What was salvaged? The records which could be identified and salvaged, were taken out to a giant tent city where employees laid the records out to dry in the air. Some records were taken to an air force base for vacuum drying. An index to the records on hand was rescued from the fire. Also over 100,000 reels of microfilm containing Army morning reports from 1912 to 1959 and Air Force morning reports from 1947 to 1959. Some image damage occurred from the heat and humidity, but consisted of only 5% of the images. A back up copy was available to reconstruct the records. These are important because they cover the years destroyed in the fire, but do not contain anywhere near what was lost. Does this mean that every Army veteran or Air Force veteran's records were lost if they served during these time spans? Not necessarily. If the veteran was retired from the military or had recent reserve duty, his or her records were at Army Reserve Personnel Command also in St Louis or the Air Force Reserve Command in Denver. If the veteran had filed a claim with VA prior to the fire, his records would have been sent to the VA office processing the claim and is still with the VA claims folder. If it is an old case, it is probably in storage elsewhere in St. Louis. Can records be reconstructed? Sometimes. Pay records and morning reports can be used to verify service. Morning reports and hospital clinical records can sometimes be used to reconstruct hospital treatment records. The only drawback here is that the inquirer needs to know the veteran's exact unit of assignment, the time span of treatment within 3 months and exact name of the place of treatment. Looking for records. Don't accept the blanket response "Those were destroyed in the fire" The first place to look is at the VA. Call 1-800-827-1000 and ask them if they can identify the veteran. If he/she has an unusual name, that may be enough. Otherwise, a service number or social security number will be required. If VA can identify the veteran, and the veteran is deceased, a copy of the records can be requested from VA. If the veteran was retired, the records would be at ARPERSCOM in St Louis or if Air Force they would be in Denver. Rumors!! Every so often the rumor that copies of the burnt records were found rears its ugly head.. There is no truth at all to this rumor. What WAS found are "Surgeon General Reports". These are statistical reports that show a veteran was treated at a given hospital and can be used to place someone there, but does not contain actual treatment records.