Military career of L . Ron Hubbard The military career of L . Ron Hubbard saw the future founder of Scientology serving in the United States Armed Forces as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve and , between 1941 – 50 , the Navy Reserve . He saw active service between 1941 – 45 , during World War II , as a naval Lieutenant , junior grade and later as a Lieutenant . After the war he was mustered out of active service and resigned his commission in 1950 . As with many other aspects of L . Ron Hubbard ' s life , accounts of his military career are much disputed . His account of his military service later formed a major element of his public persona , as depicted by his Scientologist followers . The Church of Scientology presents Hubbard as a " much - decorated war hero who commanded a corvette and during hostilities was crippled and wounded . " According to Scientology publications , he served as a " Commodore of Corvette squadrons " in " all five theaters of World War II " and was awarded " twenty - one medals and palms " for his service . He was " severely wounded and was taken crippled and blinded " to a military hospital , where he " worked his way back to fitness , strength and full perception in less than two years , using only what he knew and could determine about Man and his relationship to the universe . " However , his official Navy service records indicate that " his military performance was , at times , substandard " , that he was only awarded a handful of campaign medals and that he was never injured or wounded in combat and was never awarded a Purple Heart . Most of his military service was spent ashore in the continental United States on administrative or training duties . He briefly commanded two anti - submarine vessels , the USS " YP - 422 " and USS " PC - 815 " , in coastal waters off Massachusetts , Oregon and California in 1942 and 1943 respectively . He was removed from command of both vessels and rated by his superiors as being unsuitable for independent duties and " lacking in the essential qualities of judgment , leadership and cooperation " . Although Hubbard asserted that he had attacked and crippled or sunk two Japanese submarines off Oregon while in command of the USS " PC - 815 " , his claim was rejected by the commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier after a subsequent investigation . He was hospitalized for the last seven months of his active service , not with injuries but with an acute duodenal ulcer . The Church of Scientology rejects the official record and insists that Hubbard had a " second " set of records that the U . S . Navy has concealed . According to the Church ' s chief spokesman , if it was true that Hubbard had not been injured , " the injuries that he handled by the use of Dianetics procedures were never handled , because they were injuries that never existed ; therefore , Dianetics is based on a lie ; therefore , Scientology is based on a lie . " Montana Army National Guard and US Marine Corps Reserve . Hubbard ' s first military service was with the Montana Army National Guard , which he joined at the age of 16 in October 1927 while still at school , falsely stating that his age was 18 . Enlisting at the State Armory in his home town of Helena , Montana , he served as a private in the Headquarters Company of 163rd Infantry . In May 1930 , at the age of 19 , he joined the Marine Corps Reserve 20th Regiment , a training unit connected with George Washington University where he was a student from 1930 – 32 . Hubbard attributed his service in the regiment to his need for " a little recreation . Life was dull . Fellow came up to me and he says , ' The Marine Reserves are organizing a twentieth regiment . Why don ' t you come down ? ' " He made the dubious claim of being rapidly promoted to the rank of First Sergeant ; Hubbard later explained his unusually rapid promotion as being due to his unit being newly formed and his superiors being unable to " find anyone else who could drill . " He stated that he was rated ' excellent ' for military efficiency , obedience and sobriety . On October 22 , 1931 , Hubbard received an honorable discharge along with the annotation " not to be re - enlisted . " World War II . Western Pacific service . Hubbard joined the United States Navy during the summer of 1941 , a few months before the United States entered the Second World War . He applied in March 1941 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant , Junior Grade on July 19 , 1941 , entering permanent active duty in November . He specifically volunteered for " Special Service ( intelligence duties ) " , an assignation recorded on his commission papers . He spent only a brief time in this nominal role with the Office of Naval Intelligence . After four months working in public relations and at the US Hydrographic Office , he spent three weeks at the Third Naval District in New York training for the role of Intelligence Officer . Hubbard ' s training was curtailed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 , and on December 18 he was sent to the Philippines via Australia . He was put ashore in Brisbane in January 1942 when his ship was re - routed . He was ordered back to the United States aboard the transport vessel USS " Chaumont " the following month at the