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A “Combat” Clerk Typist
Roger Flygare’s campaign website (before it was changed) claims he is a combat veteran, with multiple tours of duty in Vietnam, who was awarded the Purple Heart. He is presently running for the Washington State Legislature from Federal Way. There is even a You-Tube video of him promising to be honest while wearing a small Purple Heart medal.
At the Vietnamese Veteran Day of Sorrow Memorial Banquet in Seattle this past August, he accepted recognition from the Vietnamese veterans for being a three tour combat veteran with a Purple Heart medal with an affiliation to the Association of Washington Generals, interpreted as a veterans’ organization; i.e. he was a general.
When asked for an explanation of his lack of due diligence in not correcting his introduction and speech; Mr. Flygare’s response was that he cannot be responsible for what the Vietnamese misinterpreted. An internet search for the Association of Washington Generals clarifies it is not a veteran’s organization, but a social service group with 501 (3)c tax exempt status and a good reputation.
Copies of military documents obtained, clearly record that Flygare was a senior clerk typist assigned to the .52nd Aviation Bn., Vietnam, March 1970 to March 1971. He did serve some time in Germany and Fort Lewis, with a total military duty of less than 3 years and not more than 12 months in Vietnam. His explanation was that there was some misunderstanding with the people building his campaign website and he acknowledged failing to properly proof read it before it was posted. This does not explain what is on his You-Tube videos.
My first attempt to meet with Flygare for an interview resulted in an immediate, friendly email from him, “Yes, but we are really busy.” The second request to set up a time that would not be during normal business hours was ignored. In the third attempt to get an interview with Roger, questions were emailed to both him and his staff without a response from them. At least one telephone message was left on a machine.
This should have been an easy and efficient opportunity to get his story out to the public for his benefit. He explained this failure by saying that he and his two staffers never received the emails or phone call. By the time of this reply, Roger and his staff’s e-mail addresses had been taken down from the web site.
Once contact was established, Flygare repeated he had no documentation to confirm his receipt of the Purple Heart, yet he wears one in public and on You-Tube. There are other discrepancies found by a former US Army clerk reviewing Flygare’s records.
When he was asked how he was wounded he answered, “They think it was a mortar or something… I can show you the scar on my elbow.” Flygare almost certainly would have managed his own records as a senior personnel clerk for his unit, yet he stated several times. “I never touched my records in the service.” He should have remembered that soldiers carried their personnel and medical records between duty stations.
The copies of his records that I have seen show that the same typewriter (very unusual) entered the Purple Heart Award in accordance with General Orders #62 and several other lines of minutia from Germany and Vietnam. No records from his unit for General Orders #62 could be found or obtained.
Update from the local paper: http://www.federalwaymirror.com/news/171258681.html
Thom Stoddert, former VA Rating Specialist
Bio Here
