EDWARD LEE HAMMONS
Marine Corps League suspends past commandant
Wednesday,
June 28, 2006
Tony Baughman
Aiken Standard
Ed
Hammons, former State Commandant of the Marine Corps League, stands next
to a framed copy of his honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps
in 1966 and a shadowbox holding a photo of his brother, killed in
Vietnam, and his brother's medals.
By TONY BAUGHMAN Staff writer
Leafing through yellowing documents that retrace service rendered and
mistakes made more than 30 years ago, Ed Hammons says he is angered and
hurt by allegations that have led to his temporary suspension from the
national and state Marine Corps League.
"It's just horrible what they're doing to me and my family, and now
it's going to get out to the world," said Hammons, 61, past
Commandant of the James L. Hammons Marine Corps League Detachment No.
939 in Aiken and until recently, State Commandant of the South Carolina
Marine Corps League.
In a letter dated June 5, obtained by The Aiken Standard, the League's
Office of National Judge Advocate states that Hammons was "temporarily
suspended from membership, office or function in the Marine Corps League
until a Hearing Board convenes." That hearing has been scheduled
for Saturday, July 15, in Myrtle Beach, according to Vic Voltaggio,
National Judge Advocate.
"Someone filed a complaint. ... The complaint has to be
investigated by the National Judge Advocate, which is my position,
because (Hammons) was a department officer," said Voltaggio,
based in Spring Hill, Fla."So it becomes my jurisdiction. The
investigation is still pending. We haven't received all the documents
back yet."
A board of four people will hear three charges against Hammons.
Hammons is charged with Violation of the Oath of Membership of the
Marine Corps League. The letter alleges that he "did present a
DD-214 for proof of service that was not valid." The DD-214
is a form issued by the Department of the Defense, showing the date of a
serviceman's discharge and whether the discharge was honorable or not.
The second charge against Hammons is Violation of Oath of Office, which
alleges
he was pictured on the state Marine Corps League website wearing a staff
sergeant's uniform with a Bronze Star Medal with a single star.
According to the charges, "this is fraud given the contents of your
DD-214, which indicated that you were a private when discharged, having
never been awarded a Bronze Star."
The final charge is Conduct Unbecoming a Member or Officer of the Marine
Corps League, alleging that Hammons asked a representative of the Chapel
of the Four Chaplains, a Philadelphia-based foundation, to re-type and
sign a letter Hammons had written to recommend him for re-election as
State Commandant.
"We do our own investigation. It's done thoroughly, and it's done
fairly," Voltaggio said.
Hammons, meanwhile, maintains that the allegations are part of an
orchestrated attempt to discredit him on the eve of the state Marine
Corps League convention, when he was to offer for re-election as State
Commandant. Instead, he has stepped down from that post and will not be
allowed to attend this weekend's convention in Greenville.
"That's why all this stuff is coming down from National because
they want to make me look as bad as they possibly can," Hammons
said.
"˜I just went crazy."
The documents Hammons is gathering to defend against the Marine Corps
League tell of a young man who joined the Corps in 1963 at age 19,
served two tours of Vietnam and left Southeast Asia a changed man.
"They're alleging that I had a bad conduct discharge, but they're
not admitting to the fact that the bad conduct discharge has been
overturned," Hammons said. "They have the information, but
they want to persecute me."
According to a DD-214 form dated Sept. 30, 1966, Hammons received an
honorable discharge from the Marines after three years of service.
Hammons earned a Purple Heart for injuries to his left knee and right
shoulder sustained in February 1966.
A second DD-214 form, dated July 21, 1970, shows that Hammons
re-enlisted in October 1966 and served four more years in the Marines.
That form shows that Hammons was discharged "under conditions other
than honorable."
Hammons said the "bad conduct discharge" occurred because of a
series of tragedies.
In January 1967, he reported for his second tour of Vietnam. During one
of 15 combat missions over the next 11 months, he accidentally shot and
killed a fellow soldier during an enemy attack.
"When I shot him, I knew it was him. He was my best friend,"
said Hammons, fighting back tears. "There was a very, very heavy
fire-fight going on, and I went crazy. I told the people that was in
hole with me, '˜Get your (expletive) out. We're going to get him.' We
actually charged incoming fire to retrieve his body before he got
butchered up."
