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Gordon Watts Reports Column published: 26 October 2005 By: Gordon A. Watts Biography & Archived Articles 
US Military records openedWhile not really a new announcement, those having ancestors who served in the United States Military may be interested in learning, if they have not already heard, that this past June the US National Archives (NARA) and the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis made available to public access the personnel files for nearly 1.2 million former US Navy and Marine Corp enlisted personnel. Files released so far are for those who served between 1885 and 1939. The following information was extracted from the website of the (US) National Coalition for History.
by Bruce Craig (editor) rbcraig@historycoalition.org NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (NCH) Website at http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~nch 2. NARA SET TO OPEN MILITARY RECORDS On 11 June 2005, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) National Personnel Records Center in Overland, Missouri will unseal the first release of what is expected to be a "a mother load" collection of interest to military historians, biographers, and genealogists. The center houses the military records of some 56 million individuals, beginning in the 19th century and extending into the 20th. A total of three batches of individual records are slotted to be released: Navy enlisted men from 1885 until 8 September 1939; Marine Corps enlisted men from 1906 until 1939; and the first 150 of about 3,000 Americans identified as "persons of exceptional prominence." Included in the last category are the military records of generals George S. Patton Jr. and Omar Bradley; African American sports hero Lt. Jackie Robinson; President John F. Kennedy; author Herman Wouk; actors Clark Gable, Audie Murphy, and Steve McQueen; and, yes, entertainer Pfc. Elvis Presley. Until recently, NARA was merely the physical custodian of these records that were open only to the veteran, the next of kin, or the ndividual's service branch. In 1999, however, the Pentagon and NARA reached an agreement that would begin the process of systematically opening these records. According to Bill Seibert, chief of the archival operations branch of the records center, the records now "cease to belong to the military and instead belong to the American people...They're public documents." After lengthy discussion with Pentagon officials over several years, NARA was able to negotiate an agreement that provided for all such military records to remain sealed 62 years past the date an individual left active service. That means that most World War II records, for example, will remain closed for several more years. In addition, because of a fire at the records center back in 1973, some files of Army and Air Force veterans will be withheld even longer - until 2023. Coast Guard records will probably not be available until 2026, and because some individual files contain fragile or crumbling paper, such files will probably be kept on hold for some time. Persons interested in accessing the collection should contact the National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Avenue, Overland, Mo. 63132; phone: 314-801-0850. Gordon A. Watts, gordon_watts@telus.net
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