Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 9, 1990 TAG: 9006090367
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The appointee, Richard O'Dell of Roanoke, called the attacks "a cheap shot," but said they would not keep him from working with all veterans.
Representatives of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and Vietnam Veterans of America said O'Dell has disparaged veterans' groups and joked about placing a wreath at the tomb of Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi.
"This appointment is almost tantamount to President Bush appointing Jane Fonda to his Cabinet as secretary for veterans' affairs," the four groups said in a statement.
Fonda made a well-publicized trip to Hanoi during the Vietnam War to protest the fighting.
The groups said O'Dell has a photograph of himself with a wreath at Ho Chi Minh's tomb, but they were unable to produce the picture for reporters.
O'Dell told reporters he has pictures of himself near the Hanoi memorial, but he denied he laid a wreath there during a 1984 trip with the Vietnam veterans' group. He said he may have joked about it during a slide presentation to veterans' groups.
O'Dell said he has criticized some veterans' groups for not doing enough to help veterans.
O'Dell, an Army tank gunner in Vietnam in 1968-69, said he thinks the veterans' groups are worried they will be forgotten as the country moves away from its Cold War with the Soviet Union.
One of his allies, Greg Kane of Charlottesville, said some of the veterans supported Republican Marshall Coleman, who lost to Wilder in last year's race for governor.
O'Dell, who headed a veterans' group that supported Wilder, was appointed by the governor last week to replace Samuel Black, who was appointed to the job in 1983.
Staff writer Douglas Pardue contributed to this story.
by CNB