Posted on 09/30/2007 7:43:04 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
Murtha’s War Hero Status Called Into Question
By Marc Morano and Randy Hall
January 13, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - Having ascended to the national stage as one of the most vocal critics of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha has long downplayed the controversy and the bitterness surrounding the two Purple Hearts he was awarded for military service in Vietnam.
Murtha is a retired marine and was the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress. Since 1967, there have been at least three different accounts of the injuries that purportedly earned Murtha his Purple Hearts. Those accounts also appear to conflict with the limited military records that are available, and Murtha has thus far refused to release his own military records.
A Cybercast News Service investigation also reveals that one of Murtha’s former Democratic congressional colleagues and a fellow decorated Vietnam veteran, Don Bailey of Pennsylvania, alleges that Murtha admitted during an emotional conversation on the floor of the U.S. House in the early 1980s that he did not deserve his Purple Hearts.
“[Murtha] is putting himself forward as some combat veteran with serious wounds and he’s using that and it’s dishonest and it’s wrong,” Bailey told Cybercast News Service on Jan. 9. Murtha served in the Marines on active duty and in the reserves from 1952 until his retirement as a colonel in 1990. He volunteered for service in Vietnam and was a First Marine Regiment intelligence officer in 1966 and 1967.
Murtha and Bailey, once allies, were forced to run against each other in a Democratic congressional primary in 1982 following redistricting. Murtha won the election.
Murtha has, in the past, publicly dismissed any questions about whether he deserved his two Purple Hearts, noting during his 1994 congressional campaign that “I am proud of my service in Vietnam.”
In his Friday, Jan. 13, response to the Cybercast News Service investigation, Murtha again defended his military record.
“Questions about my record are clearly an attempt to distract attention from the real issue, which is that our brave men and women in uniform are dying and being injured every day in the middle of a civil war that can be resolved only by the Iraqis themselves,” Murtha wrote in an email response.
“I volunteered for a year’s duty in Vietnam. I was out in the field almost every single day. We took heavy casualties in my regiment the year that I was there. In my fitness reports, I was rated No. 1. My record is clear,” Murtha added.
However, another source, World War II Navy veteran Harry M. Fox, previously indicated that Murtha in 1968 personally asked Fox’s boss, then-U.S. Rep. John Saylor (R-Pa.), for assistance in obtaining the Purple Hearts, but was turned down because Saylor’s office determined that Murtha lacked sufficient evidence of wounds. Murtha later challenged Saylor for his House seat in 1968 and lost. Fox said he personally viewed Murtha’s military records in 1968 as Saylor’s aide.
When Saylor died in 1973, Fox attempted to succeed his boss in Congress, but was narrowly defeated by Murtha in a 1974 special election.
“Pretending to be a big war hero and boasting about having medals is a slap in the face to our veterans who were seriously wounded or killed in action,” Fox was quoted as telling the Uniontown Herald-Standard in the newspaper’s Nov. 1, 1996 edition. “He campaigned as a war hero and I’ve never seen any documentation that he earned any of these honors,” Fox reportedly stated.
On Friday, Jan. 13, Murtha’s congressional communications director provided Cybercast News Service with a copy of a letter from the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, citing Murtha’s request of Sept. 26, 1967, seeking Purple Hearts. Cybercast News Service did not authenticate the letter.
“The records of this Headquarters show that you are entitled to the Purple Heart and a Gold Star in lieu of a second Purple Heart for wounds received in action against insurgent Communist Guerrilla forces on 22 March and 7 May 1967 in the Republic of Vietnam,” according to the letter signed by an individual identified only as A. Gardoni. Gardoni’s title is not listed on the letter.
Cybercast News Service attempted to contact Fox for this article, but learned that the health of the 81-year-old was too poor to allow him to communicate. But in a 1996 newspaper article, Fox questioned whether Murtha deserved his Purple Hearts, alleging that there was insufficient evidence of injuries and that Murtha was never confined to a hospital.
“Of course Congressman Saylor wanted to help if he could, but there was nothing in the service record to indicate the wounds were of any severity and the documents specifically indicated that next of kin was not notified in either instance,” Fox told the Herald-Standard in 1996. “We were amazed that Mr. Murtha was asking for Purple Hearts for superficial lacerations,” he added.
