Posted by Joe Gonzales on April 28, 2009 at 9:44pm
I was assigned to the USS Point Defiance LSD-31, late 1972 she was on her way back from Vietnam. It would be great to communicate with anyone who was assigned to this ship at anytime! I was onboard from 8/1972 through 8/1975. I was a gunners mate, my 5 inch 50 gunmount was the forward port. We were staioned out of Long Beach, CA. Navy Base (now closed), then we went to Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon border the Willamette river for a overhaul. The ship was literally taken down to bare metal, we worked hard, and were very proud of our accomplishements.We made a West pak, in Japan we went to Yokuskha, Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo, Okinawa, we aslo went to Saipan, Midway, and Hawaii. We anchored out at Hong Kong/Kowloon, went to the Phillipines, and Taiwan, we even went to South Korea, but were not allowed to get off ship because of tension.I am a very proud American and U.S. Navy Veteran of the Vietnam Era. Land of the Free Home of the Brave.Peace,Joe
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To answer some question the has been a new list of ship that are presumed to have been exposed to AO and the Point Defiance is on that list Also it is really important to be working with a local VA Service Officer they are not part of the VA. You can find one in your area on the internet. My SO was really detailed in putting together my claim and it was submitted to the VA last July 2014. He believes that due to the upheaval in the VA the backlog of claims is hot issue! I will post any progress on my claim
Replies
To answer some question the has been a new list of ship that are presumed to have been exposed to AO and the Point Defiance is on that list Also it is really important to be working with a local VA Service Officer they are not part of the VA. You can find one in your area on the internet. My SO was really detailed in putting together my claim and it was submitted to the VA last July 2014. He believes that due to the upheaval in the VA the backlog of claims is hot issue! I will post any progress on my claim
Roger A Hutchings
Us Navy LT Retired
navyguy@wwdb.org
hey joe i served on the point d myself in 73-76 and have been disabled by respiratory problems do you have any issues as well?