Expert: Eric Shangle - 7/11/2007

Question
My dad served on the USS Enterprise during Vietnam he was assigned to the planes. He needs to find documents of the use or presents of Napalm on the ship with him. The VA researched it for ten months and couldn't find anything. Could you help me find the answer?

Answer
Cynde,
I asked around about this with my resources.  Everyone pretty much was perplexed by this question.  Those documents might not be around.  However here are some suggestions on places to start looking.

1.  Contact the USS Enterprise Association.  This is an organization designed to help previous shipmates who served on the ship.
http://www.cvan-cvn-65.org/

2.  Contact your local VFW chapter.  Sometimes they have a lot of resources available to them.  There are some "old-timers" that might be able to pull some strings.

3.  Naval Historical Foundation:  http://www.navyhistory.org/documents/
They might be able to point you in the right direction.

4.  US Navy Memorial:  http://www.lonesailor.org/
Again, they might have some better ideas.

I know that I didn't necessarily get your answer, but I wanted to get you in touch with people who might know more.  Generally the people who work with the historical foundations (etc) have contacts of previous Admirals and people of influence.  They will have (or should have) a better idea of where to start.

I hope that this helps you out.  I saw that you have posted this online quite a bit.  I truly apologize for people being mean/rude about your question.  It's very important to take care of our elders.  I wish you the best of luck.  Please let me know if you do track this down.

On a personal note, I would assume that if the "E" was stationed near Vietnam, then it did have Agent Orange on it.  The planes would need to be stocked with it from somewhere.  Most of the planes used in Vietnam were Navy and/or Marine Corps.  I don't know this for sure, but it would stand to reason.  What rating was your dad?  This will also help answer your question.  Make sure you tell people this...it will give them a better frame of reference.
Eric