Does this homeless vet tale pass the smell test?

[PhillipM]

On a local board a vet has befriended a guy claiming to be a homeless Vietnam vet. What are your opinions? I've never heard of a 'troy boat' or a General Pickett in Vietnam.

I had to go to Best Buy tonight and on the way I was going down County Line and on the corner was this guy standing there with ragged out clothes and no shoes looking pretty rough. The thing that caught my eye was his bucket that had Veteran written on it and the small American flag he had. I'm thinking "Another poser". I am about sick to death of all the phonies out there so I decided to question him. I pulled into the gas station on the corner and honked my horn and waved for him to come over. He comes over and first question I ask is "Are you a vet?". He says yes then I ask what units he served in. I ALWAYS catch them on this one. He says "173rd LCU, Vietnam".

I ask "LCU, Navy?". He says yep, Im no landlubber and proceeds to go into his history. This guy was no phony. He names the two rivers he was on in VN (Which I dont recognize because 1. I wasnt in VN and 2. These were obscure names, even for History books). He then goes on to tell me that he was in the LCU unit but wasnt on Patrol Boats, says he was on a Troy Boat which were used to move supplies and rations up and down river for the Army. He said the Troy boats were closer to a ship than a boat. Said that it was scary but the patrol boats did a good job of keeping the enemy off them while they were unloading and as soon as they were done they hauled ass. Then he told me he spent 3 years in VN. He did his first 18 months and was sending all his money home to his momma and that she was struggling so he re-upped and did another 18 months in VN. They only came under fire twice while he was there because of the Patrol Boats and the first time was the one and only time he was wounded in the leg. He told me they had a 50 Cal mounted on the front of the Troy boats but they never worked, all they had to defend themselves was rifles.

Then he started telling me something he clearly was really proud of. While in VN he served under MG George Pickett. Confederate General Picketts Grandson. He said that he made a great impression on the General and after he got out he (the General) contacted him and asked if he wanted to work for him (This is after the General retired). So, he called him to his house at 135 Flowers Drive, Montgomery Alabama (Yes, he told me the address) and he went and worked for the General keeping the Pickett family cemetery clean and other jobs. Said that General Pickett received a field promotion during WWII and was promoted from 1LT to full bird Colonel and became the youngest Colonel in the history of the U.S. Army. Told me Pickett graduated 3rd in his class at West Point and a bunch of other details. He definitly was proud to have served under him. When he was finished he said "If you dont believe me, LOOK IT UP!".

Then he went on to tell me that he was trying to get home to Biloxi but when he was trying to hitch a ride, the cops kept stopping him. So he was trying to get money to get home because thats the only place he had family. Said for the last couple of nights he stayed at Gateway Mission and they charge 10 dollars a night and dont supply any food plus you have to be out by 5 AM. This morning, according to him, they put him out at 5 and he walked down the street and got to the next corner. Three big black men walked up to him. He said "And these were not boys, these were grown men". He had a decent pair of boots, his napsack and 3 dollars in his pocket. They told him, Im not going to say how he said it, but they told him everything he had was theirs. They took his napsack, emptied his pockets and took his boots. Then they told him to strip. He refused and told them "I am not going to do it, your just going to have to beat me up". So they did. Busted his eye and knocked the hell out of him. He walked to the next corner and there was a cop parked there. He went to the cop and asked "Did you see what just happened there?". He told me, and I am inclined to believe it, that the cop said "Yea, so what do you want me to do about it?". So thats were he ended up, said he wasnt going back down there and he would be sleeping behind the bushes up against the wall right there off County Line.

Then the story takes a turn, he was telling me how nice Biloxi was etc when I said "I only know one person there, a guy by the last name Duke. I served in the Army with him and he says "I know the Dukes, Larry, William and several other names he mentioned. I SERVED IN THE ARMY FROM 80-82 in Germany with Larry Duke! Me I mean. Says years ago he and a couple of the Duke brothers had a small pressure washer and they would go around washing trailers. Anyway, I thought "This guy is for real". So I helped him out. He was very grateful.

It's a shame that Veterans, much less Combat Veterans end up like that. I hope the guy makes it home and does OK. Im halfway inclined to go back up there tomorrow and take him to the bus station and get him a ticket.