Veterans who saw their lives flash before their eyes in the jungles of Vietnam and the bloodstained beaches at Iwo Jima are baffled at how Hillary Rodham Clinton could concoct a story of landing in Bosnia under sniper fire.
In Philadelphia’s proud, shopworn American Legion halls, the vets said Clinton’s comments were out of bounds.
Jonathan Purnell, 64, who saw action as a Marine in Vietnam, doesn’t buy Clinton’s claim that she “misspoke” when she said several times she had come under sniper fire on a goodwill trip in 1996.
“You’re talking about death. That’s nothing to play with. She lost a lot of credibility,” he said at the American Legion Lincoln Post No. 89, Philadelphia’s oldest post, with an almost entirely African-American membership.
Purnell said he’ll back Barack Obama in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, but might vote for ex-Navy pilot John McCain in November.
Perry Williams, 63, who served in the Air Force in Vietnam, said all Clinton was doing was “showing she can lie.”
“When she was talking about dodging bullets, they showed a picture with a little girl. She should be dodging bullets. Why wasn’t the little girl dodging bullets?” he asked.
George Larkins, a Marine, gave Clinton the benefit of the doubt.
“Everybody has a lapse of memory once in a while,” he said.
Al Willis, 86, a black Marine who served in the country’s segregated force at Iwo Jima in World War II, said being under fire is unforgettable.
“Anybody that’s been in any kind of action – it’s something that’s instilled in you. You never forget. I don’t care if you’re 100 years old,” he said inside American Legion Roach Post 21.
William Myers, a Marine who was stationed at Okinawa, recalled a recent street shootout just outside the American Legion post where vets enjoy cocktails and shuffleboard.
“That’s something you remember,” he said. “You hear the gunfire, you react.”
Meanwhile, assessments were harsh at the VFW hall on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens.
“She’s a liar,” said Thomas Glenn, 69, who served in Germany.