A little less recently and less literary, the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire destroyed an enormous number of US Army and Air Force military service

A little less recently and less literary, the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire destroyed an enormous number of US Army and Air Force military service records and continues to cause great frustration to historians and genealogists. Newer National Archives facilities, such as the one in San Bruno, are built in a bunker-like fashion in order to prevent damage and contain fires.