The 1973 Fire at the National Personnel Records Center (St. Louis, MO)
"The National Personnel Records Center Fire: A Study in Disaster"
On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at NPRC (MPR) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The affected record collections are described below.
| Branch | Personnel and Period Affected | Estimated Loss |
|---|---|---|
| Army | Personnel discharged November 1, 1912, to January 1, 1960 | 80% |
| Air Force | Personnel discharged, September 25, 1947, to January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) | 75% |
No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Nevertheless, NPRC (MPR) uses many alternate sources in its efforts to reconstruct basic service information to respond to requests.
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Military Personnel Records Main Page
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