The Washington Post issued a correction Tuesday to the ongoing narrative regarding Friday’s confrontation between Native American Elder Nathan Phillips and a group of Catholic high school students. At the bottom of a story published Sunday, the Post added the following note: Correction: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam. Phillips himself does not appear to have ever made the claim that he deployed to Vietnam. In several interviews, he has referred to himself as a “Vietnam times veteran” and said in an interview with Indian Country Today that he was called a “baby-killer.” He also indicated that a woman — whom he described only as “a hippie” — spat on him in one such encounter. Since the story went viral over the weekend, numerous video and eyewitness accounts have reshaped the narrative from what was first framed as a racist incident — and a fuller context of the confrontation suggests that the Covington students did not intend to attack or insult Phillips and his companions at all. (RELATED: Patricia Heaton Takes Media To Task Over Treatment Of Catholic Boys) WATCH: Phillips has since refused a meeting with the boys and suggested that expulsion would be a fair punishment for their actions. Follow Virginia on Twitter<doc-sep>Nathan Phillips, the Native American activist involved in a now-viral scuffle with Catholic high school students in Washington, D.C., falsely claimed on video to have been a Vietnam veteran. Phillips did serve in the Marine Corps from May 20, 1972 until May 5, 1976, according to a Corps spokeswoman, but did not serve anywhere near Vietnam or any theater of war. He briefly had the military occupational specialty of 0351 Anti-tank missile-man before being assigned as an 1161 refrigerator technician. I was going to start this post off with a rundown of the different ways Nathan Phillips — the Native American activist involved in a scuffle between Catholic high school students in Washington, D.C. — has described his past service with the Marine Corps. I was going to bring up his troublesome claims of being a "recon ranger" — which he was not. I was going to reflect on his claim that he was a "Vietnam-times veteran" who came home and was "spit on" and "called a baby killer," despite his service record keeping him in the United States, and it being unclear where he was claiming to have come home from. The claims would have been questioned, but his overall story of being just a "Vietnam-times veteran" would have been outside the realm of stolen valor. But then, another video emerged. Many news organizations initially described Phillips as a Vietnam veteran, until they were forced to issue corrections. Well, they're going to need to issue a few more, since Phillips apparently slipped up in 2018 and claimed that he was "a Vietnam vet" and he was "in theater" during the war — which is categorically false. Here's the full quote, taken from a video of Phillips posted to the Native Youth Alliance Facebook page (9:45 mark): "I'm a Vietnam vet, you know," Phillips said. "I served in the Marine Corps from '72 to '76. I got discharged May 5, 1976. I got honorable discharge and one of the boxes in there shows if you were peacetime or... what my box says that I was in theater. I don't talk much about my Vietnam times. I usually say 'I don't recollect. I don't recall,' you know, those years." In the same video, at around the 23:45 mark, he states, "I got a Section 8 home because I'm a veteran, wartime veteran like that. Honorable, in theater, so I have Section 8 home." Phillips did serve in the Marine Corps from May 20, 1972 until May 5, 1976, according to a Corps spokeswoman, but did not serve anywhere near Vietnam or any theater of war. He had zero deployments and his only award was a National Defense Service Medal. He briefly had the military occupational specialty of 0351 Anti-tank missile-man before being assigned as an 1161 refrigerator technician. He also was discharged as a private after four years of service.<doc-sep>Native American activist Nathan Phillips faces questions about reports that he’s a veteran of the Vietnam war. According to multiple news accounts, the activist is 64 years old, which means he would have been 18 years old in 1973, the last year any U.S. combat units were stationed in Vietnam. Mr. Phillips also claims to be a Marine veteran, although the last Marine combat units left Vietnam in 1971. A careful reading of Mr. Phillips’ own descriptions does not make clear if he ever set foot in Vietnam. Instead, he has used much more careful language claiming he is a “Vietnam times veteran,” an ambiguous phrasing that led many media accounts to conclude he was a combat veteran. Mr. Phillips could not be reached for comment Monday. Nick Sandmann, who was in Washington, D.C. over the weekend as part of the March for Life, is the student caught on video wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and facing Mr. Phillips. The encounter was virally framed as Nick “confronting” Mr. Phillips, although video from multiple sources and angles shows it was Mr. Phillips who initiated the contact and bewildered Nick. Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.