Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Story of ‘Stolen Valor’

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 12:03 p.m.

"STOLEN VALOR" by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley is a book every Vietnam veteran should read. No, better yet, every military veteran should read it because of the perspective it gives when comparing what happened in several wars. Burkett, a Vietnam veteran, tells readers how his generation was robbed of its heroes and history. He completely destroys, with facts, the negative view too many Americans have been willing to accept about the Vietnam vets. In the same breath, he exposes the phonies who have contributed so much to this negativism. Published by Verity Press, it is more than 600 pages of interesting reading.

Criminals who have used post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as an excuse, don't find much sympathy from Burkett. The media and the Veterans Administration eagerly accommodate these claims because they make good stories and keep psychologists in jobs.

One of many examples of criminals using PTSD as a defense is murderer and rapist Arthur J. Shawcross. Burkett writes, "Shawcross told the press that his lust for violence blossomed during the war. Sent to Vietnam in 1968, he was a 22-year-old loner with a troubled history that included torturing animals. Assigned to a supply depot at a military base 'near the front lines,' Shawcross said he soon became a 'one-man army,' heading into the jungle on unauthorized patrols, his M-16 fitted with 'baby-bottle nipples' so he could quietly pick off enemy snipers. 'I was a ghost in the jungle,' he bragged. Shawcross' military records revealed he had seen no combat and had no Purple Heart or medals for bravery."

So who are the real Vietnam veterans? I know dozens of them who are serving the public in law enforcement, business, medicine, education and building trades. They are some of our best citizens who went to war, did their job and came home to contribute to our community. They weren't drafted and kicking screaming into the military and later they didn't return home with their brains fried by drugs.

But weren't our troops in Vietnam made up of most draftees with an average age of 19? "But more 52-year-olds (22) died in Vietnam than youths of 17 (12). The oldest American serviceman killed was 62. Almost 11 percent of those who died were 30 years of age or older.

"The average age of men killed in Vietnam was 22.8 years, or almost 23 years old. ... While the average age of those killed was 22.8, more 20-year-olds were killed than any other age, followed by 21-year-olds, then 19-year-olds."

The author goes on to point out that volunteers accounted for 77 percent of the combat deaths and that percentage goes up to 86 percent for 19-year-olds and 97 percent of 18-year-olds killed. "When people are asked how many 18-year-old draftees died in Vietnam, they invariably answer with a number such as '7,000' or '10,000.' The correct answer: 101, fewer than 1 percent of those who died in the war. (Because the image is that the war took the heaviest toll on young minorities, people are further astonished to learn that only seven 18-year-old black draftees died in Vietnam.)"

The book goes into studies that show our Vietnam troops were better educated than those of any during past wars, the same percent of deaths were from the top economic status as there were killed in action among the general population; the Army lost a higher percentage of its officer corps than it did during World War II; unemployment among the returnees is less than those who didn't serve; and it goes on to name top minority, business, political, sports and other leaders who served in Vietnam.

Former Secretary of the Navy James Webb said, after reading "Stolen Valor," that "its central thesis should make American mainstream media cringe in shame from their decades of negligence and collusion in this defamation of those who served with honor."

"Shouting 'lock and load!' -- the supposed battle cry of 'Nam -- was the way Wall Street whiz Jeff Beck pumped himself before big meetings at Drexel Burnham Lambert during the merger mania and financial shenanigans of the 1980s. Beck built a reputation as 'rainmaker,' participating in some of the largest corporate takeovers in history. Friends affectionally called him 'Mad Dog,' his nickname from two tours of duty in Vietnam."

The truth was that Beck had enlisted in the Army reserve to duck the draft and had never served on active duty. When confronted with the truth, he explained it all away by saying he was an intelligence agent and his records were "classified." Case after case of exposed frauds are given in this book. All of us have heard war stories from individuals who have carried out "secret" missions for the SEALS or some other elite unit and therefore it doesn't show on their discharge papers. When we hear those stories, it's time to move down the bar and order another beer.

Among well-known self-proclaimed heroes are Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and David Duke of KKK and Louisiana fame. Some of the stories concocted by different levels of phonies provide a chapter of good reading entitled "Would I Lie to You?" Former Arizona Republic newspaper publisher Duke Tully is included along with how he even fooled real heroes like Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The only way these frauds succeed and steal the legacy earned by real veterans and heroes is a gullible press eager for stories. The authors really take after television which has developed so many stories about Vietnam veterans. The use of ragged and bearded "vets" sobbing before the Vietnam monument in Washington has too long been used to steal the legacy of the men who did serve their country honorably and still do as civilians.

Several emotional productions are discussed, but "The Wall Within," of CBS received the heaviest fire. The authors even go after Dan Rather who, they point out, avoided the Korean War by going to college and only enlisted a year after the war had ended and the killing stopped.

"Stolen Valor" is a hard-hitting book that should rank high on any reading list for scholars studying American history generally and the Vietnam War specifically.