Killian’s Son: “No Officer in His Right Mind”
The son of the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian and the personnel chief of Killian’s unit are both convinced the documents released by CBS News are phony: Questions Surface About Bush Memos.
CBS, which reported on the memos on its “60 Minutes” program, said its experts who examined the documents concluded that they were authentic. They ostensibly were written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, one of Bush’s commanders in 1972 and 1973.
But Killian’s son, one of Killian’s fellow officers and an independent document examiner questioned the memos. Gary Killian, who served in the Guard with his father and retired as a captain in 1991, said he doubted his father would have written an unsigned memo which said there was pressure to “sugar coat” Bush’s performance review.
“It just wouldn’t happen,” he said. “No officer in his right mind would write a memo like that.”
The personnel chief in Killian’s unit at the time also said he believes the documents are fake.
“They looked to me like forgeries,” said Rufus Martin. “I don’t think Killian would do that, and I knew him for 17 years.” Killian died in 1984.