Joseph Dutch Bowers (December 13, 1896 â April 27, 1936) was the first man to attempt an escape from Alcatraz prison.oseph Bowers was by all accounts a desperado and loner, unable to come to terms with the conditions of Alcatraz.
However, the National Archives notes with some relief that millions of documents were lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) before the fire occurred, so at least those military records werenât destroyed. How VA Uses The 1973 Fire As An Excuse. An issue that comes up â much too frequently â is VAâs claim that a Veteranâs records were destroyed in the 1973 NPRC fire. VA Regional Offices often deny benefits claims by explaining â[t]hey could not obtain the records, and ...
From NPRC (MPR): No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred.