Letter to Senator Robb from Patrick Jost (July 1, 1996)

Patrick Jost
July 1, 1996

Dear Senator Robb:

I am writing to request your assistance in obtaining the military records of L. Ron Hubbard (aka Lafayette Ronald Hubbard; b. 1911; d. 1986). His name may be familiar to you as the founder of Scientology and Dianetics.

Many claims are made about his background. Specifically, that he served as a “commander of corvettes” and that between May 18-21, while commanding the PC185, he sunk a Japanese submarine off the Oregon coast near Cape Lookout.

In May of last year I wrote to the Bureau of Naval Personnel at the Arlington Annex. In August, I received a reply from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. This letter stated that they did not have the records, which had been loaned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, and suggested that I either contact them (BNP) directly or contact the NPRC in a few months.

I have written to both offices and have not received any reply from them.

Given your involvement in national defense matters, there is no doubt in my mind that must understand the need for factual representation of a military history, especially when it is used as part of the “advertising” for Dianetics and Scientology. In addition to various claims (as I have stated above), Scientology also distributes a document called the “Prouty Affidavit”; in this document, Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty claims that Hubbard’s records were altered to conceal his performance of intelligence duties.

In any case, it would be interesting and useful to know what the truth is, and to know it once and for all. I cannot help but think that an inquiry from your office to whatever agency holds Mr. Hubbard’s file (which should be readily available to the public) will produce the desired results.

Yours,
Patrick Jost