Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Questions Raised Over Presidential Silver Star

Aired July 05, 2001 - 11:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And on a military matter here, a look back in the history books raising questions about President Lyndon Johnson's WWII declaration -- our Jeanne Meserve joining us live now from the Washington bureau with that story -- Jeanne, good morning once again.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the first WWII-era member of Congress to enter active duty. The young Texas democrat was awarded the nation's third highest military medal, the silver star. In the book "The Mission," Johnson is praised for fending off what's portrayed as a, "withering attack" Japanese fighter planes. But there have always been questions about Johnson's wartime service and whether the medal was deserved.

CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre has been looking into the historical record.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a gripping account of courage under fire, except, according to the sole surviving crew member, it's pure fiction.

STAFF SGT. BOB MARSHALL, U.S. ARMY (RET.): No way. No, that story was made up and put in it by, I think, in my mind, by the author of the book, because we had never seen a zero, was never attacked or nothing.

MCINTYRE: Robert Marshall was a 19-year-old gunner on Johnson's plane. He's portrayed by "The Mission's" authors as overcoming the loss of electrical power by using brute strength to aim his guns against the attacking Japanese zeros.

MARSHALL: No. It never happened. That was something I would never forget, if I had to do that. We never got attacked. I have no reason to swing my guns, my turret. No, them's are built up stories.

MCINTYRE: Marshall remembers meeting the young navy officer who flew along on his plane that day but didn't know who he was at the time and didn't learn until years later that Johnson was given the silver star for the flight. He says for years he quietly disputed the published account in private conversations, even occasionally in public, but almost no one paid much attention.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Jamie McIntyre joins us now from the Pentagon. Jamie, what did Lyndon Baines Johnson have to say about these events?

MCINTYRE: Well, you know, during his life he said very little about it. In fact, he was careful not to ever confirm the account of the bravery outlined in that 1964 book "The Mission." And historians generally have called Johnson's silver star one of the most displayed and least deserved in history. But they generally conceded that he was, exhibited some bravery going on this mission in which he was attacked by Japanese zeros.

What we found was two eyewitnesses to back up more contemporary accounts that would indicate that his plane perhaps never even came under fire, that it developed a mechanical problem and returned to base and that a lot of this combat experience was a bit of a myth. That's what we explore in an in depth story that we'll be airing this afternoon, five o'clock on "INSIDE POLITICS" along with complete documentation on our Web page tat CNN.com.

KAGAN: OK, Jamie McIntyre, we'll be taking a look at that. Thanks for joining us from the Pentagon at this hour -- and now back to Atlanta.

KAGAN: Jeanne, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com