'Murtha is not a war hero'
Account of Bill Fry, Major, US Marines (Retired)
In 1954 I had an Agriculture teacher in Johnstown, PA, who was a
well-known local resident. He was a WWII veteran who took advantage of
the GI Bill and went to college. In the early 1950’s he was about to
get recalled for Korea, so he went into the Marine Corps as a
lieutenant. I know very little about this man’s military career,
except that he retired as a reserve lieutenant colonel many years
later. His name was Bob Wagner
While Bob was teaching me Agriculture, he had the occasion to beat the
hell out of me because of a major infraction to the rules of the
school. He once broke a ¾ inch thick, 3-inch-wide paddle over my
posterior, and I could not sit down for 7 days. I had made up my mind
that I was not going to scream or beg for lenience, and therefore the
beating continued till the paddle was in splinters.
Bob at that time was the Commanding Officer of the 34th
Special Infantry Company in Johnstown, PA. One day he asked me what I
was planning on doing with my life, and I told him I was going to be a
Marine. This pleased him very much as he said, “You will make a good
one,” or words to that effect. Bob picked me up and took me to a drill
when I was 16, and that just set my heart afire.
The unit was leaving for summer camp on the 19th of June,
1955, which just happened to be my 17th birthday. Bob went
to all the trouble to get my enlistment papers post-dated with the
proper parent’s signatures and issue me a basic sea bag prior to my 17th
birthday. On the 19th he swore me in, and we loaded the plane for
summer camp. You could not have been any greener than I was, and, as I
look back on it, he kept a pretty personal eye on me for the two weeks
of camp, which went very well.
All this is given as background for my relationship with John Murtha.
John Murtha spent a few years in the Marine Corps as an enlisted man
and then went to college, got a Reserve commission, and joined the 34th
Special Infantry Company in Johnstown. He later became the Commander
Officer. I spent my first tour in Viet Nam in 1965 and 1966 and
therefore missed Murtha, the war hero. However, I had a tour at
Headquarters, Fleet Marine Forces Pacific, in Hawaii in 1968 and 1969,
and the stories were still bouncing around about this reserve major
from Johnstown who went to Viet Nam and sent his daily information to
the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat telling his fantastic was stories.
They were labeled “Murtha Sends”. While in FMF Pac I was the Head
Systems Officer in the Computer Automated Center. I had the
opportunity to design and implement a system to control and track all
awards coming through FMF Pac. Having heard of this war hero from
Johnstown, I took it upon myself to look in the data base and, lo and
behold! There were no personal awards for Murtha. I never thought any
more about it until I saw that he is now being touted as a war hero
with 2 Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Combat “V.” This, of
course, made me curious.
However, let’s get back to the main theme of the story:
Upon my retirement from the Marine Corps, I took employment with the
City of Albany, Georgia. In my capacity as Director of Management
Information Systems, I, after some years, became the International
President of the Users Group “Government Management Information
Systems (GMIS).” One of my opportunities during my year as President
was to travel to Greensburg, PA, to enact a state chapter in PA.
During discussions with the Director of Westmoreland County
Information System, I just happened to mention that I was raised up
the road about 30 miles and mentioned my high school. He said, “Hey, I
have a good friend who taught there—Bob Wagner.”
I was elated and asked if I could get in touch with Bob. He called him
on the spot, and we had a short phone reunion during which he asked me
to come to his house for a visit after a planned dinner with the Users
Group. This I did, and we had a great evening. I was astonished to see
that Bob had maintained a scrapbook on my military career; he brought
it out and showed it to me. What a great tribute to receive from your
mentor.
In the course of the evening we talked about the 34th
Infantry Co., and Bob said, “Hey did you run into a Major in Viet Nam
by the name of Murtha? He took a year off from washing cars to go to
Viet Nam and politic his way into Congress. Then Bob told me what a
disgrace he had been in the eyes of the officers with whom he served.
I never gave his comments about Murtha much thought, but I did on
occasion write to Murtha and to get his support for veteran’s issues,
which he regularly did not do. I thought this rather odd, in that he
was a retired reserve officer and boasted about supporting the troops.
On the occasion of his attacks on the troops and the nation’s Iraq
policy, I again took interest, as he was described as an injured war
hero. John Murtha is not a war hero. I am certain if and when the
truth comes out one will find that his awards were given long after he
left Viet Nam. Murtha is, in my opinion, a phony and has used his
veteran’s status to climb to the top of several committees where he
can and does influence pork for Johnstown.
I would love to have it revealed as to the amount of federal monies he
has sucked up for his constituency. I love the people of the 12th
District. They are hard-working middle-class folks who do not
understand how corrupt this guy is and how terrible it is for us
retired Marines to have him described as a war hero.
Although I live in Ohio, I will do anything I can to see that he is
defeated in the November election. He does not deserve to represent
the good people of southwestern Pennsylvania.
-Bill Fry, Major, USMC (Ret.)
Mr. Fry entered the Marine Corps as a private on his 17th
Birthday in 1955 and spent the next 21 years in a most interesting and
productive career. He advanced through the enlisted ranks to staff
sergeant and then was appointed a Warrant Officer and was later
commissioned a second lieutenant. He advanced to the rank of major
before retiring in 1976.
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