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tacking1
Member Posts: 3,844
Branch? Rating? Time frame?
My father served in the Army, WWII. Was a sargent. Went to Germany via France. Told hilarious stories about things that happened but never about the he!!.
I tried to get his service record but was told that a fire destroyed them. There are some medals in the attic and his old uniform. My brother says my father told him once that he won a "distinguished service cross" but I never heard him talk about it.
I did not serve in the military. Ranks right up there on my "regrets" list.
I hope those of you that did or still serve will accept my thanks.
My father served in the Army, WWII. Was a sargent. Went to Germany via France. Told hilarious stories about things that happened but never about the he!!.
I tried to get his service record but was told that a fire destroyed them. There are some medals in the attic and his old uniform. My brother says my father told him once that he won a "distinguished service cross" but I never heard him talk about it.
I did not serve in the military. Ranks right up there on my "regrets" list.
I hope those of you that did or still serve will accept my thanks.
Comments
Me? I am a "Special Case" - the ABSOLUTE LEAST VietNam Vet You will EVER encounter. I was a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Cadet, and as such, under U.S. Naval Regulations, a Midshipman. The USMMA sends all Midshipmen out to Sea as part of the Curriculum. I went to VietNam a total of Four Times as a Midshipman During the period of 1972 and 1973. I was authorized to wear the VietNam Ribbon. I got "War Bonus Pay" for the days I was in the Zone. Our Ship did get fired upon one time while going up the river towards Saigon.
Father was USAF in/During Korean Police Action. Master Sargeant.
Daughter is In USAF Now, E-5.
You can get a form from the National Archives on line and send it in. You never know. Also if you have pertinent information on your family member, they would like it as they are trying to rebuild what they can of the records destroyed.
My father was drafted into the Army. He was in about 1950-1954. He got Scarlet Fever during Basic Training at Fort Riley, Ks. and his company (unit?) was shipped to Korea while he was in the Hospital. The whole company was wiped out in less than 48 hours. He was reassigned and sent to Fulda Germany. He was an Armor and got out as a Corporal. I still have his dog tags and a few medals.
My Father in law joined the Navy at 17 as soon as he graduated High School in 1944. He spent 4 years in the Navy(USS Powers) then went into the reserves. During the Korean War he was in the Army and saw combat in Korea. He got out as a Corporal. I have all of his Navy and Army uniforms. His Eisenhower jacket is size 34!!
Me....see my sig line. Not a Spec Ops sniper....just a Supply Sergeant, ya know, beans and bullets.
Thanks for all of you that served!
MOS 1302 (Combat Engineer)
Capt
2003-2009
OIF 2005
The Suck- '88-'93
no comprende "the Suck"?
USMC
1974-1994
The Suck is what a Private to L/cpl Call the Marine Corps. Cause it does for them[8D]
I tried to get his service record but was told that a fire destroyed them.
I read or heard somewhere that some of the records have been restored. If it has been a while since you tried you might want to try again. Might not work, but it doesn't cost anything to try.
Branch Personnel and Period Affected Estimated Loss
Army Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 80%
Air Force Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964
(with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) 75%
No duplicate copies of these records were ever maintained, nor were microfilm copies produced. Neither were any indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. However, in the years following the fire, the NPRC collected numerous series of records (referred to as Auxiliary Records) that are used to reconstruct basic service information.
The Fire:Shortly after midnight, on July 12, 1973, a fire was reported at the NPRC's military personnel records building at 9700 Page Boulevard in St. Louis, MO. Firefighters arrived on the scene only 4 minutes and 20 seconds after the first alarm sounded and entered the building. While they were able to reach the burning sixth floor, the heat and the smoke forced the firefighters to withdraw at 3:15am. In order to combat and contain the flames, firefighters were forced to pour great quantities of water onto the exterior of the building and inside through broken windows. The fire burned out of control for 22 hours; it took two days before firefighters were able to re-enter the building. The blaze was so intense that local Overland residents had to remain indoors, due to the heavy acrid smoke. It was not until July 16, nearly four and a half days after the first reports, that the local fire department called the fire officially out.
