#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran William Wooldridge - VA News

It was only one DSM but it was revoked because he was skimming profkts earned from slot machines in Thailand and Nam. Another outgrowth of that scandal was the scrutiny of the slot machine problem resulted in them being banned in all clubs armywide.

SFC William Farrell - Controversy and PX scandal
In 1969, while command sergeant major of MACV, Wooldridge was accused in a congressional inquiry of fraud and corruption related to the military club system, amounting to more than $150 million annually.[2] The inquiry found that then United States Army Provost Marshal General, Carl C. Turner had ignored Wooldridge's earlier theft and AWOL offenses that were notified to him at the time of Wooldridge's appointment as first Sergeant Major of the Army was announced in late 1966.[3]: 46–7  Turner was later accused of having covered up an attempt by Wooldridge to smuggle 8-9 cases of liquor aboard General Creighton Abrams' KC-135 jet in April 1967.[3]: 47–8  In late 1967 Turner ordered the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division that Wooldridge's name be removed from the list of soldiers being investigated into irregularities at the Non-commissioned officer (NCO) club at Fort Benning.[3]: 52  Turner was also accused of having suppressed the Augsburg File which detailed the corruption of Wooldridge and other NCOs of the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, West Germany in the early 1960s.[3]: 55  The subcommittee concluded that Turner had given Wooldridge and his associates immunity from investigation and "was grossly negligent in the performance of his official duties."[3]: 293 

Wooldridge together with American businessman William J. Crum arranged to have Sergeant William Higdon appointed as custodian of the NCO club system at Long Binh Post in November 1967.[4]: 210  Higdon testified that between then and July 1968 Crum paid him a total of approximately US$60,000 of kickbacks from the slot machine operations.[4]: 76  In August 1968 Wooldridge brokered a deal between Crum and Maredem Inc. (a company owned by Wooldridge, Higdon and Sergeant Hatcher, the custodian of the 1st Infantry Division NCO clubs) under which Maredem would have the monopoly on snack items in the NCO clubs while Crum would have the monopoly on slot machines. Maredem wanted to take control of all operations, but it recognized that Crum was too powerful and was capable of paying larger kickbacks than Maredem.[4]: 115 

In 1973 the Department of Justice and Wooldridge reached an agreement whereby Wooldridge pleaded guilty to accepting stock equity from Maredem.[5]

Wooldridge had