According to a article in “The American Legion Magazine” – February 2007 issue, there has been several fires in our nation’s archives thru the years destroying millions of records.

A 1800 a fire at the War Department destroyed historical records of the nation’s first decade.
In 1836 a fire at the US Patent Office destroyed models and blueprints of inventions that formed the technological backbone of the nation.
In 1851 a fire at the US Capitol destroyed invaluable art & other relics.
In 1890 a fire at the Census Bureau destroyed the entire Decennial Census.
In July 1973 a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis destroyed an estimated 16-18 million personnel files, military life histories, enlistment & discharge records. This fire destroyed about 80% of the Army records for personnel discharged between November 1, 1912 and January 1, 1960. Also Army Air Force and Air Force personnel with surnames from Hubbard through Z discharged between September 25, 1947 and January 1, 1964. Officials have never determined what exactly was lost in the fire because there were no indices to the blocks of records.
Multiple safeguards in place in the nation’s archives including sprinkler systems and firewalls limit the loss to less then 300 cubic feet of records. With two fires in a Washington, DC center in the last ten years, the safeguards confined the loss to far fewer than 300 cubic feet.

The National Personnel Records Center will attempt to reconstruct a veteran’s records only if asked by the veteran or by the next of kin of a deceased veteran. [Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Soon, Daughter, Husband or Wife] and given sufficient information.

Request for information may be submitted online at Veterans Records Archives
Or sent to:
National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
9700 Page Ave
St Louis, MO 63132-5100