A wife’s race against the clock to track down husband’s Air Force records

@MSgt Brian Potvin I hope she is able to find what she is looking for although it may not be what she wants to hear. I was reading the story and realized it was a local story here in Rhode Island. A lot of Air Force records were lost in that fire but oftentimes they are able to reconstruct someones service from other records. I recently requested AF records for a deceased commander of my former VFW post in Brooklyn, NY. He too was AF during the same time frame but I always knew he wasn't eligible for membership in the VFW let alone commander of the post because he had no wartime service. After I left the post he became a member and ultimately commander. So I wrote away for records and was originally told they were lost in the fire. A few months after that letter I get a package from National Archives indicating that this man did indeed serve in the AF but only in England in peacetime and then in Texas, in the stockade and was discharged as an Airman Basic for unsuitability.
For me it was just an honor thing, he was not eligible and after so many year they still had his picture up as commander for which he was not entitled. Some members of the post didn't care while other did. If I were still in Brooklyn, it never would have happened as I would have known he had forged his records.

I hope this loving wife finds exactly what she is looking for but I would not be surprised to read otherwise considering they were married for so long and he did not talk about his service. What goes with that? My wife knows I am retired Army, I served in Vietnam and Korea and a few other places.

I wonder if they filed an office FOIA with the personnel office or are they just assuming they were lost in the fire.