How To Prove Service In Rvn

[barbarap]

I am new to this site. My husband is the vet. He is trying to prove service connection for dmii based on exposure to AO in DMZ. He was AF and was TDY to a Comm Squadron in Osan, Korea, from Fuchu, Japan, for 30 days in March - May, 1968. During that TDY, under verbal orders of the commander (VOC), he was sent TDY to Vietnam twice or three times for a day or two at a time to courier crypto information for the AF. His TDY to Korea was extended several times until it turned into a one-year PCS. Our problem is that there is nothing that we can find in his service records (of which we received a copy from the VA) showing that he was in the RVN since his trips there were under VOC. He received injuries twice while in RVN - once in helicopter crash and second time from shrapnel from rocket attack. Went to dispensary after got back to Korea but all of his medical records from Korea are missing from the copy from the VA.

We need help trying to connect him to anyone in his unit that will be able to corroborate that he was in Korea and that he was in and out of RVN during that time period or something that we can use that the this was not an unheard of practice by the AF to send someone TDY under VOC when they are already TDY.

Has anyone ever run into a situation like this? We like to talk to anyone with experience in this sort of situation and would appreciate any guidance.

[barbarap]

Hi Berta:

We are working with the Columbia, SC, office.

We will give the misfiled documents to the rep and ask him to have them returned to the VARO to be put in the correct file.

I have requested his pay records and will now request his entire file from the NARA. Maybe it will be in some order and hope that they haven't sent everything to the local VA office.

Thanks for your help.

[barbarap]

pr

Do you know from whom I should request those reports? Is that something that comes from the NARA also or directly from the AF?

Thanks for any help you can give me on this. Very helpful!

barbarap - you stated he was injured twice. Does he know where he was and the approximate date(month/year) of the rocket attack?? Also, I'm not sure if the AF had morning reports but each service had them or something similiar, which report daily additions and subtractions to their unit, such as TDY's, R&R, tranfers, etc. He should check on those for his unit. I would also think there were flight logs that showed personnel on each flight.

Original service records are owned by the branch of service and the NPRC is the custodian. When the VA requests the records, they are tranferred to the VA and the VA then becomes the custodian of the records.

pr

[Philip Rogers]

barbarap - I checked the NPRC and they have morning reports for the AF from Sep 1947 thru Jun 30, 1966. I don't know if they discontinued them in '66 or if they are stored elsewhere. They basically show who wasn't present in the unit that day. Were the dates he was there 3/68 - 5/68?? If he can tell me what air base had the rocket attack he was wounded at, I can probably find the date. Thanks!

pr

pr

Do you know from whom I should request those reports? Is that something that comes from the NARA also or directly from the AF?

Thanks for any help you can give me on this. Very helpful!

[barbarap]

Hi Philip: The base that had the rocket attack was Cam Rahn Bay, RVN. He's pretty sure that the attack occurred in April 1968. We don't have a day.

Is the NPRC the same thing as the NARA (archives)?

Thanks so much for your help!

Barbara

[Philip Rogers]

Hi Barbara, I'll check on the attack later today and get back to you. The NPRC is the National Personnel Records Center, which is part of the NARA(archives).

pr

Hi Philip: The base that had the rocket attack was Cam Rahn Bay, RVN. He's pretty sure that the attack occurred in April 1968. We don't have a day.

Is the NPRC the same thing as the NARA (archives)?

Thanks so much for your help!

Barbara

[Philip Rogers]

Barbara, The only attack, I found documented, on Cam Ranh Bay AFB, in 1968, happened on March 4, 1968. The base received 27 standoff rounds (rocket/mortar) with no loses of aircraft and no injured or killed personnel. Here's a link to all AFB attacks in VN for the whole war.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1446931/US-Air-Force-AFD070228023

pr