![\"Harold](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Harold-Walkner-article-300x215.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nYesterday, I talked briefly with Al Strain, the journalist at the Owatonna People’s Press who wrote the article about Harold Walkner who we talked about last week<\/a>. Walkner was a speaker at the Veterans Open Roundtable in Owatonna last month where he told the assembled veterans of his escapades as a Special Forces soldier and four time Purple Heart recipient in Vietnam. Today Al Strain walks back their initial article<\/a>;<\/p>\n The roundtable group approached the People’s Press about writing a story about Walkner, and the decision was made to write the story as a preview for the May 13 event.<\/p>\n But then, last weekend, after both the lecture and the appearance of a story in the newspaper, the People’s Press received several emails from people who had read the blogs. Those emails and blogs questioned the authenticity of Walkner’s story.<\/p>\n Once they were informed of the discrepancies in Walkner’s story, members of the roundtable board said they met with Walkner, who declined to comment on the allegations to them.<\/p>\n Lilyea said there is a network of blogs with similar themes focusing on members of the armed forces who embellish their service history, adding all the blogs work toward the common goal of correcting the stories.<\/p>\n Walkner said in May that he had gone through 10 months of training to become a Green Beret. The service records indicate he went through eight weeks of basic training in 1968.<\/p>\n Walkner’s service records also indicate that he was awarded no Purple Hearts. A search of thepurpleheart.com, an online database of Purple Heart recipients, shows no person named Walkner has received the medal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So Walkner is less inclined to talk about his experiences now, huh? Funny how that works. We published our story just five days ago and the People’s Press seems like they want to give their readers the correct information already. We have newspapers that never correct their articles about phonies, so five days isn’t too bad. <\/p>\n When approached on Wednesday, Walkner declined to comment directly about his previous claims and the discrepancies between those claims and his record, other than to say that he no longer stood behind those claims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You’d think that these guys would realize that our reach is wide and long after a while. So now, Walkner has the nationwide attention that he wanted, but he doesn’t seem too happy about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"