Nathan Phillips, the Native American leader who accused Covington Catholic High School students of harassing him last Friday, falsely claimed in a 2018 Facebook video that he was a “Vietnam vet” and served “in theater.”
Military records show that Phillips, who served in the Marine Corps between 1972 and 1976, was not deployed overseas and spent the years working stateside as a refrigerator mechanic after a four-month stint as an anti-tank missileman.
Phillips, 63, has previously suggested that he might have served in the war, referring to himself in interviews as a “Vietnam times veteran” and a “recon ranger” and stating: “People called me a baby killer and a hippie girl spit on me.”
But now, Phillips has been shown claiming outright that he served in the Vietnam War in a video posted to the Native Youth Alliance Facebook page last January.
“I’m a Vietnam vet, you know, I served in the Marine Corps, ’72 to ’76,” Phillips said in the video. “I got discharged May 5th 1976, you know. One of the — I got honorable discharge — and one of the boxes in there, it shows if it was peacetime, or what my box says is that I was in theater. I don’t talk much about my Vietnam times, you know. I usually say I don’t recollect, I don’t recall, you know, those years.”
Military records provided to the Washington Examiner show that Phillips, who went by his adopted name “Nathaniel Stanard” at the time, served in the Marine Corps Reserve between 1972 to 1976 and held the rank of private, E-1, on April 18, 1975. According to records obtained by former Navy SEAL Don Shipley, Phillips was listed as absent without leave three times.
Phillips first came under scrutiny for misrepresenting his military service this week after he was inaccurately described as a Vietnam veteran by the Lakota People’s Law Project, a group that participated in an Indigenous Peoples March with Phillips last week.
The Washington Examiner reported on Wednesday that Phillips had a criminal history during his time in the military and was charged with escaping from prison, assault, and several alcohol-related crimes.
Phillips did not respond to questions about his military record discrepancies or his criminal record on Wednesday.
