Military Records and Preservation Guides
Free guides on researching a veteran and preserving family records: the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, the 1973 fire, OMPF and IDPF requests, public access to military records, Army morning reports, shadowboxes, and archival standards.
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National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis: military records and how to request them
What the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis holds, who can request a veteran's military personnel records, how long it takes, and what to do when a file is missing or held only on site.
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The 1973 St. Louis fire: what was lost and how a service record gets rebuilt
What the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire in St. Louis destroyed, whose Army and Army Air Forces records it affected, and how a lost service record is rebuilt from morning reports and other archives.
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How to request a veteran's Official Military Personnel File (OMPF)
How a family requests a veteran's Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) through eVetRecs or SF-180: who is eligible, how long it takes, and how to read the discharge document.
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The Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF): what it is and how to request one
What an Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) is, what it contains, and how to request one for a service member who died in service. The IDPF survived the 1973 fire and often holds how and where a relative died.
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Are military records public? Who can see a veteran's service record?
Are military records public? What information is releasable to anyone, when a veteran's file opens to the public after 62 years, and how next of kin request the fuller record.
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Army morning reports: the daily unit logs that rebuild a service record
What Army morning reports are, what these daily unit logs show, and how they rebuild a service record after the 1973 fire. Held as organizational records at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
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Shadowboxes done right: a medal display built on a verified record
How a military shadowbox should be built: medals in correct order of precedence, verified against the service record, and mounted with archival materials.
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Our archival process and the standards we follow
The archival standards we follow for handling, digitizing, and documenting a family's military records: acid-free materials, sourced facts, and privacy.