Posted on Jul 12, 2016
What started the 1973 U S National Archives Fire
4.3K
30
17
13
13
0
The National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973, also referred to as the 1973 National Archives fire was a fire that occurred at the United States National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in Overland, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, on July 12, 1973, striking a severe blow to the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States. NPRC, the custodian of military service records, lost approximately 16-18 million official military personnel records as a result of the fire. http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html
Posted in these groups: Logs and Records
St. Louis
American HistoryNational Archives and Records Administration
Military History
St. Louis American HistoryNational Archives and Records Administration Military History
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
5
5
0
I looked through the national archives link you included and found lost of interesting information about the damage, how it was contained, how waterlogged records were restored, and that 42 St. Louis fire companies participated in the response to the blaze SGT John " Mac " McConnell.
I did not see any information about the suspected cause.
It reminded me that my paternal grandfathers WWI British Army records as well as his brothers and most enlisted men who fought in WWI were destroyed during the battle of Britain when German incendiary bombs destroyed the British military building housing those records.
I learned to keep copies of my records like my friend LTC Stephen C.. I have been encouraging soldiers to do the same for their personnel and medical records.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Thomas Tennant MAJ Ken LandgrenCapt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT1stSgt Eugene Harless SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSLSFC William FarrellSSG Leo Bell SSgt (Join to see) Sgt Joe LaBranche SGT (Join to see) SGT Forrest Stewart SrA Christopher Wright PO3 Steven Sherrill PO1 John Miller
I did not see any information about the suspected cause.
It reminded me that my paternal grandfathers WWI British Army records as well as his brothers and most enlisted men who fought in WWI were destroyed during the battle of Britain when German incendiary bombs destroyed the British military building housing those records.
I learned to keep copies of my records like my friend LTC Stephen C.. I have been encouraging soldiers to do the same for their personnel and medical records.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Thomas Tennant MAJ Ken LandgrenCapt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT1stSgt Eugene Harless SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSLSFC William FarrellSSG Leo Bell SSgt (Join to see) Sgt Joe LaBranche SGT (Join to see) SGT Forrest Stewart SrA Christopher Wright PO3 Steven Sherrill PO1 John Miller
(5)
(0)
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
LTC Stephen F. All of my Father's Service records were destroyed in this fire.
(1)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs - That is sad news. We are still trying get my paternal grandfathers records from the Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey and the trench warfare in France and Belgium. All I have is a picture of him at Gallipoli.
(1)
(0)
Capt Tom Brown
LTC Stephen F. - That's tragic at different levels esp because that is one of the signature campaigns of WWI and first-hand history like this through yr grandfather is vital to keep alive just what they went through.
(1)
(0)
4
4
0
Thanks for the info, SGT John " Mac " McConnell. When the fire occurred, I had only been in just shy of four years, and was still active, so my records did not reside there. Regardless, I had maintained my own records, so I was in good shape, record-wise!
(4)
(0)
3
3
0
Hopefully they installed some sort of a sprinkler system as part of the repairs.
(3)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google