Flight,

If any of you are still searching for info for a VA claim involving aircraft the folowing may be helpful to you.

Tom Gator 851.

Hello Tom,

I want to thank you for your referring me to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park,Maryland.
Eight years of searching has come to a positive conclusion. NARA's Modern Military History Unit found conclusive evidence of my UH-1B's crash/accident at Camp Holloway on November 18,1963: Precisely five days before President Kennedy was assassinated, just as I have been claiming all along to the VA.
Now, here is why I am asking you to pass the following information directly to any other Disabled Veteran who is fighting the same information denial game that the VA plays to avoid honoring justifiable claims for medical care and fair compensation.
The NARA Modern Military History Unit has Unit records for nearly all if not all Military Units that operated in Southeast Asia
for the duration of the Vietnam War. A problem arises because not all units kept records to a single standard and in some cases no standard at all even though required by regulations of that time. Therefore, a given unit's records,logs and other information may have either not survived the war or even been created. That is what seems to have been the factor in my not being able to locate any confirming records or obtaining copies of such documentation. Apparently the 119th AVNCO and the 52ndCAB didn't keep hard copies of their records or they were in some way destroyed. However, due to the diligence and cooperation of NARA's Modern Military History Unit, they found the smoking gun I have been searching for for the last eight years.

What they did was to search through the Commander- U.S. Forces MACV, Saigon,Vietnam for the period in question and they found and provided me with copies of the Duty Officer's Logs which contain very specific entries and language plus the names of the reporting Authority, Airfield Officer of the Day (AOD) and Combat Operations Center (COC) Duty Officer's
and Aviation Joint Operations Center reports of my crash/accident along with the date,time,place,cause and an account of the injuries of the four Crew Members, of which I was one.
If no other records can be found of an event that caused disabling injuries to an American Servicman or Servicewoman during the Vietnam War it would a very good idea to request a search of the " Commander U.S. Forces MACV Saigon,Vietnam's Combat Operations Center - Duty Officer's Logs. They contain information about personnel conduct, aircraft and vehicle incidents/accidents due to combat losses or other causes, American and ARVN Patrol actions and contact with Viet Cong/NVA units and their outcomes.
When all else fail to turn up proof of an event this should be the place and the records to turn to.

I hope you will pass this on to anyone who may need the kind of effort made on my behalf in order to document their own claims with the Veterans Administration.

Thank you again for your timely assistance and direction.

Most Sincerely,

David C. Braum