![]() (President George Bush was the honorary chairman.) Burkett’s mission began in 1986 when he agreed to serve as co-chairman of the effort to build the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Fair Park. Burkett, a graduate of Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee, served as an ordnance officer with the 199th Light Infantry in 1968-1969. In most cases, the purported vet is an exag-gerator or an outright fake.įor the last decade, Burkett, now 54, has undertaken a one-man crusade to advance the truth about the men who fought in Vietnam and to expose the frauds who have played on the image of Vietnam vets as homeless, unemployable, suicidal, or addicted. Whenever a media story portrays a troubled Vietnam vet who relies on the war to explain or excuse himself, Burkett investigates. Like the nationally infamous Larry Lawrence, the big Democratic donor who invented a story of heroic action in the merchant marine and was briefly interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Daniel Wells had concocted his Vietnam war stories from true-life accounts in books and magazine articles. He had a mediocre military career as a Navy cargo handler he had never served in combat, nor had he ever received any valorous decorations. ![]() That afternoon, Burkett drove to McKinney, was swom in as an expert witness, and testified that Daniel Wells was a fake. Within an hour, Burkett had obtained Wells’ military record. Burkett, a silver-haired Dallas financial adviser who has obtained a national reputation as a military researcher and historian of the Vietnam War. In desperation the prosecutor’s office tracked down B.G. Il was the war hero’s word against the child’s. On cross-examination, testimony revealed that even the mother initially hadn’t believed the little girl. Wells was a decorated Vietnam war hero, with two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Medals for valor. Charged with aggravated sexual assault for fondling his girlfriend’s 8-year-old daughter, Wells explained it was all a misunderstanding. THE MORNING OF FRIDAY, April 18,1997, Daniel Wells of McKinney took the stand in his own defense.
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