Marine Vietnam Veteran Attacked At Airport By Current Marines

Veteran says he was attacked, shamed at Charlotte airport
WSOC News North Carolina
By Ken Lemon
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
November 18, 2015

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Vietnam veteran and two-time recipient of the Purple Heart said he was attacked Saturday at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.

Jack Hughes, 66, said when he came home from battle in the 1960s, people threw rotten eggs at his uniform. Vietnam was an unpopular war and he expected that back then.

He said he didn't expect to be assaulted by other Marines when he arrived Saturday.

Hughes, who lives in Gastonia, showed Channel 9 the jacket he wore Saturday with his medals and ribbons.

He cried thinking about the feeling he had when he said Marines at the airport accused him of pretending to be a veteran.

"I just can't believe that one veteran or group of veterans would do that to somebody else,” Hughes said.

He said as he got off the plane from a Veterans Day event in St. Louis, another man, claiming to be a Marine himself, walked towards him yelling.

"Your ribbons are crooked. You’re a fake. You are a phony," Hughes said the man shouted.
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Support pours in for Marine vet who says he was shamed at airport
AJC news
Ken Lemon
Nov. 21, 2015

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Support has poured in for a Marine veteran who said he was assaulted and shamed by other Marines at Charlotte’s airport.

Jack Hughes sat down for a follow-up interview and discussed the calls and letters that he said saved his life.

Hughes suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his stint in Vietnam. He said when the other Marines tried to wrongfully shame him Saturday it sent him back in a regressive state, but the tremendous outpouring of support has been more than a boost. They shouted at him in the airport, and one even tried to rip the ribbons off of his jacket.
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