In 1953, Rather graduated with a degree in journalism from Sam Houston State Teachers College. He had already been working for Associated Press and then United Press International and a few radio stations as a “stringer” reporting stories that happened in Huntsville north of Houston. But being in college gave Rather a semester-by-semester student deferment from being drafted into the Korean War.
After Rather graduated, “the way he got around being eligible for the draft was he joined a reserve unit – Army reserve,” wrote B.G. Burkett, co-author of the book Stolen Valor. Rather dropped out of the reserves as soon as the Korean War ended in armistice. Whether Rather used journalist or related politician connections to get into the Army reserves, as he would later accuse President George W. Bush of doing in the Texas Air National Guard, is unknown.
Former CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg in his 2002 best-seller Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News described a confrontation with the anchorman: “Rather’s voice started quivering, and he told me how in his young days, he had signed up with the Marines – not once, but twice!”
This was inaccurate. Rather signed up once with the Army reserves and once with the U.S. Marines. Rather, wrote Burkett after studying his military record, “was discharged less than four months later on May 11, 1954 for being medically unfit… He couldn’t do the physical activity.” As a boy, Rather “had suffered from rheumatic fever,” reported veteran UPI journalist Wes Vernon.
Ever since Dan Rather has described himself as a former U.S. Marine, after spending roughly the same amount of time in Marine Corps training before being rejected that now-Senator John F. Kerry spent in Vietnam. “This,” wrote Burkett, “is like a guy who flunks out of Harvard running around saying he went to Harvard.”
The key point here is that Rather voluntarily signed up with the Marines. When he was discharged, it was for medical reasons, not because he changed his mind or otherwise desired to leave. As such, I say he deserves the title of former U.S. Marine. I have a friend who enlisted in the Marines. It was what he wanted more than anything else. Unfortunately, during basic training, a medical condition with his feet was uncovered and he was medically discharged. He was honorarily granted rank (can't remember what rank, it may have been as high as Corporal) and honorably discharged. He, too, is a former U.S. Marine.
Whatever you believe about Rather's behavior and ethics as a reporter, the fact remains that he enlisted in the Marines and left involuntarily. I respect him for that, if for nothing else.
No comments:
Post a Comment