By Jan Worth-Nelson

The East Village Magazine website was briefly taken down this afternoon by a source unknown to the magazine after David Meier, a Flint candidate for mayor whose claims that he was a Medal of Honor recipient have been challenged, doubled down to EVM on his claims. Here is the email he sent:

“I am so upset that I feel like I am in the middle of a divorce and I can’t sleep. The FBI told me not to talk about the MOH but I will say this much. I have never made any false claims about my service and I am not devious or stupid enough to try and trick people in this age of the internet and instant access to the truth. The individuals in the Congressional Medal Of Honor Society are courageous, selfless, loyal and of the highest character. They are the cream of the crop of the human race. However corporately they suffer the same faults as any other group with their biases and prejudices. They have never been fond of me because I was CIA, a JEW and now a whistle-blower. They replaced me with somebody else and rather than fix their mistake they threw me under the bus. If we don’t get this resolved I will withdraw from the election and I won’t be at the meeting this afternoon but I would like to meet with a couple of veterans. DON’T JUDGE ME YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW ME !!!!!!!! David Meier”

Meier claimed that he received the Medal of Honor for actions at An Loc in Vietnam in May, 1969. He said he was presented the medal by Richard Nixon in 1973. In fact, this is the story of James Leroy Bondsteel of Jackson, Michigan, who died in 1987.

EVM’s original story about Meier’s claims has received thousands of hits since it went online Wednesday.

EVM again contacted the staff of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, who said they are in contact with the FBI about Meier’s claims. They contend they have no evidence he is a Medal of Honor recipient. Staff there said they have received a burst of calls from upset veterans, including some of the living MOH recipients, since the EVM story went up.

“I am passionate about this country and the integrity of this medal,” one of three staff members at the MOH office, Sharon Edgington, said by phone today, “and it is challenging to respond to someone who’s trying to be someone they’re not when I work so closely with the gentlemen who actually received the medal.”

She said there are three living Medal of Honor recipients in Michigan: Charles Kettles of Ypsilanti and James McCloughan of South Haven, both Vietnam veterans; and Robert Simanek of Farmington Hills, a Korean War veteran.

“You hear these men tell their stories,” she said, “They are men who left friends on the battlefield who don’t believe they deserve this honor because they were just doing their job. Then when I hear this story — the contrast is, well — I say, no, no, no.”

Meier has been asked to provide proof about his military record by EVM as well as other local media. So far, EVM has received no such proof. He had agreed to appear at a mayoral candidates’ forum Thursday night at the Flint Public Library, but did not attend.

EVM Editor Jan Worth-Nelson can be reached at janworth1118@gmail.com.

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