what year was the fire at st louis military archives?
<answer> The fire at st louis military archives was in July 1973. <context> The speaker was Bryan McGraw, Director of the National Archives at St. Louis. When he mentioned the fire of July 1973, there was an audible gasp. Yet, in the professional genealogy services world, there’s always a gasp when the fire at the St. Louis Branch of the National Archives is discussed. Knowing that so many military records have been lost forever. That fire burned over 75 percent of the military records from after 1911 that had been housed on the top floor of that collection. For the genealogy world and especially for those genealogists who might be seeking World War I and World War II records, the fire of July 1973 was a true disaster.