INDIANA – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making the claims process easier for Veterans whose records were damaged or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).
VA Deputy Secretary Paul R. Lawrence, Ph.D., and VA’s Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Margarita Devlin sat down to discuss the problem, noted how VA is fixing it, and then explained what affected Veterans should know and do moving forward.
1973 National Personnel Records Center fire
In July 1973, a massive fire broke out at the NPRC near St. Louis, Missouri, destroying an estimated 16 to 18 million military personnel records. The fire mainly impacted Army Veterans discharged between 1912 and 1960, and Air Force Veterans discharged between 1947 and 1964, with last names starting with Hubbard through Z…