Records related to President's Bush National Guard service destroyed

The Pentagon trying to improve Microfilm records related to President Bush's service in the Air National Guard three decades ago has inadvertedly destroyed them.

Payroll records of large numbers of service members, including Bush, were ruined in 1996 and 1997 in a project to save large, brittle rolls of microfilm, Defense Finance and Accounting Service spokesman Bryan Hubbard told Reuters.

According to the Voice of America, Mr. Bush's military record during the Vietnam war has been a contentious issue in the presidential campaign. Critics have pointed to missing or incomplete service records to question whether the president fulfilled his military service commitment.

The White House says the president fulfilled his National Guard service commitment.