Murtha’s accounts of his Vietnam War wounds may also conflict with the available U.S. Marine medical records obtained by the media.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 12, 2002, reported that “Marine Corps casualty records show that Murtha was injured in ‘hostile’ actions near Danang, Vietnam, on March 22, 1967, and May 7, 1967.
“In the first incident, his right cheek was lacerated, and in the second, he was lacerated above his left eye. Neither injury required evacuation,” the Post-Gazette reported.
But an Oct. 26, 1994, article in the Herald-Standard quoted Murtha as describing two different injuries.
“I was wounded in the arm with shrapnel from a bullet that hit the motor mount of a helicopter. In the other, my knee was banged up and my arm was banged up when a helicopter was shot down from a very few feet,” Murtha told the Herald-Standard.
A June 1, 1967 report in the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat quoted a letter that the newspaper indicated was sent by Murtha to his wife that same year. The letter apparently detailed yet another version of how Murtha qualified for one of his Purple Hearts. According to the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, Murtha’s injuries involved his being “struck in the ankle” by a “shot that ricocheted off the helicopter.”
Murtha, a 16-term congressman from southwestern Pennsylvania and the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, drew national attention on Nov. 17, 2005, when he called for an immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.
The Vietnam veteran even took a swipe at President Bush and Vice President Cheney, neither of whom have actual combat experience.
“I like guys who’ve never been there, who criticize us who’ve been there,” Murtha said. “I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and sent people to war and then don’t like to hear suggestions that what may need to be done.”
Murtha discussed his own combat experience as a marine intelligence officer in his 2004 autobiography, “From Vietnam to 9/11: On the Front Lines of National Security.”
“I had been awake more than twenty-four hours by the time we landed. A few hours into the battle, an on-again-off-again event, I could no longer keep my eyes open. I curled up next to a bunker and fell into a deep sleep for about an hour. Even the noise of frequent gunfire didn’t wake me up. (One of my fellow officers told me the next morning that when he hadn’t seen me for an hour or so, he assumed I was dead,)” Murtha wrote of one of his Vietnam combat experiences on page 14 of the 2004 paperback edition of his book. Murtha’s two Purple Hearts are referenced on the back of the book.
In addition to his Purple Hearts, Murtha received the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry and the Bronze Star with combat “V” for service in the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam. Murtha also served in the Marines during the Korean War but did not serve in Korea, according to his book.
‘He’s a phony and a liar’
Bailey said during the time Murtha was being investigated for his role in the Abscam FBI sting in 1980, Murtha made a confession on the House floor.
… you admitted, back in our corner, that you didn’t earn your purple hearts (sic) (you indicated you had small scratch on your cheek that wasn’t even directly related to an APC [Armored Personnel Carrier] that ran over a small antipersonnel mine that was behind you). The other purple heart [sic] you even declined to explain,” wrote Bailey in an open letter dated May 5, 2002.
Bailey is also a decorated Vietnam combat veteran. He served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and was awarded a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars.
“At the time (of Murtha’s alleged admission), you were feeling particularly vulnerable because it wasn’t too long after you had called me crying and sobbing, thanking me for ’saving your life’ before the ethics committee (on Abscam-related charges). There was no doubt in my mind that you were expressing to me that you did not believe you did anything sufficient to earn the purple heart [sic] and that you didn’t want to be active in my efforts to laud Vietnam veterans that served with us,” Bailey wrote in his May 2002 letter.
“You may deny that all you wish — but you and I know that that conversation took place,” he added.
In the Jan. 9 interview with Cybercast News Service Bailey affirmed the contents of his 2002 letter.
“The issue here is this idea or pretense that [Murtha] knows combat and he’s got two Purple Hearts. He’s a phony and a liar,” Bailey said.
Bailey also questioned why Murtha has thus far declined to release his full military records in order to clear up the controversy.
“The Marine Corps ought to be able to produce all the orders, the medical stuff, the citations and the orders granting [the Purple Hearts] and everything else. Where is that stuff?” he asked.
According to a May 16, 2002, edition of the Washington, Pa., Observer-Reporter, Murtha “produced military paperwork indicating he was entitled to the awards,” and a Murtha spokesperson was quoted as saying that “the media for years has investigated ‘and found nothing.’”
