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54. Lars-Erik Nelson

Extremely good political columnist. Died shortly after the 2000 election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars-Erik_Nelson

In December 1983, while speaking to an audience of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, Ronald Reagan recounted an inspirational act of bravery by a former Medal of Honor recipient: “A B‑17 coming back across the channel from a raid over Europe, badly shot up by anti‑aircraft ... The young ball‑turret gunner was wounded, and they couldn’t get him out of the turret there while flying. But over the channel, the plane began to lose altitude, and the commander had to order bail out. And as the men started to leave the plane, the last one to leave – the boy, understandably, knowing he was being left behind to go down with the plane, cried out in terror – the last man to leave the plane saw the commander sit down on the floor. He took the boy’s hand and said, ‘Never mind, son, we’ll ride it down together.’ Congressional Medal of honor posthumously awarded.”[4] Nelson subsequently checked all 434 Medal of Honor awards and could find no citation matching Reagan's story. Days later Nelson wrote, “It’s not true ... It didn’t happen. It’s a Reagan story ... The President of the United States went before an audience of 300 real Congressional Medal of Honor winners and told them about a make‑believe Medal of Honor winner.” [5][6] Disabled veteran Dominic Antonucci, after reading Nelson's column, suggested that the story bore similarities to a scene in the 1944 film Wing and a Prayer. “Adding to the confusion,” wrote Nelson, “Dana Andrews at one point reprimands a glory‑seeking young pilot with the words: ‘This isn’t Hollywood.’ ... You could understand that some in the audience might confuse reality with fiction.” [7] Nelson later wrote that Reagan's story was also found to have similarities to a fictional account in the April 1944 issue of Reader's Digest.[8]