Following the excellent Fortean Times review of the new book on Jack
Parsons, "Sex and Rockets", which featured a lengthy sidebar on L. Ron
Hubbard's sojourn with the OTO (see a.r.s. posts passim), a gentleman
from the "L. Ron Hubbard Office" in East Grinstead has written to put
the facts "straight"...

  In the feature about Jack Parsons, "Rocket in his Pocket" [FT 132:
  34-38], the writer attempted to belittle L Ron Hubbard by referring
  to his "less than spectacular naval career."  Mr Hubbard was in fact
  awarded 21 war medals during his service in World War II, including
  a Unit Citation which is only awarded by the President to combat units
  that perform particularly meritorious service.

  At the particular time mentioned in your article, Mr Hubbard was  
  working as an intelligence officer and was assigned to <i>break up</i>
  the OTO ring for national security reasons and that was the sole
  motive for his involvement.

  A factual account of Mr Hubbard's involvement with the OTO can be
  found in J Gordon Melton's <i>Thelemic Magic in America - the
  Emergence of an Alternative Religion</i> (1981).

  Mr Bob Keenan,
  Executive Director,
  The L. Ron Hubbard Office,
  United Kingdom

When I read this I was reminded of Thomas Huxley's reaction to "Soapy
Sam" Wilberforce's oration back in 1860: 'Then, turning to his
antagonist with a smiling insolence, [Wilberforce] begged to know, was
it through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his
descent from a monkey?"... [Huxley] turned to Sir Benjamin Brodie, who
was sitting beside him, and emphatically striking his hand upon his
knee, exclaimed, "The Lord hath delivered him into mine hands." '  

So here's my response, which hopefully will Huxleyise the L. Ron Hubbard
Office:

  Dear FT,

  Mr. Bob Keenan ("From Ron's Office", Letters, FT 136) repeats many
  long-disproved claims about L. Ron Hubbard's naval service, which the
  FT rightly called "less than distinguished".  

  The US Navy's records show that Hubbard was awarded only four of the
  21 medals claimed, all being very routine service awards.  There was
  no Presidential commendation. Two of the other 17 medals do not even
  exist.  The US, British and Dutch military authorities have confirmed
  that the document on which Hubbard's claim was based is a poorly
  executed forgery.  It credits him with non-existent and non-awarded  
  medals, with academic qualifications that he never earned, serving on
  a ship which was scrapped long before World War II and bears the
  purported signature of a non-existent officer.

  Hubbard was a junior intelligence officer for only 4½ months, during
  early 1942.  There is no evidence of any link with Naval Intelligence  
  at any time afterwards.  When Hubbard was involved with the OTO, in
  1945-46, he was on the US Navy's inactive list due to a recurrent
  duodenal ulcer.  FBI records show that Jack Parsons retained the
  highest security clearances for years after Hubbard had left the OTO
  with Parsons' girlfriend, soon to be Hubbard's second wife.  The OTO  
  was not "broken up" by Hubbard and still exists to this day.

  The OTO's official website is at http://www.otohq.org and a digitised
  copy of Hubbard's service record can be found at
  http://www.ronthewarhero.org.

--
   |        Chris Owen - chr...@OISPAMNOlutefisk.demon.co.uk       |
   |---------------------------------------------------------------|
   |  THE TRUTH ABOUT L. RON HUBBARD AND THE UNITED STATES NAVY    |
   |                 http://www.ronthewarhero.org                  |