CBS described it as “reportedly mistelling.”
Via CBS:
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden is on the defensive after reportedly mistelling a story on the campaign trail about a heroic Navy captain. Biden has been telling some version of the story for years.
“This guy climbed down a ravine, carried this guy up on his back under fire,” the former vice president said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last week. “The general wanted me to pin the Silver Star on him. I got up there, and this is the God’s truth, my word as a Biden. He stood at attention. I went to pin it on him. He said, ‘Sir, I don’t want the damn thing. Do not pin it on me, sir. Please, sir, do not do that. He died! He died!'”
But according to the Washington Post, who spoke to more than a dozen military and campaign sources, “Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient, as well as his own role in the ceremony” wrong.
Biden’s story appears to have some truthful elements. In 2011, Biden did award a medal to Army Staff Sergeant Chad Workman after the soldier tried to retrieve a dying comrade from a burning vehicle. Workman told the Post he felt Biden “really understood” his situation.
But the soldier at the center of Biden’s searing campaign story received the Medal of Honor from President Obama.
Biden is unapologetic, telling reporters the essence of the story, about military bravery, loss and guilt, is true.