U.S.S. Allen M. Sumner DD-692
Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I wear my uniform to a Reunion?
    Active duty, Active Reserves and members of the Fleet Reserve may wear their uniforms. For those who did not retire from the military, the following regulation covers the authority to wear your Navy uniform: United States Navy Uniform Regulations; NAVPERS 15665I; Chapter One; General Uniform Regulations; Section 4: Laws, Directives, U.S. Navy Regulations pertaining to Uniforms
        Item 1401: 3 (b) (2) Former Members of the Armed Forces
            Unless discussed in DOD Directive 1334.1 or Title 10 U.S. Code Sec. 772, former members who served honorably during a war and whose most recent service was terminated under honorable conditions, may wear the uniform of the highest grade held during their service only on the following occasions and during travel related to those occasions.
                (a)    Military funerals, memorial services, weddings and inaugurals.
                (b)   Patriotic parades and ceremonies in which any active or reserve United States military unit is taking part. Wearing of the uniform or any part of it at any other time or for any other purpose is prohibited.

Q: I want to scan some pictures to send to the site, how should I do it?
        We can accept almost any type of scanning, we recommend scanning at 150 DPI for black & white pictures and documents and 300 DPI for color.  These files will be transmitted at their most efficient size by saving them as .JPG or .GIF file formats.  TIFF files are extremely large and should be avoided.  You may then E-mail them to FRED@DD-692.COM.

Q: I don't have a scanner, how can I get my pictures/documents/movie/VHS tape into the site?
        We currently possess a flat bed scanner, a slide/photograph scanner and a video capture facility.  You may send your items to the site by mailing to Fred Willshaw, 14613 Waterside Drive, Charlotte, NC 28278.  We normally have any item back in the mail to you within a week of receipt.

Q: The pages of the site do not appear properly on my computer monitor, what is wrong?
        There are a multitude of monitor types which display the data in many different resolutions.  We have attempted to reach a happy medium by building the site using the 800X600 resolution and keeping flashy or large graphics at a minimum.  There is nothing wrong with your computer.

Q: The pictures that I see on other sites appear much clearer and larger than the Sumner Site, what is wrong?
        Increasing the resolution and/or size of images for your viewing also increases the size of the file that must be transmitted to you.  We have tried to keep these files at a smaller size so that those of you with slower speed modems or very busy internet traffic will not be penalized in your ability to view the site.  There is nothing wrong with your computer.

Q: I keep getting the error message Page Not Found or Error 404, what is wrong?
        We are continually updating and reworking sections of the site to make it easier to use.  During this process some pages may be renamed or actually deleted and combined with other pages.  Most Internet viewers store the pages in a cache and the next time you go to this page it uses the copy in the cache instead of retrieving the updated page from the web site.  If you get this error, do a Page Refresh from the page that is retrieving the failing page with your Internet viewer and this will force it to get the latest version of the page from the web site.

Q: Where did you get the pages from the Ship's Deck Log?
        The pages from 1944 through 1972 are stored at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.  If you are interested in obtaining pages for ships other than for the Sumner drop us an E-mail and we will send you the details of how to order.  If you want to see pages from the Sumner that are not online drop us an E-mail and we will scan and send them to you.

Q: Where did you get the data about the Ribbons and Awards that Sumner earned?
      The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) has an Awards desk at the Pentagon that keeps track of the awards of all Navy ships.   They also provided us with copies of our Meritorious Unit Certificates.  The address to write to is: Chief of Naval Operations; Awards and Special Projects (Code N09B33); 2000 Navy Pentagon; Washington DC 20350-2000

Q: Where did you get all the pictures and Cruise Books from?
        The vast majority of the pictures and all of the Cruise Books were loaned to us by former Crewman of the Sumner for inclusion in the site.  There are some pictures available at the National Archives, the United States Naval Institute, etc.  The best online site to find pictures is at HTTP://WWW.NAVSOURCE.ORG.

Q: Where did you get the crew muster list data from?
    Currently what is displayed in the crew muster lists was manually built using the Ship's Deck Logs, Cruise Books, the Reunion Association Membership List, the BUPER's muster lists and correspondence with former crewman.  We have been in contact with the National Archives at College Park and have found that they now hold the Sumner Crew Muster Lists/Personnel Diaries for the period Jan 26, 1944 through December 31, 1971.  This period is available on 21 rolls of 16mm microfilm, the Navy destroyed the paper copies after the filming process.  These rolls may be purchased at a cost of $34.00 per roll with the maximum mail order at one time being five rolls.  You may not submit the next request until payment has been received for the preceding order and you do not pay until you have received confirmation (Form 72) of your request.  In addition the roll for 1971 and later years contain Social Security numbers and this data must be redacted at an additional charge of $2.00 per page, note that each roll contains hundreds of pages.  The rolls up to the middle 1950's do not contain Officer lists as this data is contained in the Ship's Deck Logs.  After the middle 50's the Officer data is contained on the crew muster rolls.   The data on the rolls includes the names, ranks/ratings and service numbers and in some cases the place of enlistment.  Included on the rolls in various formats are the quarterly listings from BUPERs of the total crew roster.  The more recent the year, the more collateral data is contained with the basic name and rate information.  Every page of the ship's diary for the year is included and in some cases the BUPERs reports of advancements.  The Diary contains all transfers of personnel from or to the command including TAD and hospitalization, they contain advancements and the effects of "getting busted". They do not contain current addresses, however, in later years for those crewman discharged from the ship their new address of record is sometimes included..  The rolls for 1944-1948 contain only one ship's records, after 1948 they may contain multiple ships on one roll.   For Sumner, 1944-1949 are all on one roll while 1968 is on two rolls. At this point I do not plan on ordering the 1972 and 1973 rolls should they become available, as the redacted cost is beyond what is reasonable, if anyone wants to volunteer to take on this part of the project just let me know.   Also, at the current time the Archives is NOT accepting orders for listings for 1971 forward as they have not decided how they will process this Social Security sensitive material.

Q: Where did you get the Action, Casualty and Damage Reports?
        The reports for World War II came from the National Archives at College Park, MD.  The reports for the Korean and Vietnam Wars are at the Naval Historical Center at Washington Navy Yard.  The Vietnam reports were not the formal typed reports of World war II but were transmitted radio reports to Seventh Fleet.