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GOP Senator Blocking 265 Military Promotions Falsely Promoted His Father’s WWII Service: Report
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) campaigned on a platform of being a staunch supporter of the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces and pro-veteran. His claims, including surrounding his own father’s service, are being called into question.
Senator Tuberville, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a former college football coach, who goes by the nickname “Coach,” in campaign material and even on his official U.S. Senate website. Just weeks ago Tuberville, who has never served in the U.S. Armed Forces, told reporters, “There is nobody more military than me.”
Tuberville time and time again has used claims about his father’s record in World War II, which also appear on Tuberville’s campaign website, Tuberville’s official Senate website (and in this archived copy) to promote himself.
“Tuberville was inspired to serve in Congress by his father, a World War II veteran and recipient of five Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart, who instilled in him the values of patriotism, work ethic, and grit,” his Senate website reads.
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Tuberville’s 2020 campaign website says, “it is the legacy of his father, a highly decorated WWII veteran and Purple Heart recipient, that motivates Coach Tuberville to give back to the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces.” That website also lists as his first “issue,” “Serving those who served.”
It also reads: “The first role of our government is to protect its citizens and that is why I will support a strong and robust military. I know we must provide our Armed Forces with the tools and resources they need to protect Americans at home and abroad. Alabamians are proud and we stand with our military and our Veterans who have given so much for our nation.”
In June, Tuberville celebrated D-Day with a Fox News interview during which he lauded his father’s service – and denigrated today’s U.S. Military.
“Today, Coach is June 6, which is a big date in your family, because June 6, D-Day 1944. Your father was there, and wound up driving a tank across Europe,” Fox News’ Steve Doocy said to Tuberville, and Fox News viewers.
“79 years ago. They said it was the most important day in the 20th century, because if we don’t win on D-Day, and the days after that, this whole country – the world is in trouble,” Senator Tuberville responded.
Talking about his father, Tuberville told Fox News, “he lied about his age at 16. Joined the Army. Said it’s the first time he ever had a new pair of boots. And then he landed at Utah Beach and drove a tank across Europe, awarded five Bronze Stars and a purple heart at age 18.”
After sharing an amusing anecdote, Sen. Tuberville then took a shot at today’s U.S. Armed Forces.
“And, and back then, back then war was war. And it was pretty much hand-to-hand combat. And you know,” speaking about his father, Tuiberville added, “he said, ‘we stayed cold, hungry, it was miserable, scared for our lives,’ and he lost most of his friends, you know, in his company, that he went in, with but this is not the same military we have had back then.”
Today marks the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
My father, Charles Tuberville, made the D-Day landing at Normandy as a tank commander with the 101st infantry.
He served with honor during World War II, earning five Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. pic.twitter.com/aUCjCpfYMe
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) June 6, 2023
What Sen. Tuberville may be referring to is today’s military includes women and and LGBTQ service members who fight in combat.
Tuberville has been accused of putting national security at risk because he currently is blocking 265 military promotions, all of which need to be confirmed by the Senate. His blockade started in February, and he refuses to budge.
Why?
In response to state bans on abortions, the Pentagon decided it will reimburse service members who need to travel to a different state to access abortion services. Tuberville opposes abortion.
“This indefinite hold harms America’s national security and hinders the Pentagon’s normal operations,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said.
According to a deep dive by The Washington Post, several of the claims Sen. Tuiberville repeatedly makes about his father’s service are false, including that his dad joined the military when he was 16 years old.
“This is false,” an analysis by The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler reveals. “Charles Tuberville, who was born in 1925, turned 16 five months before the United States entered World War II because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His draft registration card (front and back) shows he submitted it on July 16, 1943 — his 18th birthday.”
The Post also disputes Tuberville’s claim his father was a tank commander.
“This is dubious. Charles Tuberville’s tombstone lists his highest rank as ‘TEC 5’ or technician fifth grade, an Army rank at the time that indicated technical skills but not combat leadership. According to a 1944 Army memo, TEC 5 jobs were limited to armorer, cook, tank driver, light truck driver or tank mechanic. Tuberville would have needed to be a sergeant to be a tank commander.”
Tuberville has repeatedly claimed his father was awarded “five bronze stars.”
“This is false. The Bronze Star, the eighth-highest military award, is earned when a soldier ‘distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service’ in combat with an armed enemy of the United States,” The Post reports. “Earning five Bronze Stars would be highly unusual; Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II, earned two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars, among other medals.”
Instead, the Post reports, Tuberville’s father “earned not Bronze Stars, but rather Bronze service stars — which denote that a soldier was physically present during a particular military campaign or engagement.”
Another of Tuberville’s claims, that his father drove a tank in Paris when U.S. troops liberated the city, The Post deems simply, “not possible.”
See the video above or at this link.
Image by lev radin/Shutterstock
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