The White House released a copy of a dental evaluation President George W. Bush received in the National Guard in Alabama during the Vietnam War to rebut suggestions made by Democrats who have questioned whether the president ever showed up for duty there.
A copy of the dental examination done on Jan. 6, 1973, documents the president serving at Dannelly Air National Guard Base, which is south of Montgomery, Alabama, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement late on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, McClellan hardened its defense of Bush's Guard service, saying critics were "trolling for trash" for political gain.
PHOTO: AFP
Bush completed most of his National Guard training in Texas, but in 1972 was allowed to leave and perform his duties in Alabama so he could work on a Senate political campaign.
Democrats have been scrutinizing a one-year period of Bush's Guard service that begins in May 1972, saying they've seen no evidence that Bush ever served in Alabama. Several members of an Alabama unit Bush was assigned to have said that they couldn't recall ever seeing him.
According to the White House, the dental exam shows Bush did report for duty in Alabama. The exam, however, was done after November 1972, when earlier reports said Bush returned to Texas.
The White House obtained the dental record, along with other medical records it did not release, from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colorado, McClellan said. The record was accompanied by a statement from Dr. Richard Tubb, the president's current physician, who stated that he read Bush's records, which covered a period from 1968 to 1973, and concurred with the doctors' assertion that Bush was "fit" for service.
"The records reflect no disqualifying medical information," Tubb said.
The AP contacted more than a dozen people who were members of the Montgomery-based 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in 1972. All were quick to point out that the unit had as many as 800 members and Bush was not yet famous.
"I don't remember seeing him. That does not mean he was not here," said Wayne Rambo, who was a first lieutenant with the 187th.
"I don't want to cast any aspersions or to say he was or was not there," he said.
In another development on Wednesday, a retired Texas National Guard officer said he overheard a conversation in 1997 between then-Governor Bush's chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, and then-adjutant general Daniel James of the Texas Air National Guard in which he contends those two men spoke about getting rid of any military records that would "embarrass the governor."
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett said that he saw documents from Bush's file discarded in a trash can a few days later at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas. Burkett described them as performance and pay documents. He said the documents bore the header: "Bush, George W. 1lt." -- meaning first lieutenant.
James and Allbaugh deny the allegation.
"The alleged discussion never happened," said James, who was appointed by the president in 2002 to lead the Air National Guard.
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