During the long ordeal, firefighters faced severe problems due to insufficient water pressure. Exacerbating the situation, one of the department's pumper trucks broke down after 40 hours of continuous operation. Numerous times, the fire threatened to spread down to the other floors; but firefighters were successful in halting its advance. In all, it took the participation of 42 fire districts to combat the disastrous blaze. Due to the extensive damages, investigators were never able to determine the source of the fire.
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The Aftermath:The National Archives focused its immediate attention on salvaging as much as possible and quickly resuming operations at the Page facility. Even before the final flames were out, staff at the NPRC had begun work towards these efforts. All requests and records shipments from other government agencies were temporarily halted, and certain vital records were removed from the burning building for safekeeping. These included the NPRC's operating records, a computer index for a major portion of the NPRC's holdings, and more than 100,000 reels of morning reports for the Army (1912-1959) and Air Force (1947-1959). The latter proved especially important in the days following, as NPRC's officials determined that the fire damage had been worst among the Army and Air Force records for this same time period. As such, on July 23, 1973, the Government issued a Federal Property Management Regulations Bulletin (FPMR B-39) halting Federal agencies from disposing of records that might be useful in documenting military service. Such records have proved vital in efforts to reconstruct basic service information for requestors.
On July 23, the NPRC awarded a construction contract to clear and remove the remains from the ruined sixth floor. That same day, employees, previously on administrative leave, returned to work to assist in recovery efforts and resume reference services. The removal and salvage of water and fire damaged records from the building was the most important priority, and such efforts were overseen by a specially appointed project manager. Their work led to the recovery of approximately 6.5 million burned and water damaged records.
Following the fire, the most immediate concern in the center revolved around water. In order to combat the blaze, firefighters had been forced to pour millions of gallons of water into the building. To stop sporadic rekindling of fire, firefighters continued spraying water on the building until late July. In addition, broken water lines continued to flood the building until they could be capped. Water damage was heaviest on the 5th floor but was spread throughout the building. Standing water, combined with the high temperatures and humidity of a typical St. Louis summer, created a situation ripe for mold growth. As paper is highly susceptible to mold, officials sprayed thymol throughout the building to control any outbreak.
Controlling the spread of mold was one concern; but, so too, was the issue of how to dry the millions of water-soaked records. Initially, NPRC staffers shipped these water-damaged records in plastic milk crates to a temporary facility at the civilian records center on Winnebago, where hastily constructed drying racks had been assembled from spare shelving. When it was discovered that McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis had vacuum-drying facilities, the NPRC diverted its water damaged records there for treatment. The vacuum-dry process took place in a chamber that had previously been utilized to simulate temperature and pressure conditions for the Mercury and Gemini space missions. The chamber was large enough to accommodate approximately 2,000 plastic milk cartons of water and fire damaged records. Once inside, McDonnell Douglas technicians lowered the air in the chamber to the freezing point and then filled the room with hot dry air, which squeezed out the water molecules. For each chamber load, they were able to extract approximately 8 pounds of water per container - the equivalent of nearly 8 total tons of water for each session. In addition to utilizing two more supplemental drying chambers at McDonnell Douglas, the NPRC also sent records to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facility in Ohio for drying.
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Towards Reconstruction:As part of the reconstruction effort, the NPRC established a "B" registry file (or Burned File) to index the 6.5 million recovered records. So too, the NPRC established a separate temperature controlled "B" file area to protect and safeguard the damaged records. Later, in April 1974, the NPRC established the "R" registry file (or Reconstructed File) to further assist with reconstruction efforts. Since then, staffers have placed all newly reconstructed records into the "R" registry file and stored them in an area separate from the "B," or burned, files.
In the months following the fire, the NPRC initiated several new records recovery and reconstruction efforts, including the establishment of a new branch to deal with damaged records issues. As many military personnel records had been partially or completely destroyed by the fire, the new branch's central mission was to reconstruct records for those requesting service information from the NPRC. While some staffers sought to recover such information from documents and alternate sources outside of the NPRC, others searched through the center's organizational files for records to supplement the destroyed OMPFs.
