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Your Files: Military Records Moved

By VVAW

In a ceremony at the National Archives on Monday, April 27, Secretary of the Army John Marsh officially transferred to the civilian agency approximately 30,000 cubic feet of records created between 1954 and 1975 by U.S. Army and Joint Commands in Southeast Asia. Included are records of MACV, USARV, MACTHAI, Army divisions and subordinate commands.

The National Archives has released a provisional schedule that calls for the release of records of combat and service units at and below divisional level and MACTHAI records in April 1988; USARV records in April 1990; and MACV records in April 1992. The delay is due to the lack of a staff to service the records and the necessity to review and arrange the material.

In the interim while division-level records are unavailable, access to operational, after-action, and "lessons learned" reports will be through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Rd, Springfield, VA 22161. Copies of these reports were deposited in NTIX by the Army and have been available through agency historical offices. The appropriate addresses are:

Office of Air Force History
Building #5681
Bolling Air Force Base
Washington, DC 20332

Navy Historical Center
Building #57
Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC 20374

Marine Corps Historical Center
Building #58
Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC 20374

The Army was responsible for bringing records back from Vietnam following the 1973 peace accords. Due to the disorganized state of those records, the National Archives has refused until recently to accept them. The records have been located at the National Archives Records Center in Suitland, MD since 1973, and will remain at that facility. In April 1975 a large quantity of records awaiting shipment to the U.S. was seized by North Vietnamese troops at Ton Son Nuit airport. Other records were destroyed by Army personnel without authorization during the pullout following the Paris Peace Accords.