[antimedia] antimedia: You may not like this....

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Posted by antimedia:
You may not like this....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1154199200.shtml


   ....but I don't care. There's nothing I despise more than poseurs who
   claim military service they don't have or medals and ribbons they
   never earned.
   A good friend (Marine) forwarded this to me, and I have permission to
   reproduce it here.

     'Murtha is not a war hero' Account of Bill Fry, Major, USMC (Ret.)
     In 1954 I had an Agriculture teacher in Johnstown, PA, who was a
     well-known local resident. He was a WWII veteran who took advantage
     of the GI Bill and went to college. In the early 1950's he was
     about to get recalled for Korea, so he went into the Marine Corps
     as a lieutenant. I know very little about this man's military
     career, except that he retired as a reserve lieutenant colonel many
     years later. His name was Bob Wagner.
     While Bob was teaching me Agriculture, he had the occasion to beat
     the hell out of me because of a major infraction to the rules of
     the school. He once broke a ¾ inch thick, 3-inch-wide paddle over
     my posterior, and I could not sit down for 7 days. I had made up my
     mind that I was not going to scream or beg for lenience, and
     therefore the beating continued till the paddle was in splinters.
     Bob at that time was the Commanding Officer of the 34th Special
     Infantry Company in Johnstown, PA. One day he asked me what I was
     planning on doing with my life, and I told him I was going to be a
     Marine. This pleased him very much as he said, "You will make a
     good one," or words to that effect. Bob picked me up and took me to
     a drill when I was 16, and that just set my heart afire.
     The unit was leaving for summer camp on the 19th of June, 1955,
     which just happened to be my 17th birthday. Bob went to all the
     trouble to get my enlistment papers post-dated with the proper
     parent's signatures and issue me a basic sea bag prior to my 17th
     birthday. On the 19th he swore me in, and we loaded the plane for
     summer camp. You could not have been any greener than I was, and,
     as I look back on it, he kept a pretty personal eye on me for the
     two weeks of camp, which went very well.
     All this is given as background for my relationship with John
     Murtha.
     John Murtha spent a few years in the Marine Corps as an enlisted
     man and then went to college, got a Reserve commission, and joined
     the 34th Special Infantry Company in Johnstown. He later became the
     Commander Officer. I spent my first tour in Viet Nam in 1965 and
     1966 and therefore missed Murtha, the war hero. However, I had a
     tour at Headquarters, Fleet Marine Forces Pacific, in Hawaii in
     1968 and 1969, and the stories were still bouncing around about
     this reserve major from Johnstown who went to Viet Nam and sent his
     daily information to the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat telling his
     fantastic war stories. They were labeled "Murtha Sends".
     While in FMF Pac I was the Head Systems Officer in the Computer
     Automated Center. I had the opportunity to design and implement a
     system to control and track all awards coming through FMF Pac.
     Having heard of this war hero from Johnstown, I took it upon myself
     to look in the data base and, lo and behold! There were no personal
     awards for Murtha. I never thought any more about it until I saw
     that he is now being touted as a war hero with 2 Purple Hearts and
     a Bronze Star with Combat "V." This, of course, made me curious.
     However, let's get back to the main theme of the story:
     Upon my retirement from the Marine Corps, I took employment with
     the City of Albany, Georgia. In my capacity as Director of
     Management Information Systems, I, after some years, became the
     International President of the Users Group "Government Management
     Information Systems (GMIS)." One of my opportunities during my year
     as President was to travel to Greensburg, PA, to enact a state
     chapter in PA. During discussions with the Director of Westmoreland
     County Information System, I just happened to mention that I was
     raised up the road about 30 miles and mentioned my high school. He
     said, "Hey, I have a good friend who taught there-Bob Wagner."
     I was elated and asked if I could get in touch with Bob. He called
     him on the spot, and we had a short phone reunion during which he
     asked me to come to his house for a visit after a planned dinner
     with the Users Group. This I did, and we had a great evening. I was
     astonished to see that Bob had maintained a scrapbook on my
     military career; he brought it out and showed it to me. What a
     great tribute to receive from your mentor.
     In the course of the evening we talked about the 34th Infantry Co.,
     and Bob said, "Hey did you run into a Major in Viet Nam by the name
     of Murtha? He took a year off from washing cars to go to Viet Nam
     and politic his way into Congress. Then Bob told me what a disgrace
     he had been in the eyes of the officers with whom he served.
     I never gave his comments about Murtha much thought, but I did on
     occasion write to Murtha and to get his support for veteran's
     issues, which he regularly did not do. I thought this rather odd,
     in that he was a retired reserve officer and boasted about
     supporting the troops.
     On the occasion of his attacks on the troops and the nation's Iraq
     policy, I again took interest, as he was described as an injured
     war hero. John Murtha is not a war hero. I am certain if and when
     the truth comes out one will find that his awards were given long
     after he left Viet Nam. Murtha is, in my opinion, a phony and has
     used his veteran's status to climb to the top of several committees
     where he can and does influence pork for Johnstown.
     I would love to have it revealed as to the amount of federal monies
     he has sucked up for his constituency. I love the people of the
     12th District. They are hard-working middle-class folks who do not
     understand how corrupt this guy is and how terrible it is for us
     retired Marines to have him described as a war hero.
     Although I live in Ohio, I will do anything I can to see that he is
     defeated in the November election. He does not deserve to represent
     the good people of southwestern Pennsylvania.
     ---Fry entered the Marine Corps as a private on his 17th Birthday
     in 1955 and spent the next 21 years in a most interesting and
     productive career. He advanced through the enlisted ranks to staff
     sergeant and then was appointed a Warrant Officer and was later
     commissioned a second lieutenant. He advanced to the rank of major
     before retiring in 1976.
     Semper Fidelis,
     Mark Schallow

   So much for the war hero and supporter of the troops. John Murtha is
   just like John Kerry. He went to a war zone (but not too close!) for
   the express purpose of building a career in Congress, and he pumped up
   his military credentials after he came back. Then he used his "war
   hero" status to advance his own personal career, never caring one whit
   for the troops upon whose backs his career was lifted.
   Now he uses his unearned status to lend credibility to his lies,
   stabbing the troops in the back while he does it, and the media laps
   it up.
   Murtha is like a lot of guys (myself included) whose military service
   was honorable but unremarkable, but he also belongs to that small
   cadre of men for whom the honor of their service was not enough. They
   choose to inflate their accomplishments to make themselves look
   better, lie all their lifetimes to hide the truth and refuse to
   release their military records because the truth would destroy all
   that they've gotten undeservedly.
   Most of them live average lives, fooling only their friends and loved
   ones, bragging about their accomplishments while drinking with their
   friends in a bar. A few reach the heights of material success and use
   their "hero" status as a bully pulpit to get what they want.
   Every one of them deserves censure but none moreso than Murtha and
   Kerry, two men whose empty souls were sold many years ago for fame and
   fortune, and for whom the simple honor of serving their country was
   deemed too cheap to be worth their pride.