A Tale of Two Veterans

About two years ago, President Bush signed into law the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a misdemeanor to falsify military decorations. The Act came about because people lied on their resumes about military medals they received or units they claimed they were in or battles they fought. Sadly this is more common now than it should be.

This is all relevant because President-Elect Obama has invited the Tuskegee Airmen to his inauguration on January 20th. About 225 of these heroes accepted the invitation. However, there is a local San Diego man, Thurman Pirtle, who claims to be a member of this group, but whose credentials were not successfully vetted. In other words, Mr. Pirtle apparently has been caught lying about his war service with the Tuskegee Airmen. He claims that his records were lost in a house fire (certainly possible) and that he doesn’t know of anyone who served with him who would still be alive who could verify his service (also possible). My problem with Mr. Pirtle’s story is that he has had more than fifty years to write the Government (National Personnel Records Center) and request verification of his service record and his military awards.

In 2004, I wrote the NPRC to get a copy of my Dad’s war medals. My father was among the first African-American to serve in the Marine Corps during World War II and I posted about him here. Sadly, he passed away before I could learn much from him about his Marine Corps service. The medals arrived one year later in 2005 (I kid you not, it took a year). When my mother came out to visit me before she passed away in 2007, I showed her the medals. She was pleased, but I regretted not mounting them to give her a presentation to look at rather than some loose medals. Mr. Pirtle’s story spurred me to get the medals mounted and set them up for presentation.

The bottom line is I can prove my Dad’s service. I’m sorry Mr. Pirtle can’t prove his. He has done a lot of good work in spreading the story of the Tuskegee Airmen. But apparently, none of his stories are based on his actual war service with this legendary group. Mr. Pirtle’s story is here. My Dad’s medals are below.