<Tr> <Th> Type </Th> <Td> Fire </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Cause </Th> <Td> Unknown </Td> </Tr> <P> The National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973, also referred to as the 1973 National Archives fire was a fire that occurred at the United States National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in Overland, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, on July 12, 1973, striking a severe blow to the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States . NPRC, the custodian of military service records, lost approximately 16--18 million official military personnel records as a result of the fire . </P> <P> The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) was created in 1956 as the result of a series of mergers of predecessor agencies beginning after World War II, including the Demobilized Personnel Records Center (DPRC) and the Military Personnel Records Center (MILPERCEN, pronounced "mil' - per - cen") of the Department of Defense along with the Federal Records Center of the General Services Administration . In final form, the NPRC handled the service records of persons in Federal civil service or American military service, overseen by the National Archives and Records Administration of the General Services Administration . </P>

When was the fire that destroyed military records