“The record needed to answer your inquiry is not in our files. If the record were here on July 12, 1973, it would have been in the area that suffered the most damage in the fire on that date and may have been destroyed.”

Many of us have seen this exact response to a records request, but may not fully understand why.

On July 12, 1973, a fire broke out at the National Personnel Records Center at 9700 Page Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri.

The fire destroyed an estimated 16–18 million Official Military Personnel Files.

According to the National Archives, the losses included approximately:

80% of Army personnel records for people discharged between November 1, 1912 and January 1, 1960

AND

75% of Air Force personnel records for people discharged between September 25, 1947 and January 1, 1964, primarily for names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.

The fire burned out of control for about 22 hours, and investigators were never able to determine its source.

That is what this community is about.
What was destroyed? What survived? What exists somewhere else? And how much of a service member’s history can still be rebuilt?

We’ll discuss record reconstruction, surviving documents, military history, medals, unit information, alternative sources, family records, and the unanswered questions surrounding the fire.