I live in KC MO, home to the national WWI museum and library. My maternal great-grandfather was in WWI under the name Anders Andersen. About 5 years ago my grandmother and I went to the museum and tried to locate his military records and we were told that there was a fire in St. Louis at some point and all the records for that area (Chicago area) were lost. We are also searching for the wherabouts of a lost (my great-great-granduncle who ran away at 16 and my grandmother suspects may have joined WWI and may have died during the war.

Any way of of finding out anything additional about the mililtary records that may have burned in the St. Louis fire?