From the desk of C. (Steve) Jaeger
Des Moines, IA 50316
8 Jan 02
To:
Subject:
Your request for information re: David H. Hackworth
Dear ------------,
I must apologize for the length of time it has taken to put this report
together. It s been some time since I have looked through this
information, and as a result, it has taken me longer to put it together
in a form that I hope will be understandable to you than I expected.
I have indexed the enclosed documents with an explanation as to just
what they mean and or what consensus has determined what it all amounts
to.
(1) Article appearing in
People Magazine 5 Jun 89 announcing the return of Hackworth to the
States after approximately 20 years in Australia and information
regarding his book About Face.
(2) Articles of comment on
About Face and Hackworth in general by LTG Bill Dyke, Capt. Daniel
Bolger, and Col. Harry Summers. I think the Dyke article in Army
Times is excellent, as it answers statements made by Hackworth on pages
474-475 in About Face, and also deals directly with the character and
purpose of it s author.
(3) E-mail from DH where he
tells a friend that his Ranger Tab was awarded for service with the 27th
Raiders and also all members of his 8th Army Ranger Co under
the same AR. Of course both explanations are bogus.
(4) E-mail from DH to Gil Berg
wherein he states that Tab awarded to all members of the 27th
Raiders. Bogus.
(5) Time period is spring of
97. By this time, Terry Roderick had become involved and started
asking DH directly just how he received the Ranger Tab. Read these
E-mails with care. Notice that he talks about a Ranger patch worn
by the Raiders etc., and also his surprise or confusion that the 8th
Army Ranger Company didn t get the Tab until the fall of 1985.
(6) E-mail from Terry to DH.
Notice he starts to spell out items and facts claimed by DH are just not
true. Also, that a man with his record should be in the Ranger
Hall of Fame.
(7) E-mails between Terry and
DH. Note that he states that he has sent his Form 66 to Terry and
asks that Terry destroy same upon receipt.
*Terry was true to his word on this point and did not show that document
to anyone until he became convinced later when he saw that the form 66
sent to him by DH had been altered and DH would not respond or answer
him as to the reason for this. Terry then determined that DH was
not being honest with him and therefore his promise was voided by the
actions of DH.
(8) E-mail DH to Terry.
Note that Terry again mentions that DH does not or will not address the
missing information. Also note the name Pitts. This is
Charles Pitts who was the 1st Sgt of the 8th Army
Ranger Company from beginning to end. Pitts was firm in his recall
that DH was NEVER a member of his company. Have many statements
from him should you require.
(9) Four page E-mail Terry to
DH. Terry lets him have it in a nice way. By this time the
interviews with Dave Martin of CBS has aired, and showed Terry and
Charlie Pitts. You will also note the name of Bill Thayer.
Thayer was and is an expert on military awards and a CWO4 Ret. By
this time Thayer had been contacted and he agreed to help with our
investigation as he was tired of his good name being used by DH as the
reason these bogus awards were given to him.
(10) Copy of letter from Terry to Mel
Karmazin President of CBS News. Explains itself and gives high
marks to David Martin.
(11) E-mail DH to Terry. Just a lot
of damage control and at the end threats of libel law suits etc.
(12) E-mail Terry to Gil Berg.
Giving a summation of his investigation and permission to post it to the
Ranger/Airborne listserver.
(13) Just more back and forth between
Terry and DH. Note, you can start to see the defense of it s all
the Army s fault.
(14) Very important E-mail from Terry to
DH. This, I believe, is the first time DH was advised that we were
in contact with John Arvidson who states that he took over the Raider
Platoon when DH was injured, and that later he had met him in 1957 when
as a Capt. with the 77th Arty Bn at Ft. MacArthur, CA he was
wearing a Ranger Scroll from WW II. This is dynamite, since DH had
contended that he never wore the Ranger Tab etc. until it was awarded to
him sometime between tours of VN when he was at the Pentagon.
Letters from Arvidson are a part of this report see nbr. 24.
(15) E-mails between Terry and DH.
Note, here my name is brought up and it appears that DH is trying to
tell Terry that he is being used by evil forces.
