Army honors Dallas man who exposed fake records (STOLEN VALOR Author - Vietnam Vet "Jug" Burkett)

The Dallas Morning News ^ | 2 December 2003 | SELWYN CRAWFORD & DAVID FLICK

[Stultis]

Army honors Dallas man who exposed fake records

11:15 PM CST on Monday, December 1, 2003

By SELWYN CRAWFORD and DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News

B.G. "Jug" Burkett of Dallas considers it an honor to expose the dishonorable. So does the U.S. Army.

The military branch awarded Mr. Burkett its Distinguished Civilian Service Award on Monday for his work in exposing more than 1,200 people who either lied about or exaggerated their claims of serving in the Vietnam War. He later wrote a critically acclaimed book about his findings.

Former President George H.W. Bush presented the award to Mr. Burkett during a brief ceremony at the Bush Library in College Station.

The honor, which is awarded by the secretary of the Army, cites Mr. Burkett's "unique and important contribution in properly honoring our veterans of the Vietnam War."

Mr. Burkett reacted modestly in an interview before the ceremony.

"I'm a little overwhelmed because none of what I've done exceeded just doing my duty," said Mr. Burkett, a financial adviser who served in Vietnam in the late 1960s. "There's nothing extraordinary about that."

Others disagree.

"I think he's been a great service to everybody – certainly to veterans who deserve recognition for their service and acts of heroism and whose achievements are devalued by people who are claiming them falsely," said Mark Bowden, a national correspondent with Atlantic Monthly magazine and author of Black Hawk Down.

John W. Nicholson, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, nominated Mr. Burkett for the award more than a year ago, noting that Mr. Burkett had to overcome huge obstacles to get his story out.

"He did all this despite death threats, lawsuits and a completely unhelpful book industry that at first refused to publish his findings," Mr. Nicholson said.

But the results have been significant, he said.

"He exposed a mass distortion of history that cost taxpayers billions of dollars" in undeserved veteran benefits, Mr. Nicholson said. "He returned to the Vietnam veterans their good name."

Mr. Burkett began his mission in 1986 when he began trying to raise funds for the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Fair Park. Many people refused to donate, he said, because they believed they would be helping drug-abusing psychopaths with no desire to work or contribute to society.

"Every place I would go to raise money, the attitude was, 'Why should we give money to those bums?' Well, I went to college with a lot of these guys who were in Vietnam, and we knew this wasn't true," Mr. Burkett said.

So he began doing his own research to find out who fought in Vietnam – and who didn't – and he tried to debunk some of the myths about Vietnam veterans.

Along the way, he exposed politicians, entertainers and regular citizens who had tried to capitalize on bogus or inflated war records.

Then he and Glenna Whitley wrote a nearly 700-page book about it, Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History. The book, published in 1998, in part challenged the belief that young and poor minority draftees fought and died in higher numbers in Vietnam. Mr. Burkett's research indicated that 75 percent of those killed were volunteers.

He also found that Vietnam veterans had higher per-capita income, education and home ownership rates than was commonly believed.

Mr. Burkett said that an undeserved image of dirty, begging Vietnam veterans has contributed to America's overall negative feelings about the war and those who fought in it.

He said he's happy to receive the Army's award because it will help bring the right type of attention to his comrades.

"I'm happy because it brings the focus back to the message," Mr. Burkett said. "And the message basically is that the people who served in Vietnam are the finest troops we ever produced."

E-mail scrawford@dallasnews.com

and dflick@dallasnews.com

[neverdem]

Thanks for all the pings, and this one in particular.

[Darksheare]

Good article.
The guys who fake their 'honor' dishonor those who didn't have to, and those who died.

[Khurkris]

Great Book. Good Christmas gift. I think if ya hunt around a bit you can get autographed copies.

[armymarinemom]

Hooah that he has got the recognition. Posers are a common problem and aren't quesitoned by very many people.

[colorado tanker]

We had a fake around here a few years ago, did school assemblies telling bogus war stories.

[fourdeuce82d]

I kept meeting Navy veterans who were almost Navy SEAL's. They all passed the tests but were kept out on a technicality. One was only 5'6".

well...given that 75% of people who try out don't make it, there are going to be a lot of folks who "almost" *grin* were a seal...'course not being able to hack the training is not the same as a "technicality".