But Murtha’s paperwork did nothing to sway Bailey’s opinion.
“You may fool a few reporters into believing that merely because you got some perfunctory paperwork made out by a friend, that that means you earned the purple hearts [sic]. But even if you were awarded the medals later, there should be affidavits from witnesses. These things should be easy to get,” Bailey wrote in his letter while demanding an apology from Murtha for questioning his credibility.
Murtha could end the controversy at any time, Bailey added, simply by calling a press conference and producing the evidence of his wounds.
“Explain where you were and what you were doing when you got the purple hearts.[sic] Explain who was with you and treated your wounds, but most important, Jack, describe your wounds or the lack thereof, as you did for me, years ago,” Bailey wrote.
“Unless the Marine Corps gives out medals for unsubstantiated noncombat-related telltale scratches, procured for use in political campaign — then show me the money, Jack,” Bailey added.
Murtha: ‘I’m proud of my service in Vietnam’
During the 1994 congressional campaign against GOP opponent Dr. William Choby, Murtha’s two Purple Hearts became a political issue.
“Explain your Purple Hearts. He (Murtha) used them to get elected,” Choby charged in 1994.
In responding to the charges, Murtha claimed that he “didn’t ask for the Purple Hearts.
“I’m proud of my service in Vietnam. I don’t know if he (Choby) served in the service at all. I left my family and my business to serve in Vietnam. My family made great sacrifice for me to make that service in Vietnam, so I’m very proud of that,” he told the Uniontown Herald-Standard in the newspaper’s Oct. 26, 1994 edition.
“I am disappointed that a guy (Choby) would say something like that when I volunteered in the reserves and I felt it was important that I go. What’s the point in all this? It’s irritating,” Murtha added.
Choby also challenged the validity of Murtha’s Bronze Star with Combat ‘V’ during the 1996 congressional campaign.
“I find it very curious that Combat ‘V’ doesn’t even exist in any of the materials he had distributed,” Choby was quoted as saying in the Herald-Standard of Oct. 13, 1996. “His military record improves over the years,” he added.
The Murtha controversy is reminiscent of the flap surrounding the war record of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. But while critics like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked Kerry in 2004 because of his anti-war activism of the 1970s, Murtha’s three chief accusers all made their allegations years and in some cases decades before Murtha emerged last November as a prominent anti-war activist.
Choby told Cybercast News Service on Jan. 5 that Murtha’s entire political career is based on his war record. “Without that credibility of those combat medals, he would have never been elected to office,” Choby said.
We’ve all seen references to the mystery surrounding Murtha’s Vietnam record. It’s good to see someone is looking into it.
I, for one, did not realize Murtha had not served in Korea. Articles about him constantly give that misimpression. Even Wikipedia says:
After his service in Korea, he ran a small business, Johnstown Minute Car Wash…
All in all, Murtha sounds positively Kerry-esque.
Update!
War hero Murtha was so upset by having his honor questioned, he had to run right over to Zsa Zsa Huffington’s blog to post this statement:
Rep. John Murtha: Questions About My Record
Rep. John Murtha
Fri Jan 13, 3:02 PM ET
This afternoon, CNSNEWS.com published an article entitled “Murtha’s War Hero Status Called Into Question” on its website. The article questions the validity of my purple hearts. This is my response:
“Questions about my record are clearly an attempt to distract attention from the real issue, which is that our brave men and women in uniform are dying and being injured every day in the middle of a civil war that can be resolved only by the Iraqis themselves.”
“I volunteered for a year’s duty in Vietnam. I was out in the field almost every single day. We took heavy casualties in my regiment the year that I was there. In my fitness reports, I was rated No. 1. My record is clear.”
Of course “Cut And Run” could have just blown CNS and others out of the water by providing the documentation for his Purple Hearts. But why do that when you can whine about how mean people are for questioning you?
Forget the mock outrageous, Jack. You’ve been asked about this for years. You must be used to it by now.
Where is the paperwork?
You're absolutely correct, Grimmy and the worst part is that he was once a Marine. There's no lower scum than the one who turns on his own.
