Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Yes. there are probably records of any general type going way back. Complete records for everyone, and for just the one guy you're interested in? please. you don't expect gaps? Sidd's the only honest one.
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Don't count me among the surprised if someone's individual file (i.e., "Lt. George W. Bush") is gone after thirty years. But "no records" is a different thing, and harder to accomplish accidentally. Units maintain records of service and pay for a reason; it's not the same as a personnel file in a private company, where you do it for payroll tax purposes. For example, the existence of a person's service might become relevant to their pension or burial rights. These things don't often get destroyed as a matter of course.
I have an ancestor who got a widow's pension because her husband was "engaged in throwing tea overboard in the harbor Boston". The affidavit she filed in 1838 is still on file. Of course, she was probably full of shit --- we're notorious liars, we Grinches.
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