Obama restores rank of disgraced Vietnam general (John D. Lavelle)

Miami Herald ^ | 08.05.10 | PAULINE JELINEK and ROBERT BURNS

[tlb]

WASHINGTON -- More than 30 years after his death, an Air Force general has been exonerated of charges that he violated presidential restrictions on aerial bombing during the Vietnam War and ordered the falsification of records to conceal the missions.

John D. Lavelle was forced to retire in April 1972 at the rank of major general - two stars below the rank he held as commander of air operations in Vietnam.

He died in 1979.

The story took a new twist in 2007 with the publication in Air Force Magazine of an article by a retired Air Force general, Aloysius Casey, and his son, Patrick Casey. They used declassified documents and transcripts of President Richard Nixon's Oval Office audio tapes to show that Nixon had secretly authorized more aggressive bombing in North Vietnam in February 1972.

The Caseys also wrote that such attacks had been authorized in late 1971 and early 1972 by top U.S. officers, including Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Gen. Creighton T. Abrams, the overall U.S. military commander in South Vietnam.

Lavelle's family petitioned the Air Force to correct his record and restore his rank. It said the decision in 1972 to relieve him of duty was based on "woefully incomplete" evidence.

The family's legal petition to the Air Force said the Nixon tapes show that "he was a 'scapegoat' and in fact had acted within the authority expressly granted to him by the president and communicated to him through classified communications between the chief of Pacific Command, the secretary of defense and others."

In 2008 the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records found no evidence that Lavelle caused, directly or indirectly, the falsification of records or that he was even aware of their existence.

[kevkrom]

Anyway, I didn’t embarrass the Marine Corps by asking Mrs. Lavelle to “please pass the f#cking potatoes”!

You remembered to omit the "please"? ;)

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

LOLOL,good one, MARINE!

[ExTxMarine]

“Anyway, I didn’t embarrass the Marine Corps by asking Mrs. Lavelle to “please pass the f#cking potatoes”!”

DANG! You MUST have really liked this girl! LOL!

[Mr. Lucky]

Of course you didn't.

As would any well mannered Marine, you simply grabbed a glob of mashed potatoes, dipped your hand in the gravy and deposited the combination on your plate.

[CitizenM]

Whatever the political reasons behind this action are/were I am glad for the family that they succeeded. According to another story I read, the General’s retirement pay was never affected and he got his full retirement. However, that can't begin to compensate for the honor and dignity the government stole from him. Poor man, I imagine his heart was heavy with sadness and dismay over this and that he died feeling crushed about how his country did not recognize him rightfully. So glad the family kept up the fight for him and his name.