The Mad Genealogist

I get this type of email often. I can’t find my ancestors military records from WWI and WWII. Well there is a good explanation for this, a fire destroy most of the records from 1912-1964. See below:

The 1973 Fire at the National Personnel Records Center

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.

I you are a veteran and need proof  for benefits there are Alternate Record Sources from the National Archives.

But if you are a genealogist and your ancestors records were destroyed then here are a few tips.

1. Ask relatives if your ancestor received a DD214 upon discharge. All veteran get this and it is a simple for giving a brief run down of service. Also ask for war stories if the veteran is deceased. These can help you piece together a wonderful story.
2. Your County courthouse where the veteran lived should have a copy of the discharge papers. Most county government keeps these but not all so call and check first.
3. Things like final pay vouchers and Medical-Related Records were not destroyed by the fire and are available

So don’t give up!