<doc-sep>The Washington Post has walked back claims about the military record of Nathan Phillips, the Native American activist at the center of a national controversy captured on video at Friday’s Woman’s March in Washington, D.C. In a January 20 report titled — “‘It was getting ugly’: Native American drummer speaks on his encounter with MAGA-hat-wearing teens” — the Post‘s Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Antonio Olivo, and Joe Heim erroneously stated Philips is a veteran of the Vietnam War despite having not been deployed. On Tuesday, news of the Post’s correction began circulating on social media. “Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam,” the correction reads. The update does not have a time or date stamp. The latest blunder follows a string of missteps by the establishment media who rushed to condemn a group of Covington Catholic High School students for there behavior during a confrontation with Philips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. At first the focus was on a short video showing one of the high school students, Nick Sandmann, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and appearing to smile while a crowd of other teens laughed behind him, as he stood next to the 64-year-old Native American, who played a traditional chant on a drum. Pull back further and a different view emerged, however, in a separate video showing members of a group calling itself the Black Hebrew Israelites taunting everyone on the mall that day, calling the Native Americans who had gathered there for the Indigenous Peoples March “Uncle Tomahawks” and ”$5 Indians” and the high school students “crackers” and worse. Additional footage shows the Black Hebrew Israelites calling the students “racist bastards,” “little dirty-ass crackers,” and “child-molesting faggots.” It was an ugly encounter of spewed epithets but one that nevertheless ended with no punches thrown or other violence. In this case, the videos didn’t tell the whole story, all the parties involved agree. The high school students felt they were unfairly portrayed as villains in a situation where they say they were not the provocateurs. “I would caution everyone passing judgment based on a few seconds of video to watch the longer video clips that are on the internet, as they show a much different story than is being portrayed by people with agendas,” Sandmann said in a statement. “I am being called every name in the book, including a racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination.” President Trump himself weighed with several tweets in as some news reports questioned whether the early criticism of the students was warranted. The president tweeted Tuesday, in part: “Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be.” With temperatures still running high, Covington Catholic High School’s principal canceled classes on Tuesday, citing safety concerns for students and staff. “After meeting with local authorities, we have made the decision to cancel school and be closed on Tuesday, January 22, in order to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff,” Robert Rowe, the school’s principal, wrote in an email to parents and employees. “All activities on campus will be cancelled for the entire day and evening. Students, parents, faculty and staff are not to be on campus for any reason. Please continue to keep the Covington Catholic Community in your prayers.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
The New York Times acknowledged Tuesday that it had overstated the service record of Nathan Phillips, the American Indian protester whose confrontation with a group of Catholic-school students has become a national and press scandal. The Times said in its correction that it had taken the word of Indian-activist groups that Mr. Phillips had fought in Vietnam. “Correction: This previous tweet, and an earlier version of this article, using information from the Indigenous Peoples Movement, gave an incorrect description of Nathan Phillips’s military service,” the self-styled “paper of record” tweeted. Correction: This previous tweet, and an earlier version of this article, using information from the Indigenous Peoples Movement, gave an incorrect description of Nathan Phillips’s military service. https://t.co/4VHRN0MaLw pic.twitter.com/wip6ypmXcy — The New York Times (@nytimes) January 22, 2019 “While Mr. Phillips said he served in the military during the Vietnam era, he told the Times after publication that he was not deployed in Vietnam,” The Times continued in an explanation that added that his military records had been requested from the Pentagon. The initial framing of the Friday dispute at the Lincoln Memorial based on misleadingly edited video — more or less, that an elderly Vietnam veteran and Indian activist was being jeered and attacked by smirking white bros wearing Make America Great Again caps — played a key role in making the story go viral. Mr. Phillips didn’t discourage such takes in the early days of the dispute and in his previous activism, calling himself a “Vietnam times veteran” and similar phrasings that are technically correct but which many news outlets rephrased as “Vietnam veteran.” The Times had tweeted on Sunday that “They were Catholic high school students who came to Washington on a field trip to rally at the March for Life. He was a Native American veteran of the Vietnam War who was there to raise awareness at the Indigenous Peoples March.” Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.