I am researching a great-uncle who is somewhat of a family mystery. Without going into details on that, his name was Joseph James Michael (anglicized from MICHAL), born in Baltimore, and according to his tombstone in Connecticut, he was in Co C 33d Engrs WWI. I have the usual 2 problems: 1) Since his records were probably destroyed in the St. Louis fire of 1973, I would have to find out which locations where individual records might be. 2) Since I am not a "Next-of Kin" by their narrow definition, NARA has only sent me a printout of very basic information, including dates and places of enlistment and discharge and Service Number (for his 2nd enlistment). Plus, there is a 3rd problem: 3) Joseph seems to have been in the Army 2 discontinuous times: a) 1909-1912 (Fort Slocum NY - Fort Sill OK; prob. @ Ft. Sheridan, IL on 1910 Census) b) 1918-1919 (Pittsburgh, PA - Camp Dix, NJ) I have his Service Number, SSN, and other information too lengthy to list here. All of Joseph's next-of-kin are deceased, so does this mean that NO ONE CAN EVER obtain his records? That would seem to be another government Catch-22 if not also a technical violation of the FOIA. I have been told that there are ways to track down other copies of the burned records at their original locations. Can anyone tell me how true this is, and how one would go about it? David Bhm., AL --------------------------------- Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min.