instigation of the US Naval Attaché to Australia , who cabled Washington to complain : Hubbard and the Church of Scientology presented a number of different accounts of his time in the western Pacific . In 1963 , Hubbard told Australian journalists that he had been " the only anti - aircraft battery in Australia in 1941 – 42 . . . There was me and a Thompson submachine gun . . . I was a mail officer and I was replaced , I think , by a Captain , a couple of commanders and about 15 junior officers . " Hubbard stated on another occasion that he had been " one of the first officers back from the upper battle areas " and that he had " sent on my own authority , four cargo ships loaded to the gunwales with machine gun ammunition , rifle ammunition and quinine up to MacArthur . " When " Melbourne found out . . . there were enough troops in the area so the danger was over , so I went home . I wrote myself some orders and reported back to the US . " According to the Church of Scientology , Hubbard was landed on the island of Java " in the closing days of February 1942 " to search for " stockpiled weapons and fast , shallow - draft vessels . " He was cut off by invading Japanese " and was only able to escape the island after scrambling into a rubber raft and paddling out to meet an Australian destroyer . " Another Church of Scientology account describes Hubbard as " Senior Officer Present Ashore in Brisbane , Australia " and asserts that " his duties included counter - intelligence and the organization of relief for beleaguered American forces on Bataan . It was in this latter capacity that he eventually saw action on the island of Java , and only eluded capture through a daring escape on a raft . In a 1956 lecture to Scientologists , Hubbard said : In another lecture of the same year , Hubbard provided an alternative version of his return to the United States : The US Navy ' s files do not record Hubbard spending any time on Java and do not show any evidence of wounds or injuries sustained in combat . Atlantic service : USS " YP - 422 " and after . Hubbard was posted to the Office of the Cable Censor in New York City after returning to the US at the end of March 1942 . As the office had recently ceased to be an organ of Naval Intelligence , his status was amended to Deck Officer . He was also promoted ( as part of a batch of other officers of the same grade ) to lieutenant , senior grade , the highest rank he was to hold during his active service . In June 1942 he requested that he be assigned to sea duty in the Caribbean ; he was sent instead to the shipyard of George Lawley & Sons of Neponset , Massachusetts , where the fishing trawler MV " Mist " was being converted for military use as a naval yard patrol ( YP ) vessel . The navy commandeered numerous fishing vessels and redesignated them as YP boats , tasked with defending coastal waters against enemy submarines and delivering food and equipment to military personnel offshore ; they were particularly prized for having refrigeration units . The vessel was commissioned as the USS " YP - 422 " on July 28 , 1942 , having been refitted as a freighter armed with a 3 - inch deck gun and two . 30 - caliber machine gun s . In August , the " YP - 422 " put to sea from the Boston Navy Yard to carry out a 27 - hour training exercise . However , Hubbard fell out with a senior officer at the shipyard and sent a critical memorandum to the Vice - Chief of Naval Operations ( VCNO ) in Washington , D . C . The Commandant of the Navy Yard responded by informing the VCNO that , in his view , Hubbard was " not temperamentally fitted for independent command " and requesting that Hubbard be removed and ordered to " other duty under immediate supervision of a more senior officer . " Hubbard duly lost his command on October 1 , 1942 and was ordered to New York , ending his service in the Atlantic . Various accounts of Hubbard ' s service in the North Atlantic have been put forward by the Church of Scientology and Hubbard himself . The Church of Scientology states in one publication that Hubbard " took command of an antisubmarine escort vessel with Atlantic convoys " . In a 1954 lecture , Hubbard asserted that he had been sent " to Boston in the very early part of the war to take command of a corvette " and had been given a crew made up of convicts from Portsmouth Naval Prison . Hubbard stated in another lecture that he had been posted aboard " corvettes , North Atlantic . And I went on fighting submarines in the North Atlantic and doing other things and so on . And I finally got a set of orders for the ship . By that time I had the squadron . " Biographical accounts published by the Church of Scientology have described Hubbard as commanding the " Fourth British Corvette Squadron " and Hubbard himself stated that he " was running British corvettes during the war " . A biographical interview with Hubbard published in 1956 speaks of him commanding " the former British corvette , the " Mist " " . ( The only British naval vessel named " Mist " was an Admiralty drifter , one of a number of small wooden vessels constructed for the Royal Navy in 1918 . ) Hubbard also asserted that he had sustained wounds " aboard a corvette in the North Atlantic " . A biographical profile published in 2008 by the Scientology - related imprint Galaxy