>From Operation Clambake Forum

J=2E Swift
Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 257
Posted: 14 Aug 2005 06:03=A0=A0 =A0

L=2E Fletcher Prouty, a retired Air Force Colonel wrote a letter to the publisher of Bare Faced Messiah in which he defended Hubbard's war record and his Purple Heart with Palm, meaning LRH had earned two Purple Hearts for being wounded in combat. This is strange as LRH never saw any combat. The letter is here:

http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~cj871/prouty.html

Karen Spaink provides a thoroygh refutation of Protyy's claims:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/warhero/connection.htm

Prouty's claims that because LRH served in very high level intelligence, his "real" war records were concealed by the US Gov't:

Quote: Many of Hubbard's critics make light of his "war related injuries". The official "Notice of Separation from the U.S. Naval Service" dated and signed 6 Dec 45 includes a Section 34 that lists "Purple Heart (Palm)".

The Purple Heart medal is awarded only to those wounded in action. The Palm is awarded in lieu of a second Purple Heart and signifies that the recipient had been wounded in ation on at least two occasions. Miller treats the subject of Hubbard's "wounds" as though they were non-existent; yet, on page 218, he quotes a "Ray Kemp... a Royal Navy radar technician" saying:

"I knew he had been wounded because one night he kept complaining of a pain in his side and when he stood up a little bit of shrapnell [sic] fell out from under his shirt."

As with the subject of "Intelligence" and with the "wounds", this author simply dropped the subject when it did not fit his contrived scenario. The official U.S. Navy record establishes that Hubbard had sustained wounds in action before Dec 1945.

Miller closes out Hubbard's military career with the statement: 'Unfortunately, his US Navy record indicates he was awarded just four medals-'

As mentioned above, he had two medals, ie. the Purple Heart with Palm. This same Section 34 of the Notice of Separation lists "Asiatic-Pac. Theatre (3 stars)." The Asiatic- Pacific Theatre was a most active region and during Hubbard's service therein, early 1942, bitter combat was frequent. The award of that medal was for participation in that theatre during time of war and the Three Stars were awarded for participation in three combat campaigns in that theatre. Lacking data to the contrary it is not too difficult to conclude that his wounds wre received there and that this was the basis for the award of these two Purple Heart medals during action in those three combat campaigns. Since Hubbard's service at that time was with an intelligence activity, available records do not provide details of the action or of injuries sustained in the Asiatic-Pacific theatre.

If all of this were true, it would be easy for LRH demand that the US Navy award him his 29 medals, incuding his two Purple Hearts and other medals. In fact, this happened:

Quote: As recently as 1994, it has claimed that Hubbard received 29 awards ("The Church of Scientology: 40th Anniversary", 1994). Hubbard himself claimed 27 medals. In an unsuccessful attempt to obtain from the US Navy the medals to which he believed he was entitled but had not received, he ordered his staff to write to the Navy to request his medals. His claims were detailed in Flag Operations Liaison Memo of May 28, 1974 (the list is considerably different to that circulated by Scientology today):

Navy Commendation Medal with 1 Bronze Star.
Purple Heart.
Naval Reserve Medal.
Organized Marine Corps Reserve Medal.
(British)
The 1939-45 War Medal.
(French)
Medaille Commemorative Fran=EF=BF=BDaise 1939-45. (Netherlands) Bronzen
Kruis.
Philippine Defence with 3 Silver Stars.
American Defence Service Medal with 1 Bronze Star.
American Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Stars.
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Stars.
European
African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (ETO Medal) with 1 Bronze Star.
WWII Victory Medal.
National Defence Medal.
Armed Forces Reserve Medal.
Navy Expert Rifleman.
Navy Expert Pistol Shot.

In reply, the Navy observed that Hubbard's service record showed that he had only been awarded four decorations - the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and World War 2 Victory Medal - and sent only those four medals back to the Church of Scientology.

The purported notice of separation distributed by Scientology does not appear in Hubbard's US Navy file. Instead, a quite different document is present. The only known source for the first document is the Church of Scientology. Irrespective of the document's or the Church's merits, this in itself is enough to cast suspicion on its authenticity. The US Navy document at least has an auditable trail - we know where it has been (in the possession of the US Navy), we know who produced it (the Bureau of Naval Personnel) and we know how and when it was obtained (on various occasions through the Freedom of Information Act).

