Overland, MO: Fire destroys 16-18M military records
On July 12-16, 1973, a massive fire at the National Personnel Records Center in Overland, Missouri, destroyed 16-18 million U.S. military personnel files, including 80% of Army records from 1912-1960 and 75% of Air Force records from 1947-1964.
Background
Event
A devastating fire broke out on the night of July 12, 1973 at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in Overland, Missouri and burned until July 16. It began on the sixth floor of the building at 9700 Page Boulevard in St. Louis and burned out of control for 22 hours, smouldering into Monday. Firefighters from 42 districts fought heat, smoke, and low water pressure, had to withdraw, and were not allowed back into the building for two days.
Impact
Some 16–18 million official military personnel files were destroyed, with no duplicates or microfilm. Affected were 80% of US Army records of discharged soldiers from November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960, 75% of US Air Force records of discharged personnel from September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 (alphabetically through James E. Hubbard), and some Army Reserve records from the late 1950s to 1964. Local residents had to stay indoors because of toxic smoke.
Reaction and Significance
Salvage work recovered 6.5 million damaged files. The NPRC set up a department to reconstruct records from alternative sources such as organisational files. The loss has long-term consequences for veterans, genealogists, and historians, particularly for service in the two world wars. In the UFO context it is associated with missing military documents.