Ships logs verifying my presence on board

30-40 years ago, the last time I saw my DD-214 it said the only ribbon I was entitled to was a National Defense. This means according to those records I was never inside the "contiguous zone" of Vietnam. Never within swimming distance of the DMZ and definitely didn't make any weekly trips into DaNang Harbor. If the deck logs placing me in a particular turret well within the contiguous zone of Vietnam upsets someones apple cart, then the protective cover of certain Commissioned Officers is very tenous. You are not the first people I have contacted in response to this incident.

   Thank you for your courtesy.   JOHN HORNER 

John,

Deck logs do not normally contain lists of personnel on board unless you were AWOL, at Captains Mast, or injured, and DD214's typically only have last duty station and other general information.  Assuming you are looking for evidence of exposure to agent orange, VA's database of acknowledged vessels in an AO exposed location contain over 150 documented position reports in the AO Zone  for St Paul in 1970, and 57 in July alone. If your service record confirms your presence on board VA should concede exposure. Below is a representative log page (location highlighted in red) you could submit, but since VA already as the logs it should not be necessary.  (I'd submit it anyway.)

Ernest Davidson 
USS Brinkley Bass DD887
1969-73

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931269?objectPage=3

Mr. Ernesto Davidson, thank you for the sample copy of the Saint Paul deck logs. Interesting. During this final tour of South Vietnam (before decommissioning), the only place that I recall having dropped anchor was Subic Bay. I believe it was the last stop before sailing to the US. In dropping anchor there were problems, I believe 1 man was killed and others were injured.

Normally I wouldn't expect to see a running tally of every seaman working on deck listed in the deck logs. In my particular case, there was only "one" accidental discharge during the entire tour and I was one of only 3 people in the turret that day. None of that was accidental. The Chief Gunner normally in charge of the 5 inch guns was a black man named Coleman. He wasn't there. Chief Gunner McClenney was there. He came by the 3 inch 50 mount where I was working and ordered me to follow. This Chief got his orders from higher up as in head of "fire control". I expect this Commissioned Officer got his orders from the "XO", a secret squirrel wannabe.

Like I said, this sample copy is interesting. We never dropped anchor anywhere near Vietnam and I never heard of Point Susan. Perhaps like these thousands of people that claim to be ex-SEALS or ex-Snipers, perhaps instead of leaving the Navy as an E-1 I was in reality a COMMANDER! Like I told the doctor at my last visit, of the millions of people that smoke dope, I am one example of someone who SHOULD be smoking it but don't.

Thanks again, keep up the good work, your working partners as well.

Johngeorgehorner 

Thank you for posting your question on History Hub!

The deck logs for the requested ship and dates are digitally available on the National Archives’ online Catalog. You are welcome to check the catalog for uploads. We encourage you to search within Record Group 24, Entry P 118, Series: Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations; use the “Search within this Series” bar to search for the name of the ship without using “USS” as a prefix.

To assist you with your research, we have included the direct links to our online catalog for the requested ship and dates below:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175930951 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931011 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931077 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931139 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931205 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931269 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931335 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931401 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931465 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/175931533 

We invite you to continue the conversation with community members on History Hub, but should you have follow up questions for the staff at Archives II, please email us at archives2reference@nara.gov so that we can assist you further. 

We hope this helps you with your research! 

Sincerely,

Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR)

[RR2RR 25-00879-BAK]