(16) Copies of articles that appeared in
the Tacoma News Tribune at their request. Note that my article
explains just how and why we became interested. The article by
Dave Seago Editor explains why that paper decided to drop the DH column.
Don t have to say that DH was not pleased with any of this.
(17) We now get to the documents
themselves. This is the Form 66 sent by DH to Terry. He did
begin to question DH as to why the date of his Ranger Tab award was
blank. Note the letter written by Terry to me dated 29 May 97
wherein he explains his feelings and also the fact that he wrote in 5th
RGR Co (ABN) that was blanked out. Also note the highlighted in
green on the first page the missing date of Ranger Tab and the date of
his Parachutist award ie; 31 Jul 50. If you will go to the
page marked 2 you will see highlighted the hand written entry by Terry
that he mentions in his note to me. It is also important to note
that I refer to the so called official copy as such as it is also bogus
but that is what was in the Army s files.
(18) Copy of DD 214 that was in
official file. Note page two shows award of Ranger Tab.
(19) Copy (much darker) of Form 66 that
was sent to me. Also note back on page 5 the highlighted entry of
his Enlisted Service that states MSG (Inf) 1761 5th Ranger Co
(Abn). Of course we now know that he was never a Master Sgt
and he was never a member of the 5th Rangers in Korea.
The other highlighted dates down this page are also important as will be
referred to latter in this report, but 6 Jul 59 is when he actually went
to Benning for Airborne School, and 22 Oct 62 is when he went back to
Benning for (AIOCO #2) or the Advance Course.
(20) Copy (4 pages) of Form 20 (Enlisted
Record) Note the highlighted data on page 4. These facts
will be outlined later in this report.
(21) Copy of the IG report of
investigation. This was the basis of the planned Court Martial
that was later dropped.
(22) Copy of letter hand written by DH and
a typed repeat of same for ease of reading and understanding. For
our purposes let us simply refer to this document as The Letter. As you
can see after reading this, here we have some very interesting
information that apply directly to the very character of DH.
(23) This section contains several items.
One -- Hack s Medal Flap with CBS as is currently of his webpage.
Note he asks the question Decide for yourself who is the liar.
This is truly an excellent question. Two HACK IS BACK
This is an article written by Ernest Blazar of the Washington Times.
Three Questions prepared by Bill Thayer that Blazar should ask the Army
to consider while they do their review of the DH files. Four
E-mail from Blazar wherein he outlines the discussion between himself
and the Army team assigned to do the DH review. Note that he uses
the questions prepared by Bill Thayer. Five Article by Blazar that
appeared in Washington Times entitled ABOUT FARCE. Blazar
told us later that the Army was just rolling there eyes so to speak ---
they just wanted the whole mess to go away.
(24) John Arvidson. This was a real
find as Arvidson was the officer that took over the Raider Platoon after
DH was wounded. Please read with care and note that he reports
with clear recall seeing DH in 1957 shortly after the Korean War with a
WW II Ranger Scroll on his uniform. This completely disclaims the
many statements by DH that he only started wearing the Ranger Tab after
it appeared on his records when he was stationed at the Pentagon after
his first tour in Viet Nam.
(25) DH and his supporters will and have
said on many occasions that it was the press and media that pinned the
title of Most Decorated Living American Soldier etc., etc. on him.
Please note with care this letter written on Newsweek stationery sent to
then VP Al Gore, and signed by DH. Note Not only does he refer to
himself as I, as America s most decorated living soldier etc., etc.,
he goes on to state that Obviously, I could drum up a media event out of
this -------.
(26) Letters from CID. 5000 pages in
his file. Bet that would be interesting reading.
(27) LTG Jack Cushman. This appeared
on the West Point Forum which is a semi private group of great
Americans, General Cushman being at the very top of the list in my
opinion. Read with care and note what this three star has to say.
(28) U.S.S. Marine Lynx. Read page
205 About Face and the adventures of DH as a young boy who lied about
his age to get into the Merchant Marine etc. However, if you do
the math regarding his age, and when he actually joined the Army 21 May
46, and then read the history of this ship --- you will see there is no
way he could have been on this ship as he claims. You will note
that this ship did not even leave Portland, OR until 3 Dec 45 and
returned to west coast 4 Jan 46. In Feb and Mar she sailed out of
San Francisco and was turned over to the Matson Navigation Company 17
Apr 46. On 23 Apr 46 she set sail for the South Pacific and did
not return until Jun 46. Guess what?
