Print article WASHINGTON After Navy veteran Jack Ray Hoaglan died from the coronavirus in December, his family tried to arrange a military funeral for the 73-year-old. They needed paper records from the National Personnel Records Center to prove the Ohio native’s service aboard the USS Enterprise decades ago. The phones at the St. Louis center, however, went unanswered. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the NPRC has sat empty, with employees working remotely. And records requests, most of which require someone to physically search for documents within the building, have been piling up. Now, the backlog has grown to over 499,000 requests, according to a spokesperson for the National Archives, which oversees the NPRC. The National Archives estimates that it will take 18 to 24 months to clear the backlog once the center is staffed at full capacity.
Veterans hit by huge pandemic-related records backlog yorkdispatch.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yorkdispatch.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Airport shooter had history of arrests
Brian Chasnoff, Marina Starleaf Riker, Peggy O’Hare, Sig Christenson, Staff writers
April 16, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
About six years ago, Joe Gomez got his guns back.
Police had seized the firearms a shotgun, three handguns and two assault rifles after the military veteran with a criminal history was arrested in 2014 on suspicion of felony possession of marijuana. About a year later, a judge signed an order for police to release the weapons, including a .45-caliber handgun, to Gomez’s attorney, according to court records.
On Thursday afternoon, a man armed with a .45-caliber handgun who was identified by a police source as 46-year-old Gomez nearly unleashed a mass shooting at San Antonio International Airport. Police say quick action by San Antonio Park Police Officer John Maines, who was working a post at the airport, stopped a potential massacre.
Pandemic paperwork backlog leaves Veterans in limbo Veterans across the country are struggling to access the benefits earned in service to the country, affecting how they live and how theyâre remembered when they die. (Source: Gray Washington News Bureau) By Kyle Midura | April 12, 2021 at 5:42 PM CDT - Updated April 12 at 5:42 PM
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Veterans across the country are struggling to access the benefits earned in service to the country, affecting how they live and how theyâre remembered when they die. A records backlog is at the heart of the issue and itâs growing by the day.