Military Records
Using Military Records to Construct Family Trees
Do you have an ancestor who is a seeming dead-end on your family tree? Most genealogists have at least one of these, and usually more than one. They can be frustrating, because the record trail seems to run dry with them, making it impossible to get around them to the generations behind them. These are your brick wall ancestors. The good news is that most genealogy brick walls can be broken down eventually, with enough time, effort, and determination (as well as a healthy amount of thinking outside of the box). Looking at alternative record sources is one way to move past a brick wall ancestor. Military records are one alternative record source that often yields very valuable information you won’t find anywhere else.
Military Records and the Fire of 1973
If you’re looking for military service records for anyone who served in the U.S. Army or Air Force between 1912 and 1964, you may have a difficult time. It all depends on the person. Their record may or may not still exist. That is because those military records were stored at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and the floor on which they were stored suffered a devastating fire on July 12, 1973.
Though firefighters arrived to battle the blaze only four minutes after it was reported, they faced numerous problems in putting it out. The intensity of the fire, inadequate water pressure for their hoses, and a broken pumper truck all contributed to the issues, and it took them days to officially put it all out. The fire was uncontrolled for 22 hours, and after that, though it was under control, areas of the building still smoldered. It wasn’t until four days later, on July 16, that the fire was declared officially out and people were allowed back into the building.