Press asserts that Hubbard " served with distinction in four theaters and was highly decorated for commanding corvettes in the North Pacific . He was also grievously wounded in combat [ and ] lost many a close friend and colleague . . . " In November 1942 , Hubbard was sent to the Submarine Chaser Training Center in Miami , Florida for training on submarine chaser vessels . He subsequently undertook a ten - day anti - submarine warfare training course at the Fleet Sound School in Key West and on January 17 , 1943 he was posted to the Albina Engine & Machine Works in Portland , Oregon , where he was to take command of the subchaser USS " PC - 815 " when she was commissioned . Pacific service : " USS PC - 815 " . When Hubbard arrived in Portland , the USS " PC - 815 " was in the last stages of its construction . The ship , a 173 ft ( 53 m ) steel - hulled subchaser of the " PC - 461 " class , had been laid down on October 10 , 1942 at the Albina shipworks . She was commissioned on April 21 , 1943 with Hubbard in command and Lt ( jg ) Thomas Moulton , an officer with whom he had studied in Florida , as the ship ' s executive officer . The ship left Portland on May 18 to travel down the Columbia River to Astoria , Oregon , where she took on ammunition . After participating for a day in an air - sea rescue operation , USS " PC - 815 " was ordered to sail to San Diego to commence its shakedown cruise . In the early hours of May 19 , " PC - 815 ' s " sonar detected what the crew believed to be an enemy submarine off Cape Lookout , about ten to twelve miles offshore . Over the next two and a half days , Hubbard ordered his crew to fire a total of 35 depth charge s and a number of gun rounds to target what Hubbard believed to be two Imperial Japanese Navy submarines . The " PC - 815 " was joined by the US Navy blimps " K - 39 " and " K - 33 " , the US Coast Guard patrol boats " Bonham " and " 78302 " and the subchasers USS " SC - 536 " and USS " SC - 537 " to assist it in the search for the suspected enemy vessels . Hubbard was given temporary command of the vessels on the afternoon of May 19 . The larger subchaser " PC - 778 " also joined the submarine search , though it found no indication of submarines and its commander was subsequently castigated by Hubbard for his refusal to lay its own larger stock of depth charges or resupply the " PC - 815 " . Hubbard stated in his eighteen - page after - action report that he had intended to force the submarine to surface so that it could be attacked by the surface vessels ' guns . He reported that his vessel had seen oil on the surface , though the " PC - 815 " took no samples , and asserted that the blimps had seen air bubbles , oil and a periscope , though the blimps ' own reports did not corroborate this . No wreckage was seen , despite the heavy depth - charging . The " PC - 815 " sustained some minor damage and three crew were injured during the incident when the ship ' s radio antenna was accidentally hit by gunfire . At midnight on 21 May , with depth charges exhausted and the presence of a submarine still unconfirmed by any other ship , " PC - 815 " was ordered back to Astoria . The incident attracted the attention of the naval high command , as there had been a verified Japanese submarine attack against Fort Stevens about 50 miles further north in June 1942 and there had been an invasion scare in southern California earlier in 1942 . Hubbard claimed to have " definitely sunk , beyond doubt " one submarine and critically damaged another . His view was not shared by his superiors . After reviewing the action reports and interviewing Hubbard and the other commanders present , Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher noted : " An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area . Lieutenant Commander Sullivan states that he was unable to obtain any evidence of a submarine except one bubble of air which is unexplained except by turbulence of water due to a depth charge explosion . The Commanding Officers of all ships except the " PC - 815 " state they had no evidence of a submarine and do not think a submarine was in the area . " Fletcher also noted that there was a " known magnetic deposit in the area in which depth charges were dropped . " The clear implication was that Hubbard had been targeting the deposit all along . Hubbard nonetheless continued to believe that he had sunk at least one Japanese submarine . Years later , in 1956 , he told Scientologists : In another lecture , he commented : After the war , the British Admiralty and the US Navy analysed the captured records of the Japanese navy to account for all of its vessels . Their reports do not list any Japanese submarine losses off the coast of the contiguous United States during the whole of the war . According to military records , the " I - 76 " was destroyed off Buka Island in the western Pacific by USS " Franks " , USS " Haggard " and USS " Johnston " on 16 May 1944 . Hubbard ' s crew however , who were very loyal to him , shared his conviction that they had engaged an enemy submarine . His second - in - command , Thomas Moulton , later asserted that the Navy had hushed up the incident , fearing that the presence of Japanese submarines so close to the Pacific coast might cause panic . Following its return to Astoria , the USS " PC - 815 " was ordered to escort a new aircraft carrier to San Diego , where the subchaser was to participate in exercises . On June 28 , Hubbard ordered his crew to fire four shells from the ship ' s 3 - inch gun and a number of rifle and pistol shots in the direction of the Coronado Islands , off which the ship anchored for the night . He did not realize that the islands belonged to Mexico , an ally , nor that he had taken the USS " PC - 815 " into Mexican territorial waters . The islands were garrisoned by Mexican Navy personnel during the war . The Mexican government complained and two days later , Hubbard found himself before a naval Board of Investigation in San Diego . He was found to have disregarded orders by carrying out an unsanctioned gunnery practice and violating Mexican waters . He was reprimanded and removed from command , effective July 7 . Rear Admiral Frank A . Braisted commented , in a fitness report written shortly after the Coronado incident , that he " consider [ ed ] this officer lacking in the essential qualities of judgment , leadership and cooperation . He acts without forethought as to probable results . He is believed to have been sincere in his efforts to make his ship efficient and ready . Not considered qualified for command or promotion at this time . Recommend duty on a large vessel where he can be properly supervised . " USS " Algol " and shore service . On the same day that Hubbard was sent a formal letter of admonition , he reported sick with complaints of epigastric pains and possible malaria . After 77 days on the sick list , it was finally determined that he was suffering from a duodenal ulcer . In October 1943 , he asked to be transferred to landing craft and was sent on a six - week training course at the Naval Small Craft Training Center in San Pedro , California . He was then ordered in December 1943 to join the crew of the USS " Algol " , an Attack Cargo Auxiliary Vessel , to assist with the ship ' s fitting out and crew training in Portland , Oregon . The vessel was commissioned in July 1944 with Hubbard aboard in the role of Navigation and Training Officer . The next two months were occupied with training exercises off the California coast in preparation for the ship ' s envisaged departure in September for the western Pacific theater of operations . Hubbard , however , applied instead to undertake a three - month training course in military administration at the School of Military Government , a faculty that had been established on the campus of Princeton University ( but was not part of the University itself , although Hubbard later asserted that he had been a Princeton student ) . His commanding officer approved the detachment and gave Hubbard a generally good fitness report , rating him to be " of excellent personal and military character " though he " is very temperamental and often has his feelings hurt . " On September 27 , a curious incident occurred aboard the USS " Algol " ; the ship ' s deck log records that Hubbard reported that he had discovered " an attempt at sabotage " consisting of a Coke bottle filled with gasoline with a cloth wick inserted , concealed among the ship ' s cargo . A few hours later Hubbard was ordered to depart the ship and proceed to Princeton . In later years , Hubbard asserted that the 1955 film " Mister Roberts " was based on his service aboard the USS " Algol " with Henry Fonda ' s eponymous character being based on Hubbard himself and James Cagney ' s tyrannical character based on the commander of the " Algol " . In a February 1956 lecture , Hubbard told Scientologists : " There was a story made about that vessel [ the " Algol " ] , by the way . It was called " Mister Roberts " . You may have seen this picture or read the book . " According to a Church of Scientology publication , George Malko comments that " this [ claim ] has never been substantiated " and notes that the author of the original novel , Thomas Heggen , " would only say about Roberts : " He is too good to be true , he is a pure invention . " " The novel was reportedly " loosely based on [ Heggen ' s ] service on the USS " Virgo " " . At the conclusion of his course at the School of Military Government , Hubbard failed to pass his examinations – finishing only mid - way down the class list – and did not qualify for an overseas posting . He was posted in January 1945 to the Naval Civil Affairs Staging Area in Monterey , California for further training but , as he later acknowledged , he became depressed and fell ill with a duodenal ulcer . He reported sick with stomach pains in April 1945 and spent the remainder of the war on the sick list as a patient in Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland , California . A Church of Scientology account asserts that " eventual combat wounds would finally preclude him from serving with American occupation forces . " In October 1945 , a Naval Board found that he was " considered physically qualified to perform duty ashore , preferably within the continental United States " in reflection of his chronic ulcer . He was discharged from the hospital and mustered out of active service on December 6 , 1945 . He resigned his commission in October 1950 . According to the Church of Scientology , he quit because the US Navy had " attempted to