"'DaySide' Exclusive: The ‘60 Minutes’ memo controversy is not the first scandal surrounding Dan Rather (search) and falsified information.
We’ll be joined by Glenna Whitley, author of “Stolen Valor,” who uncovered evidence that a CBS documentary on alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War was based on fabricated stories.
Stolen Valor
How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History
By B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley
Review by Steven Fantina
Stolen Valor is a much-needed, potent rebuttal to the numerous widely-held fallacies regarding the Vietnam War and those who served in it. Vietnam veteran B. G. Burkett and investigative reporter Glenna Whitley shatter several myths by painstakingly researching hundreds of individuals who fought in America's most controversial conflict.
The authors may have set a record for filing Freedom of Information Act requests for military records (the only way to obtain guaranteed legitimate data), and they provide plentiful documentation refuting common assumptions. We often hear how Vietnam's largely-drafted force lacked the dedication of previous military campaigns, but the authors note that "in World War II, the Army's overall desertion rate was 55 percent higher during Vietnam."
Claims abound that a disproportionate number of black soldiers died in Vietnam, but the facts invalidate such assertions. In fact, blacks constituted 12.5 percent of the war's casualties but comprised 13.5 percent of the draft-age males. The authors also cite evidence that a higher proportion of blacks volunteered for military duty, and thus respectfully summarize,
Blacks were not in Vietnam because an evil government drafted them out of the ghettoes to use as cannon fodder; they were there because of the courage and patriotism of young black men, despite the fact that they lived in a country where they frequently experienced racism.
The bulk of Stolen Valor is devoted to unmasking specific cases of phonies who have betrayed the war's true heroes by masquerading as vets themselves. For example, Patrick Sherill, who murdered fourteen innocent people in Oklahoma in 1986, described himself as a Vietnam vet, but the authors expose him and many other criminals as never having served there.
Likewise, an episode of 60 Minutes entitled "The Wall Within" reported that a disturbingly high number of Vietnam veterans had become homeless scavengers in the forests of Washington State. Thanks to Burkett's and Whitley's annotated case-by-case corrections to these stories, CBS's credibility takes a substantive hit.
Senator John Kerry, who routinely mentions his brief Vietnam combat experience in an indignant effort to stymie any questions about his substantial anti-war activities, is not neglected by the authors of Stolen Valor. They briefly discuss both the boomeranging medal/ribbons he threw over the White House fence and the largely discredited Congressional testimony he gave alleging rampant atrocities.
Stolen Valor is an important work that should be read by those who seek to fully understand the Vietnam War and its implications for current and future conflicts.