These alternate sources have played a vital role in the NPRC's efforts to reconstruct service files. Some of the more important records used by the NPRC to supplement damage files include: Veterans Administration (VA) claims files, individual state records, Multiple Name Pay Vouchers (MPV) from the Adjutant General's Office, Selective Service System (SSS) registration records, pay records from the Government Accounting Office (GAO), as well as medical records from military hospitals, entrance and separation x-rays and organizational records. Many work hours were spent making these sources usable. Efforts included: the transfer of records to the NPRC, screening projects and securing access to VA computer records.
In terms of loss to the cultural heritage of our nation, the 1973 NPRC Fire was an unparalleled disaster. In the aftermath of the blaze, recovery and reconstruction effort took place at an unprecedented level. Thanks to such recovery efforts and the use of alternate sources to reconstruct files, today's NPRC is able to continue its primary mission of serving our country's military and civil servants.
Learn more about burned records and how the NPRC's Preservation Laboratory works to treat and make these damaged files accessible.
Cpl
0341 Squad Leader/Gunner
'99-'03
I was a Army Carpenter [;)] 75-78
Don
Merc
USAF 1986-1991. In 5 years, I was stationed at 5 bases, including training and basic. I moved a lot. [;)]
Merc
thank you...
[^]barto[^]
My wife's grandfather was USN 1941-1945, retired as an EM1, spent some time in the water off Guadalcanal after his ship was hit by a kamikaze (I believe it was some small type of landing ship). Passed on a few years ago...terrific man.
AT
Edited to add: and BOTH my parents were Army sergeants in WWII. Dad drove the Red Ball Express in Belgium, including the Battle of the Bulge.
Dad-US Navy WW2
Uncle-US Army-Korea-Medic
Uncle-US Army-WW2-Inf.
Uncle-US Army-WW2-Inf.
Uncle-US Army-WW2-Military Police
Uncle-US Army-WW2-Engineer
Grand Father-US Army-Spanish American War
Mom was a Navy Nurse. Yeah, I was a WWII product I guess. Mom's family raised eleven kids on a Texas homestead, and I believe all enlisted in WWII. One, an Army pilot, was killed. All the girls became nurses I think.
Someday, I'd like to be able to peruse their records -- if they still exist.
Me, when my draft number came up #12 I quit college and joined the Navy. Was a Damage Controlman on an attack carrier (USS Oriskany), and spent a brief time in Vietnam assigned to what remained of River Assault and River Patrol in '72. Later, stateside, I was a reservist in a special boat unit for 6 years.
Good times, bad times; mostly good.
Boot camp and training in Cali
Danang and Chu Lai Oct 66-Oct 67
Oct 67- Oct 69 spent in Puerto Rico at Roosevelt Roads
Left as a CE2, construction electrician(E5)
Wouldn't trade those years for much of anything. I tried to make the most of it, and got promoted every time I was eligible.
Thank all of you for your service!!!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v500/JamesRK/Videos/?action=view¤t=PipedOverTheSide.mp4
1971 through 1992
1142 then 1169
GySgt
Semper Fi
1341/1349
USMC
1974-1994
The Suck is what a Private to L/cpl Call the Marine Corps. Cause it does for them[8D]
Yes sir.
USMC. I meant no disrespect to our beloved Corps.
Hollywood in 88. 29 stumps for school 89. 90-92 2nd fssg elmaco in Lejeune with a trip to the sand box .
92-93 1 month in Okinawa , rest in camp Fuji mainland Japan.
Went in E-1, got out E-5. Made Sgt 1 month before discharge .
Dad, US Navy, 42-45, Joined at 16, a Canadian Citizen, got his US citizenship serving in the US Navy also got his GED.
Was a Radioman 2nd class. I have his US Navy issued speed key and his Blue Book.
Was dropped on a Philippines island via a sub with 2 other naval personnel and lived with the natives running a radio.
He passed on in 1996 and is interned at the Military Cemetery in Bushnell, FL.
My Oldest Brother, US Army, 71-74. Not sure what his rank was. Spent 1 1/2 tours of duty in Viet Nam.
My Middle brother washout USAF for psychological problems.
My fathers oldest brother, US Navy retired, Chief. Past away in the early 90's.
I never spent time in the military. My respect to each and everyone of you that has or is serving!