The 1973 fire and all those military records

If you’ve ever requested your veteran’s records at the National Archives, odds are you’ve been told that the record burned in the huge fire of 1973 that wiped out millions of personnel files (also known as OMPFs) - and most of the Army guys don’t have any original paperwork left, and many don’t have anything at all.

I’ve delivered the bad news to dozens and dozens of my family members through my work: I’m so sorry but your father / grandfather / uncle / brother’s file burned.

It’s especially painful because I’ve held in my hands three-inch thick unburned files absolutely flooded with treasure troves of information. To think all of that insight went up in smoke for each guy whose file burned …. ugh. I will literally never get over it!

However, even if you have been told that your veteran’s file burned, there are still a number of ways that your veteran’s detailed information can be pulled together, so don’t lose heart.

If you’d like to know more about how to make that happen, reach out and book a consultation with me.

There’s truly nothing I love more than being a super sleuth on a mission for families hungry for information on their veteran’s war.

I am more lucky than I can even believe because both of my grandfather’s files survived. Recently, I was at the archives pulling a stack of files for my work and was able to view my grandfather’s original (treated) singed-around-the-edges file.