Herbert Williamson: Cav secret squirrel
Art sends us a few links to the story about Herbert Williamson, the CEO of an oil exploration company in Texas who has been speaking to veterans’ groups in the area like in the picture above advertising himself as a decorated Vietnam veteran and retired colonel. The San Antonio MySA did a little digging;
In sworn depositions for the lawsuit, he said he was in the Army from 1970 to 1973, rising to the rank of chief warrant officer, second class. He also claimed to have served one year in Vietnam, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross in 1971 as a scout helicopter pilot.
But Connecticut Army National Guard records indicate he served in that state from January 1971 to August 1972, working as a communications wireman at the rank of private first class.
“Our records don’t reflect that he went to Vietnam, or that he received any decorations,” said Lt. Col. Tim Tomcho of the Connecticut Army National Guard. He noted that Williamson was honorably discharged when he moved to Maryland, where he joined the Maryland Army National Guard.
Documentation was similarly lacking to support claims by Williamson, 63, that he was awarded a Purple Heart and served 30 years in the Army Reserve, retiring in 2003.
“I did not find a record for Herbert Williamson having served in the Army or Army Reserve,” said Mark Edwards, media relations chief at the U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
Of course, when he’s confronted with military records, Williamson goes all secret squirrel on the reporter;
Asked Monday about the apparent inconsistencies, Williamson said, “There are other things you are unaware of that I can’t comment on.”
His lawyer, Richard Mosty, suggested that Williamson may be unable to speak about his service because of its being classified.
So classified that he’s talking about it every chance he can? The military can’t find records of his Bronze Star and Purple Heart, so those are classified, too? Here’s a lesson for all of you prospective posers (none of whom read this blog, apparently) awards aren’t classified, the citations may be, but not the awards themselves. The fact that you were in Vietnam along with several thousand others wouldn’t be classified. What you did there might be classified, but not the fact that you were there.
Category: Phony soldiers
For Richard Ellison:
Thank You for all you have done & continue to do in exposing this poser.
“yeah, man, cant walk, cuz of ‘Nam and all”
“you were in Nam? Me too. Where were you at?”
“Oh, well, Wing, Ding, Ning Bing Province, man, I was all over…secret missions, man…Agent Orange, that was my code name…”
@5 – To understand how the “nicknames” derive is to understand military lingo. Example: Soup sandwich. “This contestant in the Duster Tourney is Ate the hell up like a Soup sandwich” Only military will ever recognize that. I can usually spot a fake a mile away when they cannot hang with our acronyms & slang right off the bat.
I haven’t contacted the Harvard Business School alumni office yet, but when I ran a specific search on two other sites, there was nothing about him.
@27 Bobo — any luck yet? I found nothing.
OH60? OH60? Oh OK, yeah the OH60 must have been the “Super Secret Squirrel ” version of the OH58 right. Or maybe it’s in the ballpark I guess when they ordered parts they just said OH 58, OH60 whats the difference just give me one of those things in the bin. What a Cheese Dick
If he can get an OH 60 to fly, he is truly a badass, since most normal people use them to cut WOOD.
I am retired Army, and worked as a DA Civilian for the Army Reserve Command HQ in the G2 shop for the better part of 13 years. Dont ever, ever recall this clown, and I knew almost all MI 05’s and 06’s in the USARC.
@54 – Ex PH2; I’ll ping my friend again. He was going to look at the harvard library and see if there was any mention of him in the pubs there.
More comprehensive FOIA requests have been made regarding this dipstick with NPRC, CT ARNG, and MD ARNG.
We’ve all seen these guys, and usually you can pick them out in a crowd. Several years back, my son’s “new” little league coach would show up wearing a Ranger T shirt, yelling “Hooah” and “Lock and Load” every time one of the kids made a good play. When he made them take an extra lap for making a mistake, he would say “That’s the Ranger way!”, or thats my Ranger Creed kicking in!. He had all those kids believing he was something akin to being a God. When asked about his military time, he’d reply “Too painful, I really dont want to talk about it”. Another dad and myself rooted this guy out, the nearest he came to being in the military was replacing the snacks in the vending machine at the local recruiting office. All of these wannabe posers need to be exposed for what they are, phonies who serve no purpose but to boost their own ego at legitimate veterans expense. If you see em, expose em!