monopolize all his researches and force him to work on a project " to make man more suggestible " and when he was unwilling , tried to blackmail him by ordering him back to active duty to perform this function . Having many friends he was able to instantly resign from the Navy and escape this trap . " Hubbard himself told Scientologists : According to the US Navy , " There is no evidence on record of an attempt to recall him to active duty . " War wounds . As the psychologist and computer scientist Christopher Evans has noted , " One aspect of [ Hubbard ' s ] war record that is particularly confused , and again typical of the mixture of glamour and obscurantism which surrounds Hubbard and his past , is the matter of wounds or injuries suffered on active service . " Hubbard asserted after the war that he had been " blinded with injured optic nerves , and lame with physical injuries to hip and back . . . Yet I worked my way back to fitness and strength in less than two years , using only what I knew about Man and his relationship to the universe . " Accounts published by the Church of Scientology asserted that he had been " flown home in the late spring of 1942 in the secretary of the Navy ' s private plane as the first U . S . - returned casualty from the Far East " . A 2006 publication goes further , describing him as " the first American casualty of South Pacific combat " . Thomas Moulton , Hubbard ' s executive officer on the USS " PC - 815 " , testified in 1984 that Hubbard had said that he had been shot in the Dutch East Indies , and that on another occasion Hubbard had told him that his eyes had been damaged by the flash of a large - caliber gun . Hubbard himself told Scientologists in a taped lecture that he had suffered eye injuries after having had " a bomb go off in my face . " He told Robert Heinlein , the science fiction writer , that " both of his feet had been broken ( drumhead - type injury ) when his last ship was bombed . " According to Heinlein , Hubbard said that he " had had a busy war – sunk four times and wounded again and again " . Hubbard was said to have been " twice been pronounced dead " and to have spent a year in a naval hospital which he " utilized in the study of endocrine substances and protein " . The techniques that he developed " made possible not only his own recovery from injury , but helped other servicemen to regain their health " . On another occasion , Hubbard said that he had been hospitalized because " I was utterly exhausted . I ' d just been in combat theater after combat theater , you see , with no rest , no nothing between . " This account was challenged by a series of writers and journalists from the mid - 1970s onwards . Writing in 1974 , Evans noted that the Veterans Administration had confirmed that ( even at that late stage in his life ) Hubbard " receives $ 160 a month in compensation for disabilities incurred during the Second World War . However the conditions listed as being ' 40 % disabling ' are : duodenal ulcer , bursitis ( right shoulder ) , arthritis , and blepharoconjunctivitis . " Evans noted : " a Navy Department spokesman has stated that ' an examination of Mr Hubbard ' s record does not reveal any evidence of injuries suffered while in the service of the United States Navy ' . " Sixteen years later , the " Los Angeles Times " obtained Hubbard ' s medical records through the Freedom of Information Act . The records stated that Hubbard had told doctors that he had been " lamed " by a chronic hip infection , and that his eye problems were the result of conjunctivitis caused by exposure to " excessive tropical sunlight " . Hubbard ' s post - war correspondence with the VA was also included , including letters in which he requested psychiatric treatment to address his " long periods of moroseness " and " suicidal inclinations . " He continued to complain to the VA about various physical ailments into the 1950s , well after he had founded Dianetics ; the " Times " noted that , significantly , Hubbard had promised that Dianetics would provide " a cure for the very ailments that plagued the author himself then and throughout his life , including allergies , arthritis , ulcers and heart problems . " Other documents on Hubbard ' s medical file stated that he had injured his back in 1942 after falling off a ship ' s ladder . Medals . Hubbard ' s war medals have also been an issue of contention . Although the Church of Scientology has stated that Hubbard was " highly decorated for duties under fire , " the actual number of decorations said to have been awarded to Hubbard has varied considerably over the years . In a 1968 interview with British journalists , Hubbard showed his visitors sixteen war medals that he claimed to have been awarded . A few months later , the Church of Scientology published a " Data Sheet on Lafayette Ron Hubbard " that stated that he had been awarded " Twenty - one medals and palms " . In May 1974 , the Church asked the Navy Department to supply seventeen medals that he was said to have been awarded , including the Purple Heart and Navy Commendation Medal , many of them with bronze service stars denoting participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award . The Navy sent only four medals , noting , " The records in this Bureau fail to establish Mr . Hubbard ' s entitlement to the other medals and awards listed in your response . " Hubbard responded by circulating to Scientologists a photograph of 21 medals and palms that he said he had been awarded and explained that he had actually won 28 , but that the missing seven had been awarded to him in secret because the naval high command was embarrassed that he had sunk two Japanese submarines in the United States ' " back yard " . A 1994 biography published by the Church of Scientology states that he was awarded 29 medals and awards . In 1990 the Church of Scientology released a document , said to be a copy of Hubbard ' s official record of service , to support its assertion that Hubbard had been awarded 21 medals and decorations . The Church asserts that Hubbard was awarded a " Unit Citation which is only awarded by the President to combat units that perform particularly meritorious service . " Among the other awards listed on the record released by the Church is the British Victory Medal , an award issued for service in the British armed forces in the " First " World War and that was never awarded by itself . The Church ' s document also credits Hubbard with a Purple Heart with a Palm , implying two wounds received in action . However , the U . S . Navy uses gold and silver stars , not a palm , to indicate multiple wounds . The Church has distributed a photograph of medals said to have been won by Hubbard ; two of the medals were not even created until after Hubbard left active service . The Church ' s record lists Hubbard as commanding the " USS " Mist " " . Although the USS " YP - 422 " was originally named the " Mist " when it was in civilian service , it was never called the USS " Mist " ; the only 20th century US Navy vessel of that name listed in the " Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships " left naval service in 1919 , when Hubbard was six years old . It also lists the USS " Howland " , a vessel that is not listed at all in the " Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships " . It is signed by " Howard D . Thompson , Lt . Cmdr . " , who is not listed in the records of commissioned naval officers at that time . Archivist Eric Voelz of the National Personnel Records Center told " The New Yorker " that the document is a forgery . The " Los Angeles Times " commented , and NPR later confirmed , that the US Navy ' s version of the same record – a DD Form 214 – " indicates Hubbard received four medals during his Navy career , as well as two marksmanship medals " and noted " discrepancies " with the Scientology version . The four medals that the US Navy ' s record credits to Hubbard were the American Defense Service Medal , which was awarded to all members of the military in service at the time of the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor ; the American Campaign Medal , awarded to all service members who had performed duty in the American Theater of Operations during the war ; the Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal , awarded to all who had served in the Pacific Theater ; and the World War II Victory Medal , awarded to all who served during World War II . According to the Department of the Navy , there was " no record of the additional decorations the church says Hubbard received . " Church officials have argued the Navy ' s records were " not only grossly incomplete but perhaps were falsified to conceal Hubbard ' s secret activities as an intelligence officer . " In the 1980s the Church turned to L . Fletcher Prouty , a former U . S . Army colonel , who said that Hubbard ' s records had been falsified to cover up his " intelligence background " . Prouty , who died in 2001 , was a prominent conspiracy theorist best known for advocating John F . Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories who was also associated with the anti - semitic Liberty Lobby group and the Lyndon LaRouche organization . Documenting Hubbard ' s military career . Hubbard ' s military career has attracted comment from a number of ( non - Scientologist ) journalists and writers over the years . The claims made by the Church of Scientology were not challenged by some early writers ; C . H . Rolph quoted without comment a 1968 Scientology biographical sketch circulated to British Members of Parliament in which Hubbard ' s war service was summarized , and in 1971 Paulette Cooper described as " true " the claim that Hubbard " was severely injured in the war ( and in fact was in a lifeboat for many days , badly injuring his body and his eyes in the hot Pacific sun ) . " Others were more skeptical . George Malko attempted to verify Hubbard ' s " revealing , anonymously authored , and totally unsubstantiated biography " in 1970 but reported that " I was unable to confirm a single one of [ Hubbard ' s ] critical claims : that he had been crippled and blind , the nature of his ' discoveries , ' and the medical records stating he had ' twice been pronounced dead . ' " His inquiries were frustrated by the Navy ' s refusal to provide Hubbard ' s service record " without the written consent of the person whose records are concerned . " Information later released by the Navy and the Veterans Administration prompted some to express doubts . Christopher Evans commented in 1974 that " faced with this impressive , if