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It is What It
Was
"When there has been
a reason to describe my war experiences in
WWII I have simple [sic] lied about that
part of it. I have just said I jumped in
Holland, was wounded there (to account for
the gunshot wound scar in my leg) and left
it there." From Tom Gibson
Even in death Ambrose
once again proves he had stained anything he
touched. This time it’s his pride and joy
Band of Brothers book/mini series. Egbert
van de Schootbrugge from the Netherlands
reached out sending letters from Tom Gibson
and Dick Winters.
Gibson reached out to
three different men associated with the 506th.
I took a look and realized this was as the
saying goes a hot potato. So began the
process of locating military records to go
along with the letters and Oral history for
Gibson.
When the book Band of
Brothers was in the works (1990) a Company E
Officer Jack Foley asked for help from a
Company D Officer Tom L. Gibson. Foley
wanted Gibson to look into the shooting of a
Company D soldier that was killed by Speirs
in Normandy.
Gibson then reached out to Ambrose about
that issue but Gibson went beyond that and
you can see that he was laying a foundation
to hide his lies about his time in the 101st
Airborne Division in WWII. Dick Winters
needs no introduction here.
Gibson is mentioned in
the book, pages 205-206 talking about Speirs.
If you read the one paragraph that Gibson is
in looking now you can see he was trying to
deflect the fact that Gibson was/is a Stolen
Valor himself as he says only another
soldier can call someone like him out. Of
course that’s the opposite of that and he
knew it at the start.
A correspondence
between
Tom Gibson and
Winters started in mid-1992 when the
Band of Brothers book first came out.
Gibson initiated the correspondence, just as
he did with Ambrose.
Gibson in the first
letter tested the waters to see how Winters
felt about Gibson. Then the second letter
dropped the bombshell saying he (Gibson)
didn’t jump into Holland as he had been shot
in the UK in August 1944 and had been lying
for 48 years.
Why Gibson had to lie saying he jumped into
Holland we’ll never know of course. He had
a great story without lying to everyone.
He was shot by accident and then say his
first combat Bulge and all the way through
to the end of the war.
Winters said he would “honor” his (Gibson’s)
confidence. How can someone “honor” a
stolen valor’s request? Gibson put Winters
into a corner by doing that. Instead of
talking to Gibson about that issue Winters
“Honored” Gibson’s lies years before the
mini series came out.
Attached to this are
the letters where Gibson admitted to lying
about it and then a few years later
lying in a phone interview (and
transcribed) as well. He said it in his
own voice and has tainted the 2nd
Battalion of the 506th as well.
The 506th sadly already had Izumi
and now they have Gibson.
Here is the total of
the
Company D 506th men in Holland
who were wounded or killed, 6 KIA 31
wounded. Gibson who joined the company
after the fighting was done late October.
He knew fellow soldiers had been killed and
yet at some point he decided to start his
lies saying he had fought along side of
these men.
That Winters would have
“honored” a Stolen Valor Officer request is
shocking, but these days in the US of A
nothing surprises me.
BN Siddall
January 23, 2025 |
