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A severe blow to the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States, the 1973 National Archives Fire was a disastrous fire that occurred at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri on July 12, 1973. NPRC, the custodian of military service records, lost approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files as a result of the fire.
 July 1973: Fire in progress The affected record collections are described below.
- U.S. Army personnel discharged November 1, 1912, to January 1, 1960
- U.S. Air Force personnel discharged September 25, 1947, to January 1, 1964 with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.
- Some U.S. Army Reserve personnel who received final discharge as late as 1964
- Various U.S. Navy, United States Coast Guard, and U.S. Marine Corps records which were out of file and were caught in the section of the building which experienced the most damage in the fire.
The 1973 fire destroyed the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center. Damage from the fire can still be seen today. In 1974, a massive reconstruction effort was begun to restore the service records which were destroyed in the 1973 fire. In most cases where a military record has been presumed destroyed, NPRC is able to reconstruct basic service information such as military date of entry, date of discharge, character of service, and final rank.
In recent years, some conspiracy theorists have accused the Federal Government of intentionally starting the 1973 National Archives Fire as a cover to destroy unwanted military files, erase certain records from the Second World War, or to reduce budget costs by destroying a floor of an under budgeted federal building. Certain Veteran Organizations have also stated that the 1973 Fire did not happen at all, and that the explanation of a fire destroying millions of military records is a lie conceived by the Federal Government to cut costs and avoid public requests for the older military files. The National Archives and Records Administration, however, continues to formally state that the 1973 National Archives Fire did, in fact, occur although the exact cause, to this day, remains unknown.
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