A judge’s freedom of speech
Average NCO sent us a link yesterday to a story about a 90-year-old judge, J. Taylor Phillips, who says he spent ten years in the Marine Corps which included combat during World War II and Korea. He also claims that he earned the Navy Cross and two Purple Hearts;
He says his tour of duty involved fighting in World War II and the Korean War.
“In the Marine Corps, the boats would leave, and the Navy would take them away. We had no where to go but in. We went in or got killed, one of the two.”
For his service Phillips received two Purple Hearts and the Navy Cross. Phillips says with everything he does in life, the goal is always for good and to help someone.
You can see the shadowbox in the video at the link.
But, according to our buddy Doug Sterner, who we contacted last night, he never earned the Navy Cross for any conflict. POW Network doubts his claims for the Purple Hearts, too. But, hey that’s his right to lie like a dog and claim to be something he isn’t. Right?
That’s probably why the Ninth Circus decided lying about military service is protected speech, so they can protect themselves when they go out to pick up women with someone else’s valor.
“I was young. I was too young to go in really. I told them I was older than I was. One of the few times I really had to lie. I wanted so much to go in.”
But he lies everyday when he looks at the shadowbox in his office and tells himself that those medals are his medals.
Category: Phony soldiers
According to Martindale-Hubbell(Lexis Nexis), Taylor was admitted to the bar in 1954. I guess he served in Korea and attended law school at Mercer University at the same time. That’s pretty amazing, I’d say.
When I start lying about my military career I’m going to brag about the number of courageous restraint medals I have….and of course they will have combat “v”s.
I hope to hell when I get 90 my brain functions better than his. He was too young to join at age 20? I’m assuming that his math improved over the years.
I hope to hell my whole body is still functioning at age 90!
I bet if I pretended to be a judge, they’d take issue with that.
On many levels this story mirrors so many other Stolen Valor stories. A fellow in his later years starts to embellish his military record. He awards himself a some additional medals, and basks in the admiration of his friends and neighbors. George Lauve & Richard Ortega come to mind. So the apologist for these guys tend to have the same argument, “Their old, their memory is slipping, just let them enjoy their retirement.” In this case this argument holds no water. This guy is a sitting judge! He starts off the interview by saying he is still sharp as tack despite his age. A public servant who is backing his credentials with a bogus war record? No, this guy has more in common with Xavier Alvarez then he does with George Lauve. The most important quality any judge needs is integrity, and Judge Phillips is demonstrating a lack of it.
An obituary in my paper today is about a man who was the first person to receive the CIB for serving in WW2, Korea and Vietnam. Being as I’m former AF, I really have no idea about the CIB, but something just set my BS alarm off.