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.
By THOMAS GNAU | Journal-News, Hamilton, Ohio | Published: April 2, 2021 HAMILTON, Ohio (Tribune News Service) When veteran and Hamilton, Ohio resident Jack Hoaglan Sr. died in December at the age of 73, his family and funeral home were unable to obtain a simple federal form that verified the character of his discharge from the Army a DD form 214 that could have allowed his family to bury him with military honors. Before the pandemic, it might have taken 48 hours to obtain that form from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), said Mike Farmer, executive director of the Butler County Veterans Service Commission. But in December, the family and funeral home were not able to reach anyone at the center at all, Farmer said.
Almost 600 Butler County vet records in limbo, benefits delayed yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.