[hurly]

Go to Chuck and Mary Schontags' website www.pownetwork.org.
They have over 500 pages of wannabes, fakes and liars who claim to be seals MOH winners Special Forces types, etc.

[ArrogantBustard]

Brilliant. Might as well link it.

[Bobsat]

Good!

Before Muhammed/Malvo were captured and during the Beltway Sniper shootings, a retired editor of a Los Angeles newspaper commented in a public venue that he thought the sniper was a Vietnam vet. I let him have it with both barrels, said he was a big part of the problem, referred him to Stolen Valor if he wanted to know why, and said he owed every Vietnam vet an apology for the abuse he'd perpetrated on them during the years.

He was shocked, but he followed up. We're pretty good friends now, and he's reconsidered several of his opinions adopted during his newspaper days.

Burkett is one of the Good Buddies!

[TruthNtegrity]

I had a former roommate who while serving in the Marines, claimed that he had been to 'Nam. When I found out from a former wife that he'd never even been overseas, I changed the locks on the house and put his clothes in his truck. He also happened to be 5 months behind on keeping up with his rent, but this was the straw that broke the........

I can't stand people who need to lie about this.

[Peach]

This is the worst sort of lie.

I am SO very happy to hear this book has been written.

I urge Freepers to call their libraries and ask that they purchase this book.

Additionally, I intend to give this book, as well as Mona Charen's book Useful Idiots, for Christmas.

[Long Cut]

PING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thought you might like this one, too.

[oh8eleven]

Leatherneck Square bump.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

Great Job, Bobsat.

When I returned home from the 1st Major Battles of the Vietnam War I befriended now Los Angeles Times Media Critic Columnist DAVID SHAW.

When I went over to Vietnam I was a Moderate against the Death Penalty. I came back a confirmed by Baptism of Fire Conservative in favor of the Death Penalty. I had quickly learned that you have to hold the bad guys accountable for behaving badly against others.

DAVID SHAW was still the Moderate I once was. I shared how the American Media was misrepresenting what the American Soldier was really doing for FREEDOM in a then South Vietnam. Discussions I think that led to his focus on the Media years later. After the American Media's misrepresenting our Victroy during the TET Offensive ...DAVE and I drifted apart.

I wonder what DAVID SHAW's Media Critic Columns had to say about Hit Pieces on Governor Candidate ARNOLD in a Los Angeles Times that I no longer subscribe to..?

ACTIONS do have their consequences..? Or they should..?

[R. Scott]

I’m glad Mr. Burkett received the recognition and award for his work.
While receiving help from a VA group in the early ‘80s we had one man who insisted he was a Navy SEAL and his job was to assassinate American Generals! This guy had so much bull it was unbelievable – and of course all the records pertaining to his service were “lost”. The VA had to pay him 100% disability when ever he turned himself in for treatment. It was up to us to dissuade him from continuing “treatment”.

[Kenton]

I'm acquainted with a fellow who gets tremendous mileage from his service as "a Navy SEAL" during VN..

Yeah, I'm confused. I've met more "Navy SEALs" in my local neighborhood bar than I ever met during 4 years in the Navy from '66-'70. Lots of Green Berets too, Marine Recon guys who've never heard of Chesty Puller, and Airborne Rangers who didn't know what a T-10 was.

Either some of them are "inflating their credentials", to be kind, or it looks like us old vets have all turned into a bunch of drunks. ;)

[rolling_stone]

http://www.authentiseal.org/index.htm

[SLB]

I found an "ex" co-worker listed here: http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies.htm

[Travis McGee]

Send this fake's name on to NAVYSEALS.COM, they'll take it from there!

[angkor]

I sent a preliminary inquiry to veriseal or authentiseal about a year ago, mainly asking about confidentialty for myself and the person in question. I wanted to satisfy my suspicions, not to unmask the guy in public (he's otherwise not a bad guy).

I got back a cryptic pointer to their Web site, but couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me, so I dropped it.

The guy is a mystery. Some of his stories are obvious tall tales. Others he blurts out in fits of seemingly honest enthusiasm.

But I can't believe that he operated in Cambodia yet doesn't have a clue about Phnom Penh, Tay Ninh, or Rattanakiri.

Says he received a Navy Cross for Khe San but all recipients are a matter of public record and readily found on the Internet. There are no "black ops" or "secret" recipients.