BVA9504582 
DOCKET NO.  93-10 282     )       DATE
          )
          )

On appeal from the decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg,
Florida

THE ISSUES

Entitlement to service connection for a low back disorder.

Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss.

Entitlement to service connection for a left eye disorder.

Entitlement to service connection for the residuals of a head
injury.

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: The American Legion

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

J. L. Prichard, Associate Counsel

REMAND

The veteran had active service from July 1943 to March 1944.

The veteran contends that he developed the claimed disorders as a
result of active service.  He states that he sustained a low back
injury in service and that his current low back pathology is a
residual of such injury.  He further asserts that he sustained a
head injury during service and that he continues to have
residuals of this injury.

The veteran specifically stated that he was treated for the
claimed disorders at the Jacksonville Naval Hospital in 1943.  He
also indicated that he received and continues to receive
treatment for his disabilities from the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) medical center in Miami, Florida, and from the VA
hospital in Coral Gables, Florida.  Those treatment records are
not contained in the claims folder.  In addition, the record
indicates that the veteran was hospitalized for various disorders
at Mercy Hospital in Miami, Florida.  Those hospital records have
not been obtained.

The Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) notes that one of the
reasons the regional office (RO) denied the veteran's claims in a
January 1993 rating decision was that his hearing loss, eye
disorder, and residuals of a head injury were not currently shown
by the evidence of record.  The veteran's representative has
requested that this case be remanded in order to obtain the VA
and private medical records to show the current existence of the
claimed disabilities.  The VA has a duty to assist the veteran in
the development of all facts pertinent to his claim.  38 U.
S.C.A.
§ 5107 (West 1991).  Therefore, in order to assist the veteran in
the development of his claim, the Board finds that it must remand
this case for the following development:

1.  The RO should make every effort to
obtain and associate with the claims
folder the records of any treatment the
veteran received at Jacksonville Naval
Hospital in 1943.  If such records do not
exist or are lost, it should be so
certified.

2.  The veteran should be requested to
provide a listing of all sources of
treatment he received for the claimed
disorders from service to the present.
The RO should obtain the records of such
treatment and associate them with his
claims folder.  The records obtained
should specifically include the records of
treatment for the claimed disorders at the
Coral Gables, Florida, and Miami, Florida,
VA medical facilities and at Mercy
Hospital in Miami, Florida.

3.  If the treatment records obtained
establish the need for further
development, such as an examination to
determine the nature and probable etiology
of a disorder for which the veteran has
been, or is being, treated, such
development should be accomplished.

Following completion of the development requested above, the RO
should review the veteran's claims on the basis of the additional
evidence.  If the decisions remain unfavorable to the veteran,
both he and his representative should be issued an appropriate
supplemental statement of the case and given ample opportunity to
respond.  The case should then be returned to the Board for
further appellate review.  The purpose of this remand is to
assist the veteran in the development of his claim, and the Board
does not intimate any opinion, either legal or factual, as to the
ultimate disposition warranted in this case.

                                            (CONTINUED ON NEXT
PAGE

          GEORGE R. SENYK
          Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals

The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures
Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___
(1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be
assigned to an individual member of the Board for a
determination.  This proceeding has been assigned to an
individual member of the Board.

Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 1991), only a decision of the
Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States
Court of Veterans Appeals.  This remand is in the nature of a
preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board
on the merits of your appeal.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (1994).