That's precisely the point, and that is why there is legal standing for this to go forward.
Contrary to what Murtha may think, he is not above the law, and he needs to get nailed for his irresponsible statements.
He should be booked for treason, too, come to think of it.
Outstanding post. Thanks, I read every word, and none of it was surprising.
Murtha should come clean publicly immediately.
After SSGT Frank Wuterich’s lawyer filed the suit, the Department of Justice provided a “Westfall Certification” for Murtha essentially saying when he spoke to the press, he was “acting within his scope of employment as an employee of the United States at the time of the alleged incident.” By issuing this certification, the DOJ essentially tried to substitute the Government for Murtha in the original complaint. Since you can’t sue the government, case closed.
However, Wuterich’s lawyer then filed an opposition to this certification and asked for Murtha to be deposed and provide documents to prove it. This judge has granted them the discovery process. From what I understand, this evidence will then be used to determine if his statements actually fell under the “scope of employment” tests or not. I’m assuming this judge will review the evidence to determine if he’s covered by the gov’t or not. Should be an interesting deposition!
Almost my exact thoughts this morning when reading the news.
It will not happen in his lifetime..
He has been filthy for so long, got away with lies and corruption for so long, profited from his many crimes for so long, reelected so many times for so long and now is so damned senile and convinced of his invicibility, the only chance we have of justice is when the bastard finally dies and is forced to answer to the REAL heroes from whom he has stolen valor slandered...
His time will come....
While many of us look forward to our rendezvous with the warriors of our youth who have remained perpetually young -- I can assure you, Murtha doesn't.
Anyone wishing to commune with the REAL heroes in Washington -- should not look to Congress Critters..
Go to the Mall and place your hands against that cold black stone wall in the early pre dawn and you will FEEL and HEAR their presence..
“Maybe some of our Nam Vets, who suffered from Kerry’s, Kennedy’s and Fonda’s lies can sue these liberal bastards for defamation.”
...Unfortunately for Americans, the statute has likely run on that.
You took the words right from my heart.
You know, the story has been picked up by lots of small town media in addition to several large outlets...
but not the New York Times.
Just go to findlaw once you have a particular case like the Proxmire one, and if you follow the links to the cases cited in that one, and akso the cases citing Proxmire, you can learn a lot about defamation law.
Under no circumstance can Mutha claim legislative privilege unless those words were uttered on the floor of the house or during some legislative hearing. Yhe big issue is whether the plaintiff was sufficiently identified ao that an ordinary man would be able to identify him. Given the degree of publicity, tghe plaintiff has a good chance at prevailing.
If you assume that the DoJ is interested in justice, think again. They do everything they can to protect government employees.
Much of defamation case law can be sttributed sirectly to Chief Justice Rehnquist. He wrote just about every opinion of the Supreme court in defamation cases while he was the CJ. Hw was very protective of the good names of private citizens.
Get Murtha in front of a jury and he will be bankrupted. Lucky for him, his Congressional pension is exemot from attachment. If Murtha was smart, he’d sell his house now and buy one in Florida where it would also be exempt.
The stature of limitations depends on the state law where the lawsuit is filed, assuming the state has jurisdiction over the parties. If there is no specific statute of limitations, the limitation is the same as a tort claim in that state. The number of years varies from state to state.
Not too surprising, Ma, we don’t call them the Slimes for nothing!
Oho, now the truth emergeth! No doubt this little development has a lot of other Congresscritters worried about their irresponsible public statements.
Seems like the DOJ is attempting to help Murtha, but what else is can we expect? The place is crawling with Clinton appointees who Bush didn't have the guts to fire when he had the chance.
Does the DOJ really want to walk out on that limb and proclaim Murtha was doing the business of the United States when he pimped himself out on television to call US Marines murderers?
Pinging you to comment #74
The Supremes have heard a lot of cases on this subject over the last 40 years and the rulings have been inconsistent. This one will go to SCOTUS before Murtha is dragged into a Civil Court over his idiocies.
That may be true, however 2-4 years is common. I know of no jurisdiction in which it exceeds 35 years. ...Do you?
No I don't want to bet, because I hope you're right. I suspect that Fat Jack will take his case to the Supreme Court before he ever sets foot in that Civil Court.
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