muscogeemike
Senior Airman
In Tyler, TX, a man - Samuel M. Garrison Jr. - died in Nov 2011. For several years he was a very public local figure. The city even named a new VA Facility after him.
His notoriety was due entirely to his claim to have been a "Tuskegee Airman". At various times he claimed to have been a P-38 pilot, to have been in many "dogfights" and to have "put 10 enemy planes out of commission". He wore many different medals on his Red blazer along with both Cpt and Col rank insignia.
The public readily accepted his stories (as evidenced by their putting his name on the new VA facility) despite some voices questioning his claims.
This week a local reporter published a long exposé disproving almost everything this man had claimed, and the city is "re-considering" his name on the VA building. It can't even be definitely established that he was ever in the military let alone the "Tuskegee Airmen".
All along people questioned Mr. Garrison's claims. None of the units comprising the "Airmen" (99th Pursuit/Fighter Sq., the 332d Fighter Grp; and the 477th Bomb. Grp - which didn't go overseas) flew P-38's; no pilot of these units shot down 10 enemy aircraft; the different ranks he claimed; there was much confusion about the medals he wore, some that weren't from that era. The Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (the group that represents the "Airmen") couldn't verify his service. Yet the local people refused to hear anything but that he was a bonafide WWII hero.
There is speculation that Mr. Garrison suffered from dementia and may well have believed his tales.
That may be true but I think that the local people are using this as an excuse to explain their culpability.
Mr. Garrison did a huge disservice to the real Tuskegee Airmen, to WWII Vets and to all vets. People (especially media reporters) should stop taking our (Vets) "war stories" at face value, many (maybe all) of us embellish our service at times, it is human nature. After telling these "tall tales", over and over, all too often we begin to believe them ourselves.
I have seen and heard reports for years where it is obvious, to anyone who is at all familiar with the subject, that the reporter did no research and had just taken the vets story as he told it. This failure continues the publics' beliefs in many historical myths.
His notoriety was due entirely to his claim to have been a "Tuskegee Airman". At various times he claimed to have been a P-38 pilot, to have been in many "dogfights" and to have "put 10 enemy planes out of commission". He wore many different medals on his Red blazer along with both Cpt and Col rank insignia.
The public readily accepted his stories (as evidenced by their putting his name on the new VA facility) despite some voices questioning his claims.
This week a local reporter published a long exposé disproving almost everything this man had claimed, and the city is "re-considering" his name on the VA building. It can't even be definitely established that he was ever in the military let alone the "Tuskegee Airmen".
All along people questioned Mr. Garrison's claims. None of the units comprising the "Airmen" (99th Pursuit/Fighter Sq., the 332d Fighter Grp; and the 477th Bomb. Grp - which didn't go overseas) flew P-38's; no pilot of these units shot down 10 enemy aircraft; the different ranks he claimed; there was much confusion about the medals he wore, some that weren't from that era. The Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (the group that represents the "Airmen") couldn't verify his service. Yet the local people refused to hear anything but that he was a bonafide WWII hero.
There is speculation that Mr. Garrison suffered from dementia and may well have believed his tales.
That may be true but I think that the local people are using this as an excuse to explain their culpability.
Mr. Garrison did a huge disservice to the real Tuskegee Airmen, to WWII Vets and to all vets. People (especially media reporters) should stop taking our (Vets) "war stories" at face value, many (maybe all) of us embellish our service at times, it is human nature. After telling these "tall tales", over and over, all too often we begin to believe them ourselves.
I have seen and heard reports for years where it is obvious, to anyone who is at all familiar with the subject, that the reporter did no research and had just taken the vets story as he told it. This failure continues the publics' beliefs in many historical myths.