(29) Actual Birth Certificate. DOB
Nov 11, 1930.
Let s now take a look at some of the stories and events as told by DH in
his book About Face. Remember, this was written while he was
in Australia and no doubt was all part of his planned return to the good
old USA.
Just a quick look back at the Merchant Marine stories. San Pedro
is in the Los Angeles area and far from where the ship was built and
first sailed in her career. I was contacted by a former Merchant
Mariner named Richard Curry. Richard had been a detractor of DH
long before Terry and I became involved. It was he that dug up
most of the data on this part of the matter. Evidently that s the
same as a Army serial number etc., except it applies to the MM.
Curry claimed that DH didn t respond or give any indication he knew what
the Z number meant or in his case was.
Please take out your copy of About Face and go to page 47. At the
bottom, note he talks about leaving for the States on a plane in Sept
1950. And a month after that, so were the Chinese. Well, he
s correct that the Chinese entered the conflict on 25 November 1950 to
be exact. And, a month after Sept is October. However, check
his form 20 Item #20 and you will see he doesn t get to the 25th
Replacement Co and Korea until 19 Dec 50.
Now go to page 48. Note at the bottom, The night the Chinese came,
I was in a foxhole in the center of my scout section s defensive
position. Once again, the Chinese came on Nov 25th.
DH was still at Camp Stoneman, California see his form 20. If he
didn t get to the 25th Recon Co. until 20 Dec 50 it s
difficult to understand all the stories of killing and heroics spelled
out in Chapter 3 Hit And Run. Somewhere in my records is an
e-mail wherein he tells of going AWOL from the 25th Recon on
8 Jan 51. This would have to be then the period he claims he
joined up with Paul Vann and the 8th Army Rangers. He
joins the 27th Inf (Wolfhounds) on 19 Jan 51. If all
this is true, it has to mean that he spent a total of about 2-1/2 weeks
with the 25th including Christmas, and then just about 2
weeks on AWOL or with the 8th Rangers as he claims.
Some have said impossible.
Please go to page 333. This is the period he was at Ft Sill and in
the process of being kicked out for lying about his age when he first
joined the Army. Note at bottom of page where he writes With that,
Patty and I packed our gear and left Fort Sill. And after a quick
stop at Fort Mac to watch Tom Martin (the lady-killer) in action, it was
off to Germany etc., etc. Now, look at the Form 66 (#19) and
go to page 5 and note the date 24 Mar 59 when he was TDY to Sill.
Next entry is 6 Jul 59. Note with care StuO (TDYUSAISFtBngGA)
This is when the Army says he went to Airborne School. After this
completed course he is off to Germany. Thus the question WHY
DOES HE NOT MENTION THIS IMPORTANT PART OF HIS CAREER? The
only answer seems to be because he knew his records had him going to
Jump School back in July of 50, and which by the way he had signed as
being correct. One may ask, but why Jump School back in Jul of 50.
Answer, because that would mesh with his entry of Ranger Tab in Oct 50,
which lets him be a member of the 5th Ranger Co (ABN) in
Korea.
There s more. Go to page 429. He has completed his tour in
Germany and is now assigned to the 101st. See his Form
66 (item #19) and go to date of 22 Oct 62 on page 5. Now, note
bottom of page 429 Benning had changed significantly since I d last been
there TEN YEARS BEFORE. Ten years before would make
in 1952 when on 19 May 52 he went to the Basic Officers Course at
Benning after getting his Commission in Korea. But one would have
to say how can this be for he went to Jump School in 59????
So, there you have it. Or at least probably a small part of it.
Others have wondered and asked just how much more of this is yet to be
discovered? As you can see, our only question was how did he get
his Ranger Tab?
Dale, if you have any questions on any of this, please feel free to
contact either Terry or myself. Also, I m sending a tape of the
interviews done by CBS and Tom Snyder. If you could make me a copy
and return the original to me after you have made copies for yourself, I
would be more than happy to reimburse you for your trouble.
Rangers Lead The Way
Steve Jaeger
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