James Myrick; SGM Embellisher
Mary sends us the records of James Myrick, a retired Sergeant Major, he retired in 1967, when I was 12 years old. But he did an interview for the Korean War Anniversary in Leesville, LA and while I’m not in any position to question his service in Korea, his records tell a different story than he told the reporter. Here’s the link to the article, and unless you want to spend $10 to read it, like I did, you’ll have to take my word for what he said;
Myrick joined the Merchant Marine in 1943 at age 16, then the Army, where he would serve as a scout for more than 20 years before retiring in 1967.
He fought in three wars, serving at the end of World War II and the early stages on the Vietnam War. But the majority of his action was in Korea.
He was wounded three times during the conflict, receiving three Purple Heart decorations. He was also awarded two Bronze Star and one Silver Star commendations during his military career.
Well, that conflicts with his FOIA. It shows that Myrick didn’t join the Army until 1946, the Japanese surrendered in August 1945 – he might mean that he was a merchant marine at the end of the war, I’m in no position to dispute that. But he turned 18 in October of 1945. He has the World War II Victory Medal, but that just means that he served between December 7, 1941 and December 31, 1946. The FOIA shows no Bronze Stars or Silver Star. It shows one Purple Heart not three, and there are no service medals for the Vietnam War, nor does his list of assignments show service in Vietnam but it does mention Korea and Japan.
He was a Ranger…he went to Glider School, FFS, why did he have to make up all of that other shit? These old guys break my heart, they really do – these are the guys who I looked up to when I was a young soldier. He made sergeant major! So, why did he have to embellish anything?
Category: Phony soldiers
I guess they think they’ll never be found out or something.
It is so sad.
I just hope when I am that old that someone might buy me a beer on occasion!
Airborne school and glider school with assignments to Japan and Korea? Sounds like he was in the 11th Airborne and/or the 187th RCT then? That was a hardcore unit, at least in Korea. Jumped at Munsan and Pyongyang in ’51 I believe. Does the SGM claim a “mustard stain” on his wings?
My understanding is that back during WWII jump school wasn’t just something a soldier could do because he wanted a pretty badge, even as an officer. If you went to jump school it meant you were going to (or already in) a jumping unit. And glider school – sheesh, that seems even scarier to me than jumping!
I read that as: he served during the time periods (but not in) WWII and Viet Nam, and that while it might suggest that the WWII service was military, it was probably merchant marine. 20 years from 1967 would be 1947 (enlistment in Army) but a late 46 enlistment could account for both “20 years” and the Victory Medal.
It still does not account for the Medal embellishments and a 20 year Veteran should understand that the 3 bronze service stars on his NDSM were not three Bronze Stars, which would provide the excuse that the journalist had the 214 but did not know the difference.
A guy like that? I have to hope that he called the journalist up and got the s*** corrected when he read it. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of embellishers who should have been proud of the record they had, instead of making up something else.
A closer look at that FOIA shows that it doesn’t show his 3 NDSM’s (WWII, Korea, VN). Is it possible that it isn’t showing 3 PH’s as well?
It also reminds me of the PC difference from 46 to now. If we used the WWII model, there would be Occupation of Kosovo, of Iraq, and of Afghanistan Medals.
Yeah, I’m not ready to throw rocks at him yet. I have learned from our local rag (The Martinsburg WV Journal) that reporters will take the liberty of spicing up a story on their own. The alerts should come when the subject is NOT quoted or when attribution is not given. In the paragraphs abstracted from the article, I see no quotes or attribution.
@6 – You must’ve been reading my mind. Something tells me there’s more to the story, and it ain’t coming from James Myrick.
It seems some things might be missing from his DD-214 and it seems lacking others (CIB?). Not uncommon in those days and you have to consider many WWII Vet’s have never received and will never receive the awards they earned.
Fuzzy: true, but this guy retired after 20 years of service – as a SGM. I’d guess he’d have had ample opportunity to get such errors corrected. And I think as a SGM he’d have had the rank to get a little cooperation from Personnel in doing that.
Nonetheless, there are some rather obvious omissions on this guy’s FOIA reply – only one NDSM listed, for starters; based on his period of service, he rates 2 (1 each for the Korea and Vietnam qualifying periods). It also doesn’t list any campaign stars for his KSM. If he was there early on, he’d likely have several. I’m guessing that’s where the “Silver Star and 3 Bronze Stars” alluded to in the article might have come from.
I think I’ll file a FOIA on the guy and ask for further clarification. I suspect his records might well show more on the guy than’s listed above. Maybe the tech at NPRC who handled the request was having an off day.
@9. As I suggested in reading USMCE8Ret’s mind (and, no, what I found there wasn’t pretty!) the issue may be the reporter’s, not the record. I certainly don’t know, but it would be nice to learn from whom or where the reporter obtained all of the published stuff.
#3
“My understanding is that back during WWII jump school wasn’t just something a soldier could do because he wanted a pretty badge, even as an officer. If you went to jump school it meant you were going to (or already in) a jumping unit. And glider school – sheesh, that seems even scarier to me than jumping!”
