I need some help.  I am trying to find family members of several deceased firefighters from my Department.  All the deceased qualify for "Died in the Line of Duty status." These deceased firefighters qualify to have their names engraved on our State Firefighter Memorial wall. Most died of cancer or of heart disease soon after retirement.

Here is my dilema.  I need to find family members of these firefighters that in some cases died in 1971. 

Do any of you know of a method or had success with a  web site (i.e. ancestry.com) that can be used to find family members of our decease firefighters?  Many of the older retirees have some info. but many family members have not kept in touch with our fire department.  We would like a family member to be present for the memorial ceremony and the flag presentation. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks-Mark