Continued Recovery of Military Records Destroyed in a 1973 Fire | Living St. Louis

The 1973 fire at the Personnel Records Center destroyed or damaged millions of military records, and efforts to recover and restore them continue at the National Archives center in St. Louis.

[@laurens-o2f]

My grandmother can't get a military footstone on her grave thanks to this fire... the Army lost her record of service from the Korean War, where she was a radio operator for a medical unit. I wonder how you go about seeing what they salvage? I would love to get her the recognition she deserves.

[@robertbender73]

Fascinating story

[@fishpotpete]

Great video - As a side note, starting around 1:13 in the video is an amazing shot of Leah giving more information in front of the building. Excellent videography! Perfect lighting and wind conditions 🙂

[@MatthewKlitz]

I was gonna look up my grandfather's records at the udt seal museum, but his Name wasn't in the database, so i'm thinking his records was destroyed in the fire.

[@abd9065]

My mother worked there when the fire happened. The employees were devastated over the fire. She worked in the Special Inquiries office and the destruction of those records impacted their ability to verify benefits and medals for retirees. She would be thrilled that recovery was ongoing.

[@garydean0308]

What a shame. I believe my father, uncles and grandfather's record were there.

[@lindasimms652]

Love this story. My dad’s military records were burned. Fortunately, we have his original records

[@davidb2206]

A custodian admitted in October 1973 that he had been smoking in the file room -- which was reckless and irresponsible to begin with -- and stubbed out his cigarette on a SHELF! Even he himself assumed that his own action started the fire; so, he should have received capital punishment for this huge loss.