The Night 17 Million Precious Military Records Went Up in Smoke

Fifty years ago, a fire ripped through the National Personnel Records Center. It set off a massive project to save crucial pieces of American history—including, I hoped, my grandfather’s.

MEGAN GREENWELL
BACKCHANNEL
JUN 27, 2023 6:00 AM

BEFORE THE FLAMES raced down the 700-foot-long aisles of the sixth floor, before the columns of smoke rose from the roof like Jack’s beanstalk, before the wind scattered military records around the neighborhoods northwest of St. Louis, before 42 local fire departments battled for days to save one of the largest federal office buildings in the United States, before the government spent 50-plus years sorting through the charred remains, Kathy Trieschmann sensed a faint haze...

THE NATIONAL PERSONNEL Records Center fire burned out of control for two days before firefighters were able to begin putting it out. Photos show the roof ablaze, a nearly 5-acre field of flame. The steel beams that had once held up the glass walls jut at unnatural angles, like so many broken legs.

As soon as the smoke began to clear, on the morning of July 16, National Archives employees sprinted in to try to save as many records as they could. Their primary goal was to prevent the boxes of files from drowning in water from the firefighters’ hoses...

An Official Military Personnel File documents almost every element of a person’s time in the military. It includes the date they enlisted, their training history, unit information, rank and job type, and the date they left. It often lists any injuries, awards, and disciplinary actions, along with every place they ever served. The file contains a record that unlocks home, business, and educational loans; health insurance and medical treatment; life insurance; job training programs; and other perks the country has long considered part of the debt it owes its veterans. If a prospective employer needs to verify whether a soldier was honorably discharged or a military cemetery wants to know whether someone is eligible for burial, they can get those answers from the OMPF.

At the time, the federal government preserved exactly one copy of the Official Military Personnel File of every veteran. For the 22 million soldiers who served in the Army during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or any of the myriad smaller conflicts in the first half of the 20th century, that single copy lived on the sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center, stuffed into one of those cardboard boxes...

Complete article:

https://www.wired.com/story/th...ds-went-up-in-smoke/

I know for a fact that my dad’s records from WWII were lost. Not sure about ny grandfather’s from WWI, or my father-in-law’s from Korea.

As I have stated before, if you don’t have luck searching for military records at the national main records site, you can always check with the Military Affairs Department at whichever State the individual entered into service. Those “triplicate copies” often wound up there too, and are sometimes more extensive especially if the unit was a National Guard unit.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I know for a fact that my dad’s records from WWII were lost.

Same here...up in smoke.

Yup...dad's Korea records were destroyed in this one. Luckily...LUCKILY...mother had a copy of all dad's military documents in her strong box. Don't know why she kept it...she hated the man with a raging passion even before their divorce circa 1973. But she saved things and thank God she did, because I wanted a record of what dad did before I was even an itch in his pants. I found all this when mother encountered some major health issues early in the year and as POA, had to go through all that stuff. Have the flag from his funeral and will eventually create a shadow box.

I requested in 2008 or 2009 any records of my father’s time in the Army from 1942-45 and received a form letter stating his records were among those destroyed in that fire.

I do have his discharge papers though. 1962 he and my mother requested a copy as he had lost his original one before they were married. Fortunately they got it as when he died in 1967 it made it easier to claim what benefits were eligible from the VA.

Fast forward to 1977, an aunt called me and said that she had one of my dad’s Army papers, she was cleaning out her basement and found it among some papers from one of his younger brothers. Turns out she had his discharge papers and probably had them since he got out in 1945.

I still have questions that will probably never get answered such as how he started off in Signal Corps and at the time he was mustered out ended up in the Field Artillery.

He said that at one time he was in North Africa and while not early at Normandy he was there. Discharge papers campaign participation only lists Central Europe, aka Bastogne. Also he said that he was a Tech 3 and had the patches (I lost them in one of several moves) his discharge papers state rank as Tech 5,same as his government supplied marker lists. So, discrepancies? I’ve heard that in many cases the service member didn’t care what the record said, they only wanted out and I imagine he was no exception?

Anyhow, more mysteries. Maybe I should inquire anew?

Yes that is the excuse often used when a veteran'record cannot be located. ALL of the records did not burn up and I know of a number of vets who found their records to be intact.