Were there any other instances of military records in the archives being destroyed other that the 1973 St Louis fire?

2015-12-10T06:50:00-05:00

When dealing with or talking to Veterans some (who to be honest sound like they are FOS) will say that there is no record of their service because there was an accident (Fire, Flood, Zombie Apocolypse) or the Government destroyed them, It is my understanding that "The Fire" that most people refer to was in the St Louis Archives in 1973 and affected about 80% of Army personnel who where discharged between 1912 and 1960 and Air Force from 1947-1964. A large portion of these records have been reconstructed from other sources.
What I can surmise is that anyone who is not at least 70 years old could not possibly had records affected by this.
So has there been to anyone's knowledge any time of recent catastrophy that affected the transfer of service member records to the archives? Any large data dumps of personnel files? ANYTHING at al that would result in a recent service member's records not showing up in the archives?

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 7:07 AM

2015-12-10T07:07:51-05:00

That's a good question. I've attempted to retrieve the records of my grandfather to make a shadow box for him, but could not figure out what ribbons he was awarded due to that '73 fire.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 7:37 AM

2015-12-10T07:37:13-05:00

There is some evidence the military decentralized record keeping to individual commands and reserve units - and these units were ordered to wipe hard drives containing records of their field operations - so the kind of records that should exist to document IED etc attacks on units and servicemembers during Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts may have been erased and lost forever.
http://www.propublica.org/article/lost-to-history-missing-war-records-complicate-benefit-claims-by-veterans
That said . . . their personnel records and medical records should be possible to retrieve . . . but there are credible reports of mishandling, misfiling, and lack of accountability for physical records transferred between NARA, VA, and other agencies . . . discovered only when a claim is pressed. Usually these records can be located after repeated and extended search . . . or reassembled by NARA, VA, and other agencies from secondary evidence . . . but not all requesters are persistent enough ( i.e. beaten down by a system that requires repeated requests ) to obtain their records - therefore some legitimate service and particularly combat related disability claims continue to be denied due to poor accountability / poor recordkeeping.

Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans

Field records from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, needed to document combat injuries, disability claims and the simple history of both wars, were never kept, were destroyed or simply cannot be found, a ProPublica-Seattle Times investigation has found.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Dec 10 at 2015 11:20 AM

2015-12-10T11:20:19-05:00

1stSgt Eugene Harless My grandfather fought in Gallipoli, Turkey and in the trench warfare of France and Belgium where he was wounded in WWI.
My paternal grandfather's and his brother's records were destroyed in September 1940, when a German bombing raid struck the War Office repository in Arnside Street, London

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 11:26 AM

2015-12-10T11:26:06-05:00

"The Fire" has been a mythological reason to explain why a Soldier doesn't have his/her records for as long as I have been in the Army, despite the fact that I have yet to have a Soldier (I go back to 1993) that has actually been affected by this.
Part of me wonders if it is a myth perpetuated by the lifers at AR-PERSOM to avoid doing work. Finding something in a paper file or microfiche (the rooms look like the warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is stored) is a real pain.

Response by PO2 Wesley Wilson made Dec 10 at 2015 3:53 PM

2015-12-10T15:53:26-05:00

This is the best write up I know of about what was and wasn't affected by the fire
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=39667

There is a record of everyone who served. the details of the service may have been damaged.
Efforts are still ongoing to recompile all of the lost data.

Military Records and “the Records Fire”

Many of us have heard something about a “records fire” that destroyed many military Official Military Personnel Files (OPMFs) years ago. And we’ve also

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Dec 10 at 2015 5:28 PM

2015-12-10T17:28:42-05:00

I have been hearing that BS for decades. Usually from frauds claiming to have been Vietnam super heroes. Naturally they had no proof because their records had been destroyed. Finally a few years ago I spent the time to do a little research and found just what the linked article says. The real reason for there being no record of those people being a hero was because they were not one.

Response by SrA H Carl Hunter made Jan 24 at 2019 7:00 AM

2019-01-24T07:00:32-05:00

Air Force active duty 75, discharge 82 Air National Guard honorable discharge, all DD-214 say copy 1 through 5 destroyed best available document. What does that mean?