I have, literally checked every website that mentions "Boyd." There's a lot of missing history for her.

The Secretary of the Navy visited her in July, 1966. Photos of the period are undated and often with titles such as "Playing cards" and that doesn't tell me who or when.

I'm trying to help a sailor with an Agent Orange claim -- very, very difficult for "Blue Water Navy" as the government does not believe, contrary to scientific studies, that dioxins washed out the Yankee Station and were not removed by the ships' water-making apparatus. You have to show that they performed "Brown Water" duties or were docked with the likelihood that the crew went ashore.

So you ask the National Archives for copies of the Deck Logs. However, after 47 years memories dim and run together and what someone believes happened during a given time span didn't. As a result I try to use my "look it up" abilities to help.

True story: I helped a guy prove he suffered hearing loss while serving on "USS Saratoga" in the Med in 1962. The VA office in Boise said, "No way!" Mind you, he was serving as a catapult operator behind the blast shield directly behind the jet's exhaust...and the Navy admits today that even with "modern" hearing protection these people usually suffer hearing loss.

I hope I can help the guy from "Boyd." Contacting the CPT, even if he is still alive, is usually of little help as it's very, very unlikely he'd remember a particular fire mission or where he took a ship during a particular time...and the VA usually says, "Ha! That's wrong!" to such evidence anyway.

I met a guy today who was with the Field Artillery (8" howitzers) in Germany. He asked for hearing aids because of hearing loss and was told "No! You can't prove it was due to military service, nyah, nyah, nyah!" So he appealed two years ago and hasn't heard anything since.

Go figure....