annoyingly undetailed , record it is hard to assess the nature or extent of Hubbard ' s battle scars in the service of his country " but noted contradictions between claims of war wounds and the official record . In 1978 , the " Los Angeles Times " described Hubbard ' s war record as " obscure " and quoted Navy spokesmen stating that Hubbard had not received a Purple Heart and had not been treated for any injuries sustained during his military career , contrary to the statements of the Church of Scientology . By 1979 , an amateur researcher , Michael Shannon , had gathered " a mountain of material which included some files that no one else had bothered to get copies of – for example , the log books of the Navy ships that Hubbard had served on , and his father ' s Navy service file . " Although Shannon was unable to find a publisher , he sent a hundred - page portfolio of materials , including copies of some of Hubbard ' s naval and college records , to a number of " concerned individuals " . His work also found its way to the Church of Scientology ' s archivist , Gerry Armstrong , who was undertaking a project to research an official authorized biography of L . Ron Hubbard . According to Jon Atack , " the archive largely confirmed Shannon ' s material . Armstrong and Shannon reached the same eventual destination from opposed starting points . " In October 1980 , Omar Garrison , a writer who had previously written two books favorable to Scientology , was hired by the Church to write Hubbard ' s biography based on the materials that Armstrong had collected . Armstrong became disillusioned and left Scientology at the start of 1982 . He was declared a " Suppressive Person " ( an enemy of Scientology ) by the Church . With Garrison ' s permission , Armstrong made copies of around 100 , 000 pages from the Hubbard archive and deposited them with attorneys for safe keeping . The Church responded by suing Armstrong for breach of confidence , theft and invasion of privacy . The suit went to trial in a California court in 1984 as " Church of Scientology of California vs . Gerald Armstrong " . Hubbard ' s military career was a major focus of the case . Armstrong stated that he had " amassed approximately two thousand pages of documentation concerning Hubbard ' s wartime career : what he was doing what vessels he was on , fitness reports and medical and VA disability records . The truth is far different from the public representations . " Garrison , who had by that time agreed to a settlement with the Church under which his manuscript would never be made public , told the court : During the trial ' s four weeks of testimony , the court heard evidence from Thomas S . Moulton , Hubbard ' s second - in - command aboard the USS " PC - 815 " . Moulton testified that Hubbard had told him that he had been involved in the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 and that he had been the only survivor of his destroyer , which had gone down with all hands save himself . The " submarine battle " of May 1943 was also described by Moulton and was hailed by a Church of Scientology attorney as " a new untold chapter to the history of the Pacific conflict during World War II ; and new perspectives on the magnitude – and proximity – of Japanese naval operations off the U . S . coast during the war . " Moulton also testified that Hubbard had told him that he had received combat injuries to his eyes and back . In response , documents contradicting Moulton ' s ( and Hubbard ' s ) account were read into the record by Armstrong ' s attorney , Michael Flynn . The decision , by Judge Paul Breckenridge , found that Armstrong ' s fears of persecution by the Church were reasonable , and thus his conduct in turning over the documents in his possession to his attorneys was also reasonable . The judge issued a wide - ranging verdict , commenting of Hubbard that " the evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history , background and achievements . " A few weeks later , a British judge ruled in a case heard at the Royal Courts of Justice that Hubbard had made a number of " false claims " about his military career : " That he was a much decorated war hero . He was not . That he commanded a corvette squadron . He did not . That he was awarded the Purple Heart , a gallantry decoration for those wounded in action . He was not wounded and was not decorated . That he was crippled and blinded in the war and cured himself with Dianetics techniques . He was not crippled and was not blinded . " The judge , Mr . Justice Latey , noted : " There is no dispute about any of this . The evidence is unchallenged . " Hubbard ' s military service has subsequently been covered in detail by the British writers Russell Miller ( " Bare - Faced Messiah " , 1987 ) and Jon Atack ( " A Piece of Blue Sky " , 1990 ) , by the " Los Angeles Times " in a six - part special report on Scientology published in June 1990 , and more briefly by " The New Yorker " in February 2011 . The accuracy of Miller ' s account has itself been questioned ; , writing in 1999 , commented that Miller ' s book had " definitely exposed some inflated statements about Hubbard ' s early achievements " but had also been partly disproved by the Church of Scientology , though he did not state which elements had been disproved .