| B. G. Burkett – Dallas, TexasTexas native B.G. "Jug" Burkett grew up the son of a career Air Force officer. Life on military bases around the country placed Jug in direct contact with veterans of World War II and the Korean War. His heroes were people like "triple ace" Joe McConnell, and double-war ace Frank "Gabby" Gabreski. In 1962, Jug went off to college at Vanderbilt, graduating in 1966. An inner-ear problem meant he couldn’t pass a pilot’s physical, so Jug joined the Army. |  |
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| After Basic at Fort Jackson, AIT at Fort
McClellan, he attended Ordnance OCS at Aberdeen Proving Ground. An avid golfer, Jug took a
wedge and three balls to Vietnam, serving with the 199th Light Infantry
Brigade, serving with B Company, 7th Combat Support Battalion. Years later Jug
became the pivotal man in the effort to build a Vietnam War Memorial in Texas. In the course of the struggle to raise funds for the memorial, he became aware that the national media had for years given a stage to people that were not the Vietnam "heroes" that they purported to be. Worse, the realization hit Jug that there had been a "massive distortion of history" – that pervasive negative myths had been created about who our Vietnam veterans really are. Exposing the "wannabes" is a passion for Jug and led to his acclaimed book, Stolen Valor. A successful Dallas stockbroker, Jug is also known today as a military researcher and appears regularly on ABC’s 20/20. He is still an avid golfer.
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