owns property and wants to receive notification when a document involving that property is recorded with the Recorder’s Office.
“There is no charge,” Holzapfel said. “It’s a free notification service. You’ll get notified via text, email or a phone call, and it will notify you if anything’s been recorded in our office.”
The service provides property owners with another way to keep track of documents filed with the county involving their property.
For Holzapfel, spending Veterans Day at the Great Darke County Fair has become an annual opportunity to take services normally offered at the Recorder’s Office directly to veterans.
Five years after beginning the effort, Holzapfel and her staff continue to return to the Veterans Building, helping veterans make sure the documents recording their military service are safely preserved in Darke County.
