Friday, March 05, 1999

Ex-police chief faked war record

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Medal bought to try to get more benefits

BY PERRY BROTHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Donald Nicholson cradles an Army jacket with medals back in February, before his story unraveled. (File photo) | ZOOM |

        A month after being honored with the nation's second-highest military medal, a retired Amelia police chief admitted Thursday that his stories of war valor and intrigue were lies.

        The 62-year-old — honored in a Feb. 7 ceremony at the National Guard Armory in Hartwell — told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he was never even in the Army. He said he bought the medal from a stranger 2¹/₂ years ago, along with several forged military documents.

        In the compact living room of his split-level ranch home in Amelia, Donald R. “Nick” Nicholson cried as he confessed to fabricating the story. He said he did it to receive increased veterans benefits.

        “I've lived such a straight-laced way of life since I was a kid. Nothing but honor and integrity always came first, until 2¹/₂ years ago,” Mr. Nicholson said. “I can't face this. I've got such a good reputation.”

        Now Mr. Nicholson, who was honored several times for his work as Amelia police chief from 1982 to 1986, could face federal charges.

        An Enquirer story Feb. 8 described an emotional awards ceremony for Mr. Nicholson, during which the Army National Guard's 147th Armor Battalion presented him the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).

        As family and friends looked on, a handwritten citation was read during the ceremony, praising Mr. Nicholson for heroic action during his Vietnam service in the Army and as a prisoner of war. The story included details of Mr. Nicholson's frustrating 29-year quest for recognition by the government.

        However, after a two-week investigation by The Enquirer, neither records of Mr. Nicholson's Army service nor confirmation of any Army awards could be found.

        Soon after the story ran, several veterans and former POWs e-mailed The Enquirer asserting that Mr. Nicholson was not what he claimed to be: a former POW and member of the 5th Special Forces.

        The Enquirer's search included requests for records and information from the Department of the Army in Alexandria, Va., the U.S. National Guard Inspector General's Office in the Pentagon, and the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.

        Mr. Nicholson was not listed on any special forces or POW databases compiled and maintained by Department of Defense POW/MIA Personnel Office.

        The only records found documented his service in the Navy, from 1964 to 1968.

        In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Nicholson insisted that the government had either erred or was concealing his files because the work he did for the Army was top-secret.

        But when confronted Thursday with information from a resume for the police chief position — which placed him in Florida when he claimed to be in Vietnam (1968-72) — Mr. Nicholson confessed.

        He said that a man named “Noble” approached him about two years ago and offered increased Veterans Administration benefits in exchange for $2,000. The fake medals and papers were part of the process. The claim of increased benefits was false.

        Mr. Nicholson said he threw all of his medals and decorations in the trash, which was picked up Thursday morning.

        Mr. Nicholson, who has heart disease and Parkinson's disease, said he had hoped to allow his wife of 16 years to quit her job and spend more time with him. Before Noble approached him, Mr. Nicholson said, he had never spoken of his military experiences with his wife, Ann, or their 14-year-old son.

        Claims of classified or top-secret missions such as Mr. Nicholson's are red flags for veterans and former POWs like Mike McGrath of Colorado Springs, Colo., who makes an avocation of tracking what he calls “wannabes.”

        “It should be known that they are not one of us and we don't want them to be one of us,” said Mr. McGrath, president of NAM-POWs Inc. “They're trying to live off of our honor and our honorable service to our country.”

        About 250 suspected “wannabes” are listed on NAM-POWs' “Hall of Shame” Web site. “It is well-known that there are 660 POWs,” he said, “and we know who the POWs were. The POW list has been well-established by the Department of Defense for the last 26 years.”

        Mr. Nicholson's name was not on the list.

        Shari Lawrence, a deputy public affairs officer with the U.S. Total Army Personnel Command in Alexandria, said Thursday she will forward Mr. Nicholson's information to the Department of Justice, which will decide whether it wants to press charges of forging military documents and honors. The maximum penalties for such offenses range from fines to a year in prison.

        In February, Mr. Nicholson gave a stack of papers to officials at the National Guard Armory in Hartwell and asked them to present the award to him. There was no order or citation included with the award.

        The top paper in the stack was from U.S. Rep. Rob Portman's office, which led the officials to think the Terrace Park congressman was involved.

        “We've have no record of having initiated any casework on Mr. Nicholson's behalf,” said Brian Besanceney, spokesman for Mr. Portman.

        Apparently, Mr. Nicholson received a standard fill-in-the-blank privacy release form but never returned it to Mr. Portman's office to start a congressional inquiry, Mr. Besanceney said. Such inquiries often help veterans expedite the award process.

        Mr. Nicholson said he told the National Guard battalion that Mr. Portman had helped him and backed up the claim with the document, which was not signed by Mr. Portman.

        Col. Mark Sullivan, deputy inspector general for the National Guard at the Pentagon, said his office is looking into the circumstances that led to the ceremony.

        Whatever the legal and military fallout of Mr. Nicholson's false claims, he has suffered personal consequences.

        After his tearful confession, he expressed suicidal feelings and was taken to Mercy Hospital Anderson, where officials refused to disclose his status Thursday night.

        While waiting for police and paramedics to arrive, Mr. Nicholson sat in front of his garage and stared at a black POW/MIA flag snapping in the wind at the end of his driveway.

       

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