Still seeking records 45 years after fire

In July 1973 a fire broke out in the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. By the time it was finally put out four days later, with the help of firefighters from 42 different jurisdictions, as many as 18 million personnel files were lost, accounting for 80 percent of the Army’s records and 75 percent of the Air Force’s holdings. Records that weren't burned were soaked by millions of gallons of water. Employees were able to save 6 million records in that soggy condition. A federal bulletin went out ordering other agencies to cease disposing of any records that might help re-create the lost files. But reconstructing so much information, from military hospitals, Selective Service records, pay vouchers and Department of Veterans Affairs claims, can’t replace those millions of lost records.

The biggest problem was how to dry the waterlogged records before mold took hold. McDonnell Douglas stepped up and offered its vacuum-dry process chamber. Thousands of cartons of wet, damaged files were delivered and subjected to freezing and drying in an attempt to save them.

The records lost are from Army personnel discharged Nov. 1, 1912 to Jan. 1, 1960, and Air Force personnel discharged Sept. 25, 1947 to Jan. 1, 1964 with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E. If you apply for records on yourself or a relative now and the records were lost, all you might get back is a certificate of service, and that's only if you can supply a lot of information.

Do you have a stack of records in your family files? Consider contacting the records center and asking if they need them. Future generations could benefit from the information you have sitting in a box in the closet. Write to the National Personnel Records Center at 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138.