I’ve got the book “The Rakkasans”, which is a regimental history printed by the 187th Association. Reading accounts of the regiment’s training and esprit de corps in the ’50s makes it seem like Airborne units of the day were as hardcore as Ranger units are now, if not moreso. Fifty years ago, you knew the guy wearing jump wings was a cut above and had served or would soon serve in an Airborne unit. Now you don’t know if the guy sporting a Basic Parachutist Badge did five jumps while he was still an ROTC Cadet, or is a qualified Jumpmaster who served five years with the 173rd Airborne Brigade but never qualified for a Senior or Master badge.
I’ll hold off judgment on this SGM for now. Hopefully it turns out that he isn’t the embellisher.
Sounds like he embellished on a pseudo Dave Hackworth biography.
I read “About Face” about 10 years ago….it sounds like he embellished on a pseudo Dave Hackworth biography.
I was curious about that Glider qualification if he didn’t enter the Army until 1946, so I did a little research. As it turns out, the Army maintained its glider infantry training program until 1948. In fact, the 187th retained its WWII glider infantry regiment designation until 1949, when as the last GIR, it became the 187th Airborne Infantry.
My other big question is where is the guy’s CIB if he served with the Rakkasans in Korea? Or was he in some non-infantry unit?
Knowing how the doofus media get almost everything wrong when reporting on military matters, I’m inclined to give the SGM the benefit of the doubt until we know more.
The post museum at FTCKY used to have an old Waco glider as a walk through display. (As I understand it, Pratt Museum as moved to a new building) After seeing that thing, it must have taken bigger stones to “fly” in one of those things than to jump a T5 parachute. Eff going to war in a glider.
By JEFF MATTHEWS The Town Talk James Myrick’s bulldog determination and tenacity has been evident since he was a young soldier in Korea. Doctors told him they’d have to amputate his legs because of frostbite suffered during the brutal battle of Chosin Reservoir. “They wanted to cut my legs off and send me back to the states in a wheelchair,” Myrick said. “I not only said no, I said hell no. And I’m still hanging on to them.” More than 60 years later, he’s still tenacious, whether it’s stumping for a veterans cemetery in Vernon Parish, asking legislators for support on a bill addressing elderly needs or raising money for one of the several causes he’s been involved in. He’ll push and push, then push some more. In Korea, Myrick rubbed snow and ice water on his frozen legs to thaw them – not a recommended technique these days – and was back in the fight a few days later, helping to make a stand against Chinese soldiers who had crossed the 38th parallel. Myrick still carries wounds from those days – evident when the 85-year-old walks with difficulty. But he wouldn’t change his service in the conflict that is often overlooked. Myrick joined the Merchant Marine in 1943 at age 16, then the Army, where he served as a scout for more than 20 years before retiring in 1967. He fought in three wars, serving at the end of World War II and the early stages on the Vietnam War. But the majority of his action was in Korea, where he received three Purple Hearts. He also was awarded two Bronze Star and one Silver Star commendations during his military career. Myrick recovered from his first wounds in time to be part of the drive by American, South Korean and United Nations forces into North Korea in mid-1950. The advance was intended to reunify the countries and end the war quickly, billed as the “Home by Christmas” campaign. It turned into something much different. The Chinese entered the war and secretly moved large numbers of troops across the border… Read more »
Task Force Faith consisted of elements of the 7th Infantry Division, and they were chewed up very badly by the Chinese who had just entered the war in large numbers.
It was certainly possible for those with prior parachute and glider training to be assigned to non-Airborne units. As an example, the TF commander, LTC Faith, had served with the 82d Airborne Division in WW II and participated in all of its combat jumps. More on LTC Faith here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_C._Faith,_Jr.
More on TF Faith here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_Force_Faith
As for James Myrick, I can’t say because I’m not familiar with his actual record.
I am currently stationed at Fort Polk and I live in Leesville so if you guys want… Maybe I can go up to the VFW here and clarify some of the disputes.
That stuff is interesting, my dad served in Korea in as a National Guardsman. He started out on occupation duty or something of that effect in Japan. He rarely spoke of it, my mother gave me his discharge paperwork after he died, it said he was a machine gunner. It turns out his Commander was an attorney who lived three doors from us. The whole time I grew up I knew that attorney and had no clue they served together in Korea. One of our local cops also was with my dad. None of them belonged to the VFW or Legion. They just came home and went about their lives. My father contracted polio in Korea in his second year there and they sent him home early. Never collected a dime for it. I have two pictures of him, one with from his boot camp graduation and one in some unknown part of Korea with a snowy hill behind him and a couple other guys. Not even any writing on the pics. I wish I had pushed him to tell me more about it.
“Myrick estimates he was no more than a few hundred yards from Faith when he was killed, but he wouldn’t find out until later. The two were in separate groups attacking Chinese positions on opposite sides of the road. “I didn’t know he had been killed until we got further south and I asked where the colonel was,” Myrick said.”
If that’s the thrilling war story he relates to journalists, then I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Compare that to the heavily embellished tales of heroism from most of the imposters uncovered by GoV and other sites.