Postal Clerks — PC ratings — operated Navy Post Office (NPO) facilities and handled the inbound and outbound military mail for Navy commands at shore stations and aboard ships. PC billets were at Navy Post Office facilities at every significant naval station, and at ship’s post office locations aboard carriers, amphibious ships, and larger surface combatants. The PC rating was merged into the Yeoman (YN) rating in 2003, but PC ratings served at Navy postal facilities throughout the WWII and Cold War era accumulating secondary asbestos exposure from the facility buildings and ship interiors where postal operations were conducted.

Shore Navy Post Office Facilities and Asbestos

PC ratings working in shore NPO buildings accumulated secondary asbestos exposure:

  • Navy Post Office building stock at naval stations — the Navy Post Office facilities at naval stations and naval air stations were located in administrative and logistics building complexes of the WWII-era or early Cold War construction using asbestos ceiling tile, asbestos floor tile, and asbestos pipe insulation in the building mechanical systems. PC ratings working in these NPO facilities throughout their shore assignments were in proximity to the building’s asbestos-containing construction materials
  • Mail sorting and processing building stock — the mail processing areas and bulk mail facilities at major naval postal operations used building space in the same WWII-era and Cold War-era building stock as other Navy shore facility administrative operations, with asbestos-containing building products throughout the postal facility infrastructure
  • Fleet Post Office facilities overseas — the Fleet Post Office facilities supporting overseas naval operations were often located in older building stock at overseas naval stations, with asbestos-containing construction materials consistent with the era of those facilities’ construction

Shipboard PC Billets

PC ratings serving at shipboard post offices accumulated asbestos exposure from the ship interior:

  • Carrier ship’s post office spaces — PC ratings operating the ship’s post office aboard Essex class, Midway class, and Forrestal class carriers worked in the asbestos-containing interior of these WWII-era and 1950s-1960s-era vessels during their sea duty assignments
  • Amphibious ship postal operations — PC ratings aboard amphibious assault ships and larger amphibious vessels operated ship’s post office functions in the asbestos-containing interior spaces of these vessels

VA Claims for PC Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval shore facilities and aboard Navy vessels. Postal Clerks who served in shore commands with WWII-era or early Cold War building stock or aboard pre-1980 ships and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.