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.
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enehoa
Good Morning. I hope the collective minds at HadIt.Com can offer some solutions to my problem.
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Berta
Those ships are not on the AO ship's list from VA: However this vet is also trying to prove Boots on Ground: The USS Gompers was one of many ships he was on. BVA remanded the claim for the RO
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