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Among the persons assisting the VVAW in organizing and preparing this hearing was Mark Lane, author of a book attacking the Warren Commission probe of the Kennedy Assassination and more recently of "Conversations with Americans", a book of interviews with Vietnam veterans about war crimes. On 22 December 1970 Lane's book had received a highly critical review in the "New York Times Book Review" by Neil Sheehan, who was able to show that some of the alleged "witnesses" of Lane's war crimes had never even served in Vietnam while others had not been in the combat situations they described in horrid detail.
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Lawyer and activist Mark Lane was one of the organizers of Winter Soldier. In 1970, Lane had published a book called Conversations With Americans, in which Vietnam veterans told their stories of committing atrocities and witnessing endless war crimes committed by their fellow soldiers. Many of these tales were obviously absurd. As James Reston Jr. pointed out in a review of the book, Lane quoted one man's contention that a female Communist sympathizer was interrogated, tortured, and then raped by every soldier in his battalion. "Lane does not explain that in Vietnam an American battalion runs anywhere from one thousand to twelve hundred men," Reston said.
Lane's book was blasted by writer and war correspondent Neil Sheehan in The New York Times Book Review as a hack job. Sheehan repeatedly showed that many of Lane's so-called "eye witnesses" to war crimes had never served in Vietnam or had not served in the capacity they claimed.
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How many of the other participants in Dewey Canyon threw away "props"? How many were really Vietnam veterans? Well, let's take one example: Al Hubbard, the VVAW's executive secretary and one of the organizers of Winter Soldier. He wrote a poem that appeared at the beginning of The Winter Soldier Investigation, a book of testimonies from the hearings:
"This book is dedicated to you,
America
Now,
Before the napalm-scorched earth
consumes the blood of would-be-fathers
and
have-been-sons
of
daughters spread-eagled
and
mothers on the run.
Reflect.
See what you've become,
Amerika."
A scathing commentary by one of those who could no longer stomach the fight, right? Wrong. Hubbard first claimed he was a decorated Air Force captain who had caught shrapnel in his spine flying a transport plane into Da Nang in 1966. But after NBC received a tip that Hubbard was lying about his rank, a reporter confronted him. He confessed on the evening news and the Today Show that he actually served as a sergeant, not a pilot or captain, in Vietnam.
John Kerry defended Hubbard, citing the confession as proof of Hubbard's integrity. "Al owned up to the rank question," Kerry said. "He thought it was time to tell the truth, and he did it because he thought it would be best for the organization."
William Overend, a CBS reporter sympathetic to the antiwar movement, later pointed out that Hubbard only confessed when he was confronted. Then the Defense Department issued a news release. "Alfred H. Hubbard entered the Air Force in October 1952, reenlisted twice and was honorably discharged in October 1966, when his enlistment expired," the statement said. "At the time of his discharge he was an instructor flight engineer on C-123 aircraft with the 7th Air Transport Squadron, McChord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Washington. There is *no record of any service in Vietnam* [emphasis in the original], but since he was an air crew member he could have been in Vietnam for brief periods during cargo loading, unloading operations, or for crew rest purposes. His highest grade held was staff sergeant E-5."
The announcement that Hubbard had no record of service in Vietnam jolted Overend, who had been impressed by Hubbard's leadership qualities. He began looking into Hubbard's background independently. Hubbard claimed he had been severely wounded. Overend called the VA, which confirmed that Hubbard had a sizable medical record and had a service-connected disability rating of 60 percent. At the time, he was receiving disability compensation of $163 a month. But the VA refused to say how, where. or when Hubbard was injured. Overend checked Hubbard's medals and decorations: Hubbard had no Purple Heart or Vietnam Service Ribbon, which can rightfully be claimed by any member of an air crew serving in Vietnam, no matter how briefly.
Hubbard refused to discuss his record. Overend finally discovered that Hubbard had suffered a rib injury during a basketball game in 1956, and a back injury in 1961 during a soccer game. Hubbard had not been wounded, nor had he ever served, in Vietnam. But the story was too long for television, and when Overend tried to sell the piece to a liberal publication, no one would touch it. The truth might hurt the antiwar effort. Overend finally published the story in July 1971 in the National Review.
Here's more on Kerry and Hubbard from Gerald Nicosia's Home to War, Crown Publishers, 2001. I strongly recommend this book. The author is proud of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement and included much that John Kerry may wish were not available. There are many details of the RAW demonstration at Valley Forge, Winter Soldier, and Dewey Canyon III. Kerry was far more than an incidental participant. The book is heavily footnoted and Kerry's interviews with the author are meticulously cited
p.128
Just when it seemed the tension could get no greater, another bombshell was dropped in the veterans’ midst. John Kerry got a call from Lawrence Spivak, the longtime host of Meet the Press, informing him that Al Hubbard had lied to the American public about his rank, and probably about where he had served as well. Spivak demanded to know if VVAW had known in advance of Al’s deception. Kerry swore that they had all taken Al’s word on faith, but Spivak remained agitated, arguing that the integrity of the show had been compromised. The fact that Hubbard had been a sergeant, not a captain, though it had little bearing on what he had witnessed (especially since the government could not definitively say he had never been in Vietnam), nevertheless cast doubt on the credibility of every member of VVAW. It thrust the whole organization into a defensive posture.
Kerry attacked Hubbard mercilessly in front of the other leaders of the organization. According to Mike Oliver, Kerry was deeply embarrassed, feeling that Hubbard had discredited everything they had said to the American people on Meet the Press, which had been such a tremendous opportunity to publicize their cause. Of course, as Oliver also notes, Kerry ‘had all these political aspirations’ and going on national television had been ‘a big, big step’ toward getting himself elected to public office. The last thing Kerry had wanted was to appear to the American people as a fraud, even if only by association…”
p. 211
“In St. Louis in July [1971], two months after Dewey Canyon III, VVAW held its most turbulent national meeting to date. Many remember it as the meeting where John Kerry and Al Hubbard went head to head. Kerry made a long speech punctuated at frequent intervals by the demand: ‘Who is Al Hubbard?’ Voicing his opposition to Hubbard’s various political and social agendas, Kerry even challenged Hubbard to prove he was a Vietnam veteran. Feeling supplanted, and weakened politically by the impending resignation of arch supporter Mike Oliver (who was about to leave for California as a field organizer), Hubbard ‘freaked out,’ screaming insults at Kerry from the opposite end of the hall. Each time Kerry would denounce his authenticity, Hubbard would bounce up out of his chair, holding his back and grimacing, as if in great pain, and at one point he even pulled up his shirt to exhibit his scar.
For a minute it seemed as if Hubbard might have to be restrained to keep from coming to blows with Kerry, but then Kerry played his trump card: he resigned from the executive committee himself. Most of the other coordinators were flabbergasted, though many had seen it coming, suspecting that once John’s political career had gotten in gear he would move on to bigger and better things. In Oliver’s words, Kerry ‘came, he saw, he conquered, and he split!’ Kerry’s resignation made room for Hubbard to stay on as a national coordinator; but Al’s credibility was by now so badly damaged that he could no longer provide the strong leadership the organization needed in this pivotal time. Moreover, Hubbard suffered an attack of stomach ulcers shortly after the meeting.”