A letter from a retired sergeant major, included in a Department of Navy
report in July 1990, states that "the incident was investigated and
an official ruling of accidental shooting was declared."
According to a separate May 1990 report, Hammons was promoted to
sergeant in August 1967. In November 1967, he was transferred out of
Vietnam to the Navy Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Seven months later, tragedy struck again.
"In (May) 1968, my brother was killed in Vietnam, and I went to
Treasure Island (a Naval Air facility near San Francisco) to get his
body and brought him home," he recalls. "I started having
flashbacks about Vietnam and all this stuff that I went through. That
all built up into that I couldn't take no more. I went to my colonel and
I told him, 'I can't take no more. I'm leaving your Marine Corps.' And I
did. I went AWOL."
Hammons said he left Texas for 10 days and went to San Diego to watch a
friend's Marine Corps graduation. He turned himself in and spent 30 days
in the brig.
"After I got out of the brig, I refused to do anything with the
Marine Corps because of my state of mind," he said. Thus, the
court-martial and "bad conduct" discharge.
However, Hammons said he appealed to the Department of the Navy to
review his service record in 1989 after the Veterans Administration
diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"You've got to remember, in 1968, nobody knew that there were a lot
of Vietnam vets coming back with head problems. It wasn't until 1988
that they identified this problem I had, which is PTSD," Hammons
said.
The two Navy reports are among the records Hammons plans to show to the
Marine Corps League hearing board. The July 1990 report states that "the
Deputy Secretary of the Navy has reviewed the proceedings ... and
approved the recommendation that your bad conduct discharge be upgraded
to a general discharge."
"Given all the circumstances of the case, the Board believes that
the positive aspects of the Petitioner's service outweigh the negative
aspects to the extent that no useful purpose is served by continuing to
stigmatize Petitioner's service with a bad conduct discharge," the
letter from the Board for Correction of Naval Records states.
Fighting back
As for the third charge alleged by the Marine Corps League, Hammons said
he did ask the Chapel of the Four Chaplains to write a letter of
recommendation for his re-election, and he did provide some suggested
verbiage. However, he says that practice is no different from people in
other professions who ask for recommendations.
Jim Morris, current Commandant of the Aiken Marine Corps League
Detachment, said his organization is grudgingly abiding by the National
Judge Advocate's suspension.
"I'm not sure that suspending Ed was the correct thing to do until
the hearing," Morris said. "That's his (Voltaggio's) call. He
made the call, and he'll have to live with it."
Until his hearing, Hammons said he will continue to defend both his
service record and the local Marine Corps League detachment.
"If they want to smear me, that's OK, but not smear this Marine
Corps League," he said. "We have done so much for this
community, it's unreal. They are putting me through the ringer here, but
they are not going to ruin this local Marine Corps League Detachment
that does so much. Even if I have to step back as a Marine Corps
Leaguer, this detachment will survive."
====================================
To all members of the Marine Corps League, Department
of South Carolina:
Due to the questions that have arisen concerning Ed Hammons and charges
against him that were to be heard by a National Hearing Board, the
membership has a right to know what ultimately occurred.
Ed Hammons was formally informed of the charges and an impending hearing
to be held on July 15, 2006 in Myrtle Beach. He responded to these
charges by submitting his resignation from the Marine Corps League, and
did not desire the formal hearing to discuss the charges, evidence, or
provide witnesses or testimony on his own behalf.
His resignation in the face of "charges and a pending hearing"
is viewed as "Resignation to avoid prosecution" and is entered
on the record as a guilty plea which will be annotated on the record.
Because of that response a hearing was no longer necessary. National
Headquarters accepted a guilty plea on behalf of Ed Hammons and he was
notified that his membership and all rights associated with his
membership are revoked for life. Because of the way Ed Hammons chose to
handle the situation, there is no appeal process and the matter is
closed forever.
I hope this closes this issue concerning the final disposition of
Ed Hammons membership and rights in the Marine Corps League. As of
the acceptance of his resignation on June 30, 2006, he is forbidden from
representing the Marine Corps League or portraying himself as a member
of the Marine Corps League in any venue.
Semper Fidelis
Robin M. Schoelerman
SC Dept Judge Advocate