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I Need Help Proving "boots On Ground"

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enehoa

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Good Morning. I hope the collective minds at HadIt.Com can offer some solutions to my problem.

I need to prove “boots on ground” to receive disability benefits for Diabetes Mellitus II, Kidney Failure, Hypertension, Left Leg Above Knee Amputation and individual unemployability. VA has denied both disability claims because of no official documentation.
In 1972 I was an 18-year-old kid, fresh out of High School, Boot Camp and MMA School and sent to fleet. I had orders to USS Haleakala on station off the coast of Vietnam.
There are 34 unaccounted days after reporting off leave at Naval Station Pearl Harbor on April 27, 1972 and reporting for duty aboard USS Haleakala (AE-25) on May 29, 1972. An 18-year-old US Navy sailor can’t disappear in Southeast Asia and magically appear 34 days later on the pier in Subic Bay, Philippines.
I have completed the missing information with my personal recollections. Listed below are facts about the 34 missing days:
1. I was never arrested for AWOL, Missing Ships Movement or Desertion during the unaccounted 34 days.
2. I didn’t own a passport and was traveling under official US Navy orders. The United States was at war with Vietnam. It was common practice for Navy personnel reporting to a ship on station to transit through Da Nang. I arrived Da Nang, Vietnam aboard a MAC flight and transferred to a US Navy ship. Stepping off the MAC flight onto the tarmac substantiates “boots on ground”.
3. On April 18, 1972 I departed Machinist Mate A School at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois on ten days leave in Honolulu, Hawaii.
4. On April 27, 1972 I reported off leave at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and departed Honolulu, Hawaii aboard an 8-hour MAC flight enroute to Yokota, Japan. On April 28, 1972 I departed Yokota, Japan aboard a 5-hour MAC flight enroute to Da Nang, Vietnam. On arrival in Da Nang, Vietnam, I disembarked plane, walked across the tarmac to US Customs inside the terminal. After customs, I boarded a bus outside the terminal to the pier and reported TDY aboard the USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37).
5. On April 30, 1972 the USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37) departed Da Nang, Vietnam for Naval Station Subic Bay, Philippines.
6. US Navy paid me aboard USS Gompers on April 30 and May 15, 1972.
7. On May 29, 1972 I reported for permanent duty aboard USS Haleakala (AE-25) at Subic Bay Naval Base, Philippines.
Here is the problem: No documentation exists proving the above information.
No official orders exist in my service file.
No US Customs documentation exists for Yokota or Da Nang.
No MAC flights manifests exist.
No documentation of TDY service aboard USS Gompers exists.
No financial pay records exist.
I would appreciate any advice you can offer.
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If I read your request correctly, you are trying to prove this moment ...

"On arrival in Da Nang, Vietnam, I disembarked plane, walked across the tarmac to US Customs inside the terminal. After customs, I boarded a bus outside the terminal to the pier and reported TDY aboard the USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37)."

Am I correct?

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You have exact dates, so we can narrow down the research to the U.S. Customs Office (Da Nang), and the Unit/Ship Diary of the U.S.S. Gompers. So, where can we find those?

Any Hadit user know where to research this type of information?

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You're absolutely correct. The information is "boots on ground" on arrival at Da Nang AB on April 28-29, 1972. Everything else afterwards is moot.

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Do you have a copy of your personnel records. Can you scan it minus the personal identification. There should be a sheet with like three maybe four columns that list from boot on out to a school to ships. It will say when you report. If you can scan that I might be able to help.

Samuel Gompers (AD-37) Multiple dockings to piers at Da Nang during April 1972 - See more at:

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/shiplist/list.asp#G

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I think all of the deck logs are at the Navy Lib at Washington Navy Yard.

They might even be internet access. I stood P.O of the watch on tenders

and you would be in the Quarterdeck log.

Edited by RickH
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