HARKIN IS A 'PHONY SOLDIER!'

Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History
By B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley
"During a 1992 bid for the presidency, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) claimed that he had served as a pilot in Vietnam. His claim had surfaced eight years before, during a 1984 bid for reelection to the Senate, when Harkin boasted that he had served one year in Vietnam flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions.

Challenged by Sen. Barry Goldwater, Harkin did a quick shuffle, claiming that he had actually flown combat sorties over Cuba during the sixties. Harkin finally admitted he had not seen combat but had served as a ferry pilot stationed in at Atsugi, Japan, flying aircraft to be repaired from Atsugi to the Philippines.

When pressed by reporters to explain how much he really spent in Vietnam, Harkin estimated that over a year, he flew in and out of Vietnam a dozen or so times. But Harkin's military record showed no Vietnam service decorations. He finally conceded he had not flown combat air patrols in Vietnam and began describing himself as a Vietnam era vet."