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Igel

(35,191 posts)
2. It's not like most people cared.
Sun Sep 2, 2012, 10:01 PM
Sep 2012

Unless it affected you, it was the loss of a lot of paperwork.

Problem was, a lot of those affected didn't know they'd be affected. It's a disaster that'll keep on giving for a few years longer. Fortunately some content could be reconstructed.

Long term, the real loss was the data that could be mined by historians.

shraby

(21,946 posts)
3. You would think someone would learn after losing the 1890 census to
Sun Sep 2, 2012, 10:04 PM
Sep 2012

a fire...records need to be duplicated and stored in various places..not one big pile.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
7. Well-known to a lot of vets due to its widespread use as a phony excuse to deny VA claims
Sun Sep 2, 2012, 10:09 PM
Sep 2012

Many whose records were not affected were told that their records were "destroyed in the fire." It was an easy way to clear cases and make quotas. While vets got shafted.

Stainless

(717 posts)
8. Discharged in 1972
Sun Sep 2, 2012, 11:33 PM
Sep 2012

The fire occurred a year after I was discharged. Seems I remember being told there might be a problem down the road if I ever needed to prove anything. I used your link to file a request for a dd-214. We'll see what happens.

KharmaTrain

(31,706 posts)
10. My Father's Records Were Lost In That Fire...
Mon Sep 3, 2012, 12:12 AM
Sep 2012

He served in WWII and Korea and when he passed away we were told we would have have to produce our own documentation if he was to have an honor guard at his funeral cause his records had been destroyed in that fire. Fortunately we kept his discharge papers so that he was given military honors...

niyad

(112,432 posts)
11. yes I knew of it--a lot of vets could not (wasn't that convenient) get their claims approved because
Mon Sep 3, 2012, 12:26 AM
Sep 2012

"oh gosh, we can't find your records, they must have burned in st louis)

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