[…] Herbert “Cav Secret Squirrel” Williamson […]
[…] JUSTICE GINSBURG REGIONAL 1 Herbert “Cav Secret Squirrel” Williamson v. 16 Fatty McQuartermillion Pounder 8 Paul “PTSD Counselor” Schroeder v. 9 Asleigh “Shrapnel […]
how do I vote? It’s probably obvious but I’m missing it.
Richard: The voting starts next week.
OH-60? Never heard of it. The UH-60 is the Sikorsky Blackhawk and the OH-6 is the Hughes Cayuse (“Loach” or “Little Bird”). The UH-60 was never used in Vietnam, the OH-6 certainly was. I suspect someone made a typo when entering the OH-6 and it’s been carried forward since. Any helicopter pilot who served in Vietnam knows the above.
[…] Herbert “Cav Secret Squirrel” Williamson v. 16 Fatty McQuartermillion […]
So many ‘veterans’ out there with classified backgrounds. *sigh*
I have a quick question for you guys, and I hope that this is an appropriate place to ask it. After the Iraq War began in ’03 I started noticing a few guys around town that wore black leather jackets with all manner of unit patches sewn on. A couple of them had the Ranger tabs and a big yellow 1st Cav patch. Was there a trend during that time among soldiers to display their career in such a manner? Was it more of a civilian ‘guy’ thing to show support for their brothers overseas? Or were these guys posers like the ones you bust?
Thanks in advance. I’d really like to know.
I would have voted for Fatty myself but for my civic duty to vote for the Kerrville TX entry Cav Secret Squirrel Herbert C Williamson III. Meanwhile, I’ve obtained records from the Conn NG where he was a field wireman private when he claims he was getting the DFC, Purple Heart, Bronze Stars, etc. in VN. The docs are available online on my website:
http://lawyershallofshame.blogspot.com/2012/07/update-on-herbert-c-williamson-iiis.html
Waxmaster, I’ve seen a lot of guys who ride with leather vests/jackets who plaster their military patches/medals/buttons etc. all over the place to show support and also fall in line with the biker fashion of plastering anything all over your vest. As far as being posers; that’s likely dependent on the individual and can’t be labeled universally.
He said it was an OH-60 in his deposition. I should have asked him to describe the controls and what they do and see if he knew what a cyclic and collective are and what they do.
Most of the black leather vest guys I know prefer that only actual vets wear unit patches and such on their vests. They also told me that since I am a vet I should also wear a leather vest even though I don’t own a motorcycle and do not anticipate ever owning one. I don’t wear black leather because it just doesn’t seem like the right thing to do. And because there is no universal agreement on the practice.
But I do have a denim vest that I have all sorts of stuff sewed on – most of my own stuff but a couple of things to honor or support others – like a WWII patch for my father and some things other groups sold as fundraisers. The ones which are not my own are pretty obviously not mine.
@69 & 71 – I wrote #67 as Waxmaster; sticking with my current handle as it suits me better. Thank you for answering my question. 😀 I had a conversation with one of those gents in a hardware store. He had some patches showing where he’d been along with some unit patches. I don’t remember which units, though. He told me that he’d been to Bosnia, Kosovo, and a few other places that I can’t name right off the top of my head. It added up to his apparent age. He also expressed utter disgust about the ‘pussified’ Army, which I’d already heard plenty about. I didn’t doubt him at the time, but when I came here to TAH and started reading through the list of posers I remembered seeing those jackets and had a second thought. Figured I’d better ask just to be sure.
Anyway, new here and all that. I’ll contribute what I can when I can. Otherwise I’ll just lurk and stay out of the dogpile.
Thanks again.