Posted on 12/03/2006 2:59:56 PM PST by T-Bird45
The national commander of the American Legion never served in Vietnam although he describes himself as a "Vietnam veteran," a newspaper reported Sunday.
Paul A. Morin, who was elected Aug. 31 to a one-year term as commander of the nation's largest veterans organization, spent his time in the Army from 1972 to 1974 at Fort Dix, N.J., The Boston Sunday Globe reported.
Neither the federal government nor the 2.7 million-member American Legion makes a formal distinction between veterans who served in Vietnam and those known as "Vietnam-era" veterans.
"I am a Vietnam veteran," Morin, of Chicopee in western Massachusetts, told the newspaper. His biography on the Legion's Web site also describes Morin as a "Vietnam veteran of the US Army."
The Legion's top spokesman, Joe March, backed Morin's position. He said any current service member stationed in the United States at present could claim to be an Iraq war veteran.
But former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia said Morin's claim may undercut the credibility of veterans groups that fight for Congressional funding of veterans' programs.
"For the national commander of the American Legion, who never even served in the Vietnam theater, to call himself a Vietnam veteran is a lie," said Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm during combat in Vietnam, and who has been a Legion member since 1969.
Thomas G. Kelley, the Massachusetts secretary of veterans affairs and also a Vietnam veteran, said Morin is misleading people.
"When someone says he is a Vietnam veteran, it means he served in the theater of the war," Kelley said.
Before his national campaign, Morin was a ranking member of the Legion's state office and was described on its Web site as a Vietnam-era veteran who was stationed in New Jersey.
Morin is the superintendent of the Soldier's Home, a state-run facility in Holyoke for needy veterans. He took an unpaid leave to serve as leader of the American Legion.
Morin did not return two calls from The Associated Press seeking additional comment Sunday. March, the Legion's spokesman, also did not return a call Sunday.
Thank you for the info ketelone.
I don't think so, Sarge, but I'm not sure anymore. I thought this was about the veracity of a Mr. Morin.
Looks like I am a Korean War Vet but never been there!
Don't know why but I find your post sort of funny, I know it's not. I have trouble with the Cleland thing - - beer or no beer. I wasn't with him but he was in theater and he came back with three less limbs. It's all I can deal with.
Hashed over or not the article contains a lie. If you don't like my response, even though it's true, then don't respond to it. Simple as that.
whats this remind you of?
It fits in the right category if the area is designated as a combat zone
Is that right? Were you in Korea before the cease fire? Or did you not have to be to be referred to as a Korean War Vet. Is that enough "tos" and "bes?"
Do we call Vietnam the Vietnam War?
Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman – or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.
There is more than a whiff of dishonesty in how Cleland is presented to the American people. Terry McAuliffe goes around saying, "Max Cleland, a triple amputee who left three limbs on the battlefield of Vietnam," was thrown out of office because Republicans "had the audacity to call Max Cleland unpatriotic." Mr. Cleland, a word of advice: When a slimy weasel like Terry McAuliffe is vouching for your combat record, it's time to sound "retreat" on that subject.
http://tinyurl.com/v3aa2
I think it comes from his having thought for so long that he'd blown himself up with his own grenade.
He was wrong, of course, but you tell a story like that folks are going to remember. It's kind of like a guy wearing a skirt to a Halloween party. His friends will never let him forget that one.
Max had a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the troops but he became a Democrat, which proved he was as dumb as a board, and probably the sort of guy to blow himself up with his own grenade.
BTW, we all know it was a different grenade.
Ditto.
You're right. And members of the Armed Services who spent the years 1941 to 1945 typing toilet paper requisitions in New Jersey were considered WWII vets for the purposes of joining the American Legion.
I'm not surprised that the AP would make a big deal out of it, but I'm very disappointed that so few Freepers seem to know this.
Tank You for your service to this coutry
The reason, as columnists Ann Coulter and Mark Steyn were widely attacked for pointing out, is that Cleland’s horrible injuries did not happen in combat, as Kerry tries to suggest with his deceitfully-crafted phrase about Cleland leaving his limbs “on the battlefield.”
This terrible accident happened not on a battlefield but on a helicopter pad 15 miles away from combat. Cleland stepped out of a helicopter to go have a beer with buddies, saw a hand grenade on the ground, assumed that he had dropped it and picked the explosive device up. It had been dropped by another, inexperienced soldier who had left the weapon on a hair trigger setting. It detonated, devastating Cleland’s 25-year-old body and in an instant changing his life.
In the 1986 edition of his autobiography Strong at the Broken Places, Cleland wrote of his receiving the Soldier’s Medal “for allegedly shielding my men from the grenade blast and the Silver Star for allegedly coming to the aid of wounded troops….”
“There were no heroics on which to base the Soldier’s Medal,” wrote Cleland on page 87. “And it had been my men who took care of the wounded during the rocket attack, not me. Some compassionate military men had obviously recommended me for the Silver Star, but I didn’t deserve it.” (Emphasis added.) Two pages later he added: “I was not entitled to the Purple Heart either, since I was not wounded by enemy action.” (Emphasis added.)
http://tinyurl.com/ybsd3w
Here's the memory ~ two things in one day. I arrived downtown near Independence avenue and parked. Walked over a block and found the parade. I went on an adrenalin high for the next week ~ in the meantime I picked up the book that named all the dead guys and went through it, every single page, in one evening and identifed 14 fellows, including my best friend, who died there.
So, I still don't call myself anything, but something definitely happened.
This is the first time I have ever heard such a statement. Matter of fact I served in the Air Force from 1963 to 1967 and not once have I referred to myself (and wouldn't in repect to actual Vietnam vets like my brother)or been referred to as a Vietnam vet. To top it off, when I got out of the service I applied for membership in the VFW and was denied because I was not a "Vietnam" vet. However, years later when their membership started declining they sent me a membership application. You can imagine where that went.
Oh, something happened alright.
BTW, I now have two place I'd like to pee before I die. LBJ's grave and McNamara's bricks.
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