Colonel Eugene Holmes is a highly decorated officer of the United States
Army. He is a survivor of the Bataan Death March and three and a half years as a POW of the
Japanese. He served 32 years in the army before retiring with 100% disability.
His decorations include the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Legions of Merit, the
Army Commendation Medal and many others. During the Vietnam War, he personally
inducted both his sons into the service -- one for 3 years as a regular army
enlisted man, and the other as a commissioned officer (after he had completed
ROTC training).
There have been many unanswered questions as to the circumstances
surrounding Bill Clinton's involvement with the ROTC department at the
University of Arkansas. Prior to this time I have not felt the necessity for
discussing the details. The reason I have not done so before is that my poor
physical health (a consequence of participation in the Battan Death March and
the subsequent three and a half years interment in Japanese POW camps) has precluded me
from getting into what I felt was unnecessary involvement. However, present
polls show that there is the imminent danger to our country of a draft dodger
becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States. While it
is true, as Mr. Clinton has stated, that there were many others who avoided
serving their country in the Vietnam war, they are not aspiring to be the
President of the United States.
The tremendous implications of the possibility of his becoming
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces compels me now to comment
on the facts concerning Mr. Clinton's evasion of the draft. This account would
not have been imperative had Bill Clinton been completely honest with the
American public concerning this matter. But as Mr. Clinton replied on a news
conference this evening (September 5, 1992) after being asked another particular
about his dodging the draft, "Almost everyone concerned with these
incidents are dead. I have no more comments to make". Since I may be the
only person living who can give a first hand account of what actually
transpired, I am obligated by my love for my country and my sense of duty to
divulge what actually happened and make it a matter of record.
Bill Clinton came to see me at my home in 1969 to discuss his desire to
enroll in the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas. We engaged in an
extensive, approximately two (2) hour interview. At no time during this long
conversation about his desire to join the program did he inform me of his
involvement, participation and actually organizing protests against the United
States involvement in South East Asia. He was shrewd enough to realize that had
I been aware of his activities, he would not have been accepted into the ROTC
program as a potential officer in the United States Army.
The next day I began to receive phone calls regarding Bill Clinton's draft
status. I was informed by the draft board that it was of interest to Senator
Fullbright's office that Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to
the ROTC program. I received several such calls. The general message conveyed by
the draft board to me was that Senator Fullbright's office was putting pressure
on them and that they needed my help. I then made the necessary arrangements to
enroll Mr. Clinton into the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas.
I was not "saving" him from serving his country, as he erroneously
thanked me for in his letter from England (dated December 3, 1969). I was making
it possible for a Rhodes Scholar to serve in the military as an officer. In
retrospect I see that Mr. Clinton had no intention of following through with his
agreement to join the Army ROTC program at the University of Arkansas or to
attend the University of Arkansas Law School. I had explained to him the
necessity of enrolling at the University of Arkansas as a student in order to be
eligible to take the ROTC program at the University. He never enrolled at the
University of Arkansas, but instead enrolled at Yale after attending Oxford. I
believe that he purposely deceived me, using the possibility of joining the ROTC
as a ploy to work with the draft board to delay his induction and get a new
draft classification.
The December 3rd letter written to me by Mr. Clinton, and subsequently taken
from the files by Lt. Col. Clint Jones, my executive officer, was placed into
the ROTC files so that a record would be available in case the applicant should
again petition to enter the ROTC program. The information in that letter alone
would have restricted Bill Clinton from ever qualifying to be an officer in the
United States Military. Even more significant was his lack of veracity in
purposefully defrauding the military by deceiving me, both in concealing his
anti-military activities overseas and his counterfeit intentions for later
military service. These actions cause me to question both his patriotism and his
integrity.
When I consider the calabre, the bravery, and the patriotism of the fine
young soldiers whose deaths I have witnessed, and others whose funerals I have
attended.... When I reflect on not only the willingness but eagerness that so
many of them displayed in their earnest desire to defend and serve their
country, it is untenable and incomprehensible to me that a man who was not
merely unwilling to serve his country, but actually protested against its
military, should ever be in the position of Commander-in-Chief of our armed
Forces.
I write this declaration not only for the living and future generations, but
for those who fought and died for our country. If space and time permitted I
would include the names of the ones I knew and fought with, and along with them
I would mention my brother Bob, who was killed during World War II and is buried
in Cambridge, England (at the age of 23, about the age Bill Clinton was when he
was over in England protesting the war).
I have agonized over whether or not to submit this statement to the American
people. But, I realize that even though I served my country by being in the
military for over 32 years, and having gone through the ordeal of months of
combat under the worst of conditions followed by years of imprisonment by the
Japanese, it is not enough. I'm writing these comments to let everyone know that
I love my country more than I do my own personal security and well-being. I will
go to my grave loving these United States of America and the liberty for which
so many men have fought and died.
Because of my poor physical condition this will be my final statement. I
will make no further comments to any of the media regarding this issue.
Eugene J. Holmes, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret), September 1992