Subject: Re: Maxcy, Stanley B.
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 17:13:01 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v619.2)

I was going through my emails and came upon what I believe was your last email to me.
I cannot find, regrettably, that I replied to your request.
Therefore I am sending copies of all the original drafts that appeared in print that I wrote regarding Maxcy.
I am enclosing the retraction I wrote, and his confession that were published in our paper.
The pastor of Maxcy's former church notified me that Maxcy had gone before the congregation and confessed his guilt in deceiving the public and his family for many years.
His confession resulted in his wife divorcing him and his eventually moving from our community.
Hopefully this, however tardy, fulfills your request.
If I might be of any future assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
George Jones

======================================================================== 
Maxcy apologizes

In April of this year I wrote a story titled Not Your Average Childrens Author with it I allowed Stanley Byron Maxcy, Jr. of Albertville the benefit of the doubt and trusted he was relating to me the true account of his service to our country as an honored member of the Armys elite Special Forces Green Berets.
At that time even though there were some aspects of his story that appeared a bit incongruous, I had served in the Army as a medical corpsman (1963-1966) and I saw and heard some strange things that allowed me to give him the benefit of the doubt that his experiences might possibly be true.
Following the publication of the first of what was to be a two-part story, I received a sufficient number of emails from active and retired members of the Special Forces (SF) community that led to the discovery Maxcy had been less than truthful with me about his military experiences.
In July I wrote an article titled Setting the Record Straight in which I presented facts and information disproving his claims.
Recently Maxcys pastor informed me that on that particular Sunday morning Maxcy had gone before the people of his church and tearfully confessed that he had been living a lie. And that his claims relative to his service in the United States Army and serving as a Special Forces Green Beret in Vietnam were also a lie.
This past week I received a phone call from Maxcy stating he wished to meet with me and go public with his story.
Maxcy and I met at the SMR offices where he told me of having allowed circumstances in his life to dictate his actions.
As we began our conversation Maxcy quickly said, Dont ask me why I did it, because I cant explain it.
Maxcy did say that part of the reason he continued the deception was because of fear of losing his wife I kept it up, but at the same time it was destroying it (relationship and marriage).
Maxcy candidly continued, I was wild. I couldnt leave women alone, I couldnt leave booze alone, but I didnt do drugs.
Pausing Maxcy said, Well the drugs I did were yellow jackets, RJSs and stuff like that.
Maxcy added, I stopped all that, I mean even smoking because I had no desire for anything else.
Referring to his wife he said, I know I have broken her heart, but there is nothing I can do. Ive destroyed a lot of - (hesitating) I have destroyed myself, I know that. And it is too late to try and start over again. And no! Im not talking about (suicide) like these other idiots, because thats a cop out.
A seemingly penitent Maxcy said, You cant change the past, but you can change the future.
Maxcy, with eyes visibly watering, continued by stating concern for his wife of 13-years, I dont want her embarrassed any more the most glorious time in my life has been with her.
While expressing his desire to restore a marriage in shambles, Maxcy said, I want to apologize to my family and friends for the hurt I have caused. And to the men of the Special Forces for what I have done.
Maxcy said, I have learned a hard lesson. I am sorry for what I did. I cant go back and change it, all I can do is admit that I did it and promise I will never do it again.
Maxcy, desiring to make public amends for what he had done, said he told his pastor, I have got right with the LordI know I owe an apologyI still have to live, and this is what I have been led (by God) to do, so this is what Im going to do.
Maxcys act of repentance he said Is not simple. I have destroyed a lot of people. I have destroyed my self. I have hurt a lot of people. And I am sorry for it. There is nothing else I can do.
Regarding an apology to the SFs, whom Maxcy offended deeply he said, with the obvious difficulty one might expect under the present circumstances, What can I say, but I am sorry and I just want to clean the slate.
======================================================================== 

Setting the record straight

By George Jones
Sand Mountain Reporter

Published July 02, 2005

The following is borrowed from the Special Forces wannabe buster Internet Web site: “Regrettably, the honor and valor of fine men is continuously being assaulted by leaches who thrive off of the blood the true heroes shed. These ‘blood suckers’ falsely claim that they too were ‘Marine Scout/Snipers or Recon/Snipers,’ conducted ‘super secret missions,’ and earned medals they do not deserve.” 

In April of this year, I wrote a story titled “Not Your Average Children’s Author. With it, I allowed Stanley Byron Maxcy, Jr. of Albertville the benefit of the doubt and trusted he was relating to me the “true” account of his service to our country as an honored member of the Army’s elite Special Forces Green Berets.

Regrettably, and it deeply saddens me, but it appears my trust was misplaced.

Preparation of that story began as we sat in the living room of his home where Maxcy laid before me the unpublished manuscript of what he said, and I in retrospect unfortunately believed, was his experience in Vietnam as a Green Beret titled “Vietnam, The Land of Velvet Green.” (subtitled, In Memory of the Fallen Brave).

Even though there were some aspects of his story that appeared a bit incongruous, I had served in the Army as a medical corpsman (1963-1966), and I saw and heard some strange things that allowed me to give him the benefit of the doubt that his experiences might possibly be true.

When I asked him at the completion of our interview “Is there anything you have told me you don’t want published?”

Maxcy replied “No.”

He assured me everything he told me was the truth and had happened to him.

Candidly, I must say at the time I was more focused on what I thought was his ability (as he related it) to recover from his traumatic experiences as a soldier during the Vietnam War.

The publication and telling of his story, I had hoped might offer encouragement for other soldiers who served in Vietnam and continue to suffer the war’s after-effects.

Unfortunately, following the publication of the first of what was to be a two-part story, I received a sufficient number of e-mails from active and retired members of the Special Forces (SF) community to convince me I might have been “scammed’ by what the “real” Green Berets call an SF “wannabee.”

With the gracious assistance of the Special Forces community and the Freedom of Information Act, I received a copy of Maxcy’s military service record.

The record supports the fact that while Maxcy served in the U.S. Army from July 17, 1961 until Jan. 24, 1963, he never served in Vietnam nor was he ever a Special Forces Green Beret.

It appears he began his military service at Fort Jackson, S.C. and ended it at Fort Sheridan, Ill. with his highest rank attained as that of a PFC (private first class).

According to the records, Maxcy never left the U.S. during his time in the military.

Maxcy’s entire experience in the military, according to the official record, was limited to serving as an FC Operator with Battery C, of the 1st Missile Battalion, 60th Artillery at Munster, Ind.

And, rather than having received, as he states in his manuscript, “… two Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, The Distinguished Service Cross, Three Purple Hearts along with numerous other ribbons,” the record shows Maxcy received only the National Defense Service Medal.

In April, after I received the first correspondences from the Special Forces members, I called Maxcy, who was allegedly in Florida vacationing with his wife.

Earlier in the year, Maxcy told me he had been diagnosed with a terminal illness due in part, he said, to his experiences in Vietnam, for which he made several trips recently to the medical facilities at Fort Bragg. N.C.

At the time the story was to be published in April, he told me he was taking his wife to Florida for what he said would in all likelihood be a final vacation for them.

Once the story was published, he called to ask if I had received any comments.

At that time I said I had not.

Two or three days after the story ran in the paper I received a phone call from an unidentified woman claiming to work for the VA (Veterans Administration) who told me, among other things, Maxcy was a fraud.

I then began to receive e-mails from the SF community expressing their thoughts about Maxcy and his claiming to be an SF veteran.

During our last phone conversation in April, Maxcy again asked if I “had heard anything?”

This time I told him I had received a number of responses from SF veterans, and I asked if he would provide me with a copy of his DD-214 and any other materials verifying his story.

Maxcy told me he would.

I have had no further correspondence with him since that time.

Attempts to reach him by phone have met with no response.

If the apparent facts, as they stand at this moment, are true, I understand Maxcy’s reluctance to respond.

If Maxcy’s silence is an admission that he has perpetrated a hoax and attempted to garner the accolades and honor due only to those individuals who wear, and those who valiantly and proudly wore, the uniform of the Special Forces – then eternal shame on him.

Webster’s Dictionary has this to say about the word “phony,” … not genuine or real … intended to deceive or mislead.

In the final stanza of a poem Maxcy claims to have written titled “The Land of Velvet Green,” he writes, “… I am not there, I Did Not Die.”

It appears Maxcy was “…not there.”

And, no! You did not die – but a lot of real and brave Special Forces men did!