Nathan Phillips Called a Vietnam Combat Veteran

■ The claim

Coverage of the Lincoln Memorial encounter with Covington Catholic students described Native American activist Nathan Phillips as having fought in the Vietnam War.

■ What actually happened

The Post's January 19, 2019 story said Phillips fought in Vietnam. On January 22 the Post corrected it: Phillips served in the Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam. A CNN caption had also wrongly labeled him a Vietnam veteran, while he described himself as a Vietnam-era veteran. On March 1, 2019, a Post editor's note said later video and reporting contradicted or failed to confirm other parts of its original account.

■ The proof

The Post's January 22 correction and March 1 editor's note, based on Phillips's own statement that he was never deployed to Vietnam.

■ Original reporting

• Washington Post story as syndicated by The Spokesman-Review (Jan. 19, 2019)https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jan/19/native-american-drummer-speaks-on-the-maga-hat-wea

■ Corrections, findings & records

• Mediaite: Washington Post correction, Phillips did not serve in Vietnamhttps://www.mediaite.com/online/washington-post-issues-key-correction-native-elder-nathan-phillips-did-not-serve-in-vietnam/
• Fox News: Washington Post publishes editor's note on Covington coveragehttps://www.foxnews.com/us/washington-post-publishes-editors-note-on-covington-controversy-coverage

■ Wayback Machine copies

Stories sometimes get edited after publication. These links open the Internet Archive's earliest snapshot of each original.

• Archive copy: Washington Post story as syndicated by The Spokesman-Review (Jan. 19, 2019)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jan/19/native-american-drummer-speaks-on-the-maga-hat-wea

■ Grade

RETRACTED: The outlet itself retracted, corrected, or settled. How we grade →