Another Octogenarian Phony
AverageNCO sent us this link at about the same time Mary at POW Network sent us the same information about Buffalo native Ralph “Cotton” Lawson, 89 who tells tall tales about his service as a fighter pilot during World War II;
“I was awarded the Navy Cross for shooting down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (who planned and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor) on April 28, 1942,” Lawson said.
Our buddy, Doug Sterner, writes;
This is bogus information on a very FAMOUS air Mission. First of all, the Yamamoto shoot down was April 18, not April 28. The mission was assigned to U.S. Army Air Force pilots by the Navy, since they had the long-range fighters. FOUR Navy Crosses were awarded for that operation, ALL OF THEM to U.S. Army Air Force Personnel who are listed below:
Barber, Rex T.
Hine, Raymond K.
Holmes, Besby Frank
Lanphier, Thomas G., Jr.
It must be tough out there for these old guys who’ve been telling these lies for decades and now they face the consequences when they tell the tales one last time and a million eyes scrutinize every word. It shouldn’t be so hard for the idiot journalists who refuse to do even a Wikipedia search on basic facts like dates.
Category: Phony soldiers
So sad…God, what can you say about this other than, so sad.
Honor and Courage
I’m sure the reporters who print these stories don’t dare question these tall tales out of some sort desire to support the military and support our nation’s vets. But the problem is that anyone who has studied journalism knows the oldest cliche’ in the book: “When your mother says she loves you…CHECK YOUR SOURCES!!!!”
It’s basic journalism.
I remember watching something about it from one of the guys that took part in the mission. I believe they used the P-38 Lighting.
In the shadow box that was pictured with the story they had Army Air Corps wings and in the story itself it said he was a Naval Aviator flying F6F Hellcats.
I would check and see if he was even an aviator.
This is really sad. My dad was a WWII vet, and never talked about his experiences that much…I don’t think he’d be too happy to hear about this guy.
Ya know, after all the trouble I had hunting down Geronimo (slippery fellow, he) on the plains of New Hampshire (which is why the rest of the Army couldn’t find him in Arizona), guys like this turd who makes up wild lies about his service, just make it that much harder to score with the pudding servers at the home.
I took part in something called the Doolittle Raid on Hanoi, maybe you’ve heard of it? It was the first time we ever flew USMC B-17s off of Iowa-class battleships. They gave me the Distinguished Silver Croissant for it or something like that.
“…shot down 99 Japanese planes…”?
The leading US ace of WWII was MAJ Richard Bong (MoH), with 40 kills. The leading US Navy ace of WWII was CDR David McCampbell (MoH), with 34 kills and the record for most kills in one sortie (9). No record of a Navy Cross awarded to a Ralph Lawson in the Hall of Valor database either. What a shock.
Oh, and the Battle of Kula Gulf? It was a surface action between 7 USN ships and 10 IJN destroyers, 6 July 43. No carrier aviation involved. No Hellcats would have been there in any event. The F6F made its combat debut 31 AUG 43.
#5 and #6: Too funny. Thanks for the laughs.
99 Jap planes???? Wow, this guy is a legand!!! MAJ Richard Bong only got 40.
I’m not sure if this guy was ever even a Vet, but as dishonorable as fabricating deeds of heroism and derring-do is, it’s much more disturbing to me that our woeful media hasn’t seemingly surrendered all pretense of fact-checking and investigative journalism.
In lieu of an edit feature, that should read “has seemingly surrendered”.
The F6F made its combat debut 31 AUG 43.
And Admiral Yamamoto was shot down in April of 1943. Jesus H. Tapdancin Christ, do these idiot reporters even bother to do the most basic of fact-checking anymore?
Journalism majors.
Also, here’s the list of medals from his website:
“Navy Symbol, Fighter Pilot Wings, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, American Defense, American Theatre, Asiatic Pacific Theatre, Philippine Liberation, Phillip Pine Medal of Honor, Good Conduct, Victory Medal and LCDR Oak Leaves.”
No idea what the Navy Symbol is. Or who Phillip Pine is. I guess he’s important if he gives out a Medal of Honor.
Okay, first off, those aren’t Naval Aviator wings. Never have been. Second, if he was an officer as he claims, he isn’t entitled to the Good Conduct Medal.
Just more holes in his bullshit story.
“In all, Lawson flew 198 combat missions, shot down 99 Japanese planes and assisted in the sinking of 266 Japanese ships”. Wow, why didn’t the navy just send everyone else home, this guy won the war all by himself?
And this? Just, wow. “But I often held that cross in one hand, shot with the other and steered with my knees, praying as I zeroed in on the Japanese plane ahead of me. The Lord gave me confidence and calmness I could not explain.” Someone should explain to Mr. Lawson that the fire button was on the stick, not the instrument panel, or the overhead PS3 console.
Holy shit…then he almost certainly never flew, and certainly not in any sort of a combat situation. Even an asswipe newsie should have called bullshit on that.
Yeah, I’ve seen people driving on Sunset in West Hollywood putting on lipstick, reading the paper, and eating all at the same time while driving with their knees, but not at 4G’s.
Looking at Japanese ship losses in WII he seems to be responsible for almost 10% of the total Japanese losses.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-2.html
I would say he’s probably the leading one handed knee-steering ace…
Well, I read the story and I can’t even comment on this one, it’s just too far out there, AAF wings and all.
You’d think a former Methodist preacher would know better than to tell lies like that. By the way, I’m from Spartanburg(SC) and have seen nothing about he and his exploits in our paper. I guess our reporters know better than to publish BS like that.
[…] This Is Just Sad. Outlaw13 | Friday, 19th of August 2011 at 07:12:34 AM H/T This Ain’t Hell […]
Generally, age doesn’t improve a person. I would be curious to know his past, and if he actually did serve. He looks so senile now that, with a little prompting, he’d probably claim to be real handy with a lightsaber and to have fought with the Rebel Alliance.
Just got an e-mail from the reporter, regarding this story.
“Thank you for the email. Since the story was published, we have been looking into this. The part about the Battle of Kula Gulf lasting a month was my fault.
Anything else in the story that could have been false is due to facts being misrepresented to me. We are currently getting everything together to print something else about this.
I sincerely apologize for any embarrassment I may have caused you. My grandfather is very active in the veteran community, and one of my best friends served as a Navy SEAL. I would never intentionally do anything detrimental to veterans.
I will use your letter as a reference as we get these things sorted out.
Again, thank you for taking the time to write, and thank you for reading our paper. I intend to do everything I can to make this right.
Sincerely,
Derik Vanderford
Staff Writer
The Union Daily Times
(864) 427-1234 ext.23
dvanderford@heartlandpublications.com
At least THIS reporter’s letter seems pretty contrite, as opposed to other newsie’s replies. Let’s hope there is some followup on it.
At least the reporter admits he fucked up…props to him.
I got the same letter from the reporter. I suspect his inbox may be flaming ;^)
Arby, you’re probably right, he probably had to assign an intern to keep his inbox empty.
Why does people, in order to try and prove that they support Veterans, always reference family or friends that have servered or is serving. Hell, almost everyone’s grandfather served and I could care less if your best friend’s uncle’s third cousin served in the military. So what. How does that prove anything about you?
That reporter may want to contact Senior Chief Shipley at Extreme SEAL Experience….I’ll bet anything his friend is a phony SEAL too!
I had a father-in-law that was a Marine aviator in the Pacific. He hated the P whatever craft, loved the Corsair! While he would talk about some dogfights, escorts, ect he never went beyond what happened this day or that night and once in a blue moon, when he’d get drunk and tell me about his air wing playing baseball, winning a game, losing a game, brawling once in a while and drinking with Greg Boyington’s air wing.
I seriously don’t know what to say about this man except he’s much younger than my father in law would be if he were still alive. He died in 91….And so?
[…] media is going to believe what they want October 30th, 2011 We first dicussed Ralph “Cotton” Lawson back in August when we discovered an article about him and his “Most Interesting Life” […]