The Church of Scientology has released none of these details about its version of the document. Any historian would rightly be suspicious of a document with untraceable origins.

Analysing the document in details reveal numerous points which cast doubt on its authenticity. The most obvious is its tally of medals awarded to Hubbard, which differs greatly from that held in Hubbard's official file. A close examination shows that Hubbard could not possibly have been awarded some of the medals listed. ref:http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/warhero/medals.htm

The link above details what medals LRH claimed and what the truth of the matter is for each claimed medal/

The fact is that LRH earned four WWII medals, all of which were common and given to everyone who participated in a given theater of war whether they were in combat or not. This is not to deny or mitigate LRH's service nor that of anyone else who served and are due honor as American veterans of WWII. It is rather to place LRH's honors in proper context and perspective.

While LRH was a veteran of WWII, he was not a war hero and he never saw combat. Yet he claimed to have been machine-gunned by the Japanese, to have broken his ankle in combat, and to be blind and crippled at the end of WWII, presumably from combat-related injuries for that is the impression that is made by LRH and Scientology. Lermanet provides a good summary of LRH's "stolen valor" and bogus WWII claims:

Quote:Thomas Moulton, second in command on PC 815, said Hubbard once told of being machine-gunned across the back near the Dutch East Indies. On another occasion, Moulton testified during the 1984 Scientology lawsuit, Hubbard said his eyes had been damaged by the flash of a large-caliber gun. Hubbard himself, in a tape-recorded lecture, said his eyes were injured when he had "a bomb go off in my face." These injury claims are significant because Hubbard said he cured himself through techniques that would later form the tenets of Scientology and Dianetics.

Military records, however, reveal that he was never wounded or injured in combat, and was never awarded a Purple Heart. In seeking disability money, Hubbard told military doctors that he had been "lamed" not by a bullet but by a chronic hip infection that set in after his transfer from the warm tropics of the Pacific to the icy winters of the East Coast, where he attended a Navy-sponsored school of military government.

Moreover, his eye problems did not result from an exploding bomb or the blinding flash of a gun. Rather, Hubbard said in military records, he contracted conjunctivitis from exposure to "excessive tropical sunlight."

The truth is that Hubbard spent the last seven months of his active duty in a military hospital in Oakland, for treatment of a duodenal ulcer he developed while in the service.

Hubbard did, however, receive a monthly, 40% disability check from the government through at least 1980.

Government records also contradict Hubbard's claim that he had fully regained his health by 1947 with the power of his mind and the techniques of his future religion.

Late that year, he wrote the government about having "long periods of moroseness" and "suicidal inclinations." That was followed by a letter in 1948 to the chief of naval operations in which he described himself as "an invalid." And, during a 1951 examination by the Veterans Administration, he was still complaining of eye problems and a "boring-like pain" in his stomach, which he said had given him "continuous trouble" for eight years, especially when "under nervous stress." Significantly, that examination occurred after the publication of "Dianetics," which promised a cure for the very ailments that plagued the author himself then and throughout his life, including allergies, arthritis, ulcers and heart problems.

ref: http://www.lermanet2.com/scientologynews/latimes/lat-1b.htm

It is to the credit of the giants of the anti-Scientology movement that theu spent long years researching Hubbard's war record so that the truth is now widely available to the public as the US Congress readies itself to enact the Stolen Valor law.

If anything, the Stolen Valor Act will continue to the global trend in which Hubbard is seen as a small and disgraceful man who wanted glory for himself by seeking to stand in the company of the true heroes. LRH was in fact a veteran of WWII, a US Naval officer, and he commanded two small ships. If LRH had simply stated the facts he would be honored in the same way that America honors all of its veterans. But no. True to his compulsive need to lie and glorify himself, LRH made grossly overinflated claims in order to paint himself as a wounded war hero. Why? LRH could have stated the facts and enjoyed the respect and dignity due all veterans. By lying, he made himself unworthy to share in the dignity due all veterans of WWII.

The Stolen Valor Act is yet another expose of the lies of Scientology. It will be yet another crack in the Scientology dam. The Church of Scientology increasingly struggles to hold back the flood of lies and treachery that will burst forth when Truth itself at last breaks the dam.

When the Scientology dam breaks, all the secrets will pour out and humanity will look amongst the ruins and see the staggering magnitude of the decades of lies, crimes, and ruined lives that have been hidden by Scientology

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