Speaker Spotlight: Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL

An article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported on a fire at the Military Personal Records Center in July 1973. On prophetic line said that the fire “created an administrative nightmare which may torment the U.S. Military establishment for years to come.”

Beginning in 2005, the Archival Division of the Military Personal Records Center, St. Louis began opening the military files to the public. Now they receive approximately 5,000 requests per day.

For years, rumors were circulated about the fire, records found, and files destroyed. What records are in St. Louis? Ever wondered what records were burned? How they preserve the remaining files? What you might find in a file? What determines if the file was archival or a regular restricted file?  

On Saturday at 4:00 p.m., the genealogical community will hear about the fire, the resulting aftermath, and the records one can obtain in a lecture by Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL, a local St. Louis researcher, who uses the St. Louis NARA Military Personal Records Center.

Speaker Spotlight: Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL