Brian Williams certainly not the first to exagerate or out and out lie about his "combat" experience:

2015-02-10T11:10:23-05:00

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/07/ronald_reagans_wartime_lies_the_president_had_quite_a_brian_williams_problem/

Does this change your perception of Ronald Reagan or Brian Williams? It is a little known fact that Combat hardened Marines booed John Wayne off the stage, when he showed up at some moral boosting USO tour in the South Pacific, during late 43-early 44, during WWII. Unlike Combat vets Jimmy Stewart, Eddie Albert (Tarawa), Lee Marvin (Saipan), Peter Fonda, or Clark Gable, (and of course Audie Murphy), or many Baseball Star Athletes, like Joe Dimaggio, all of these men put their careers and making money aside to serve during WWII, John Wayne never served in the Armed Forces during WWII although he was apparently physically capable. While many of his fellow actors, sacrificed John Wayne cashed in:
From: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1055/was-john-wayne-a-draft-dodger
Cecil replies:

John Wayne, draft dodger? Oh, what delicious (if cheap) irony! But that judgment is a little harsh. As Garry Wills tells the story in his book John Wayne's America: The Politics of Celebrity (1997), the Duke faced a tough choice at the outset of World War II. If he wimped out, don't be so sure a lot of us wouldn't have done the same.

At the time of Pearl Harbor, Wayne was 34 years old. His marriage was on the rocks but he still had four kids to support. His career was taking off, in large part on the strength of his work in the classic western Stagecoach (1939). But he wasn't rich. Should he chuck it all and enlist? Many of Hollywood's big names, such as Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, and Clark Gable, did just that. (Fonda, Wills points out, was 37 at the time and had a wife and three kids.) But these were established stars. Wayne knew that if he took a few years off for military service, there was a good chance that by the time he got back he'd be over the hill.

Besides, he specialized in the kind of movies a nation at war wanted to see, in which a rugged American hero overcame great odds. Recognizing that Hollywood was an important part of the war effort, Washington had told California draft boards to go easy on actors. Perhaps rationalizing that he could do more good at home, Wayne obtained 3-A status, "deferred for [family] dependency reasons." He told friends he'd enlist after he made just one or two more movies.

The real question is why he never did so. Wayne cranked out thirteen movies during the war, many with war-related themes. Most of the films were enormously successful and within a short time the Duke was one of America's most popular stars. His bankability now firmly established, he could have joined the military, secure in the knowledge that Hollywood would welcome him back later. He even made a half-hearted effort to sign up, sending in the paperwork to enlist in the naval photography unit commanded by a good friend, director John Ford.

But he didn't follow through. Nobody really knows why; Wayne didn't like to talk about it. A guy who prided himself on doing his own stunts, he doesn't seem to have lacked physical courage. One suspects he just found it was a lot more fun being a Hollywood hero than the real kind. Many movie star-soldiers had enlisted in the first flush of patriotism after Pearl Harbor. As the war ground on, slogging it out in the trenches seemed a lot less exciting. The movies, on the other hand, had put Wayne well on the way to becoming a legend. "Wayne increasingly came to embody the American fighting man," Wills writes. In late 1943 and early 1944 he entertained the troops in the Pacific theater as part of a USO tour. An intelligence bigshot asked him to give his impression of Douglas MacArthur. He was fawned over by the press when he got back. Meanwhile, he was having a torrid affair with a beautiful Mexican woman. How could military service compare with that?

In 1944, Wayne received a 2-A classification, "deferred in support of [the] national … interest." A month later the Selective Service decided to revoke many previous deferments and reclassified him 1-A. But Wayne's studio appealed and got his 2-A status reinstated until after the war ended.

People who knew Wayne say he felt bad about not having served. (During the war he'd gotten into a few fights with servicemen who wondered why he wasn't in uniform.) Some think his guilty conscience was one reason he became such a superpatriot later. The fact remains that the man who came to symbolize American patriotism and pride had a chance to do more than just act the part, and he let it pass.

— Cecil Adams

Ronald Reagan’s wartime lies: The president had quite a Brian Williams problem

Reagan spent WW II in Hollywood. He told the Israeli prime minister he was at the liberation of Nazi death camps

Response by SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA made Feb 10 at 2015 11:14 AM

2015-02-10T11:14:43-05:00

You were in or not, at which intensity is irrelevant in my opinion

Response by SPC Neil Hood made Feb 10 at 2015 11:31 AM

2015-02-10T11:31:31-05:00

I'm sure even Gaius Julius Caesar exaggerated his war experiences in Gaul with the defeat of Vercingetorix. it is said the troops rallied to the flowing red cape of Caesar himself battling his way through the Barbarian horde! I'm sure hundreds fell prey to his Ivory hilted gladius before the battle concluded. However Caesar never had to deal with mass media so we more or less believe him.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Feb 10 at 2015 1:17 PM

2015-02-10T13:17:14-05:00

Capt Lance Gallardo Interesting story about John Wayne that I didn't know, thanks for sharing it. My reaction to Brian Williams', Ronald Reagan's and John Wayne's lies is pretty much the same, pity. They hold their own truth and experience so cheaply that they replace it with falsehood. Their punishment should be that everyone tell the truth, and know the difference between that and what they've said. That's about it.

Response by Capt Lance Gallardo made Feb 10 at 2015 2:40 PM

2015-02-10T14:40:21-05:00

I like John Wayne's cowboy/western movies, but knowing what I know, I cannot stand to watch any of his World War II "Hero Movies." Id rather watch a real life WWII documentary like Victory in the Pacific, where I can actually see my Mother's step-father, manning his anti-aircraft gun during a Kamikaze Attack, or the Marine Corps Produced during the War, "With The Marines at Tarawa. "Or watch Audie Murphy's Autobiographical War Movie, "to Hell and Back." Or many of the post WWII more realistic War Movies that were often made by combat veterans, starring combat Veterans, like Lee Marvin's "The Big Red One." or" the Bridge Too Far," or the Bridge at Remagen, or more recently, "The Memphis Belle" or for the Navy's war in the Pacific "Midway" or the "Bridge over the River Kwai." Or HBO's wonderful miniseries, the Pacific, and Band of Brothers. Most of the post world War II movies turned down the rah rah factor and emphasized more of the details that made up some of WWII most famous battles, as well showing more of the War's bad mistakes that cost men their lives, as well as focusing on the hardships endured by the combat Marines and Soldiers that were actually fighting the war such as the excellent "Battleground" about the Battle of the Bulge. Why waste a couple hours of my life watching John Wayne portray himself as a WWII hero, when I have known and met real WWII heroes like the diminutive Audie Murphy, 5'5", or my own step-grandfather, also about the same size as Audie Murphy. Combat heroes don't often come in the size or shape of 6'4" inch John Wayne. From what I have seen or read they are often fairly average looking and fairly average of height. People that don't stand out physically in a platoon or squad until it matters. John Wayne, despite his height, often wore lifts in boots so he would be even taller than he already was-that to me smacks of someone who was not comfortable in his own skin. He also wore a hairpiece to cover his balding by the end of the forties. Id rather watch a Lee Marvin, Audie Murphy or Jimmy Stewart movie when the subject is the military or war movie.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 10 at 2015 6:24 PM

2015-02-10T18:24:41-05:00

Not really. Reagan more than proved his mettle as CinC. He set the conditions for the fall of the Soviet Union. Brian Williams will have to do something equally as awesome.

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Feb 10 at 2015 9:52 PM

2015-02-10T21:52:17-05:00

Capt Lance Gallardo You might like to know that Ronald Reagan is dead. He is no longer the president but it was good of Salon to go after him in light of the Brian Williams story. Perhaps Salon could have done an expose on the lies being told by the sitting president.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2015 12:09 PM

2015-02-11T12:09:34-05:00

What I really want to know Capt Lance Gallardo, is now that NBC has suspended Brian Williams- When are they going to suspend Al Sharpton for the lies he's told over the years! :)

Response by CPO Bernie Penkin made Feb 11 at 2015 3:11 PM

2015-02-11T15:11:53-05:00

I read Reagan's autobiography. He was not cleared for combat duty due to his poor eye sight and lack of color vision. The lack of color vision worked great for studying arial photography. That's why he was assigned to the photography office. He didn't claim to go to the death camps, but his office had the first view of the photographs.

I am a bit biased. My respect for Reagan goes pretty deep. Read a lot of books about him and even named my dog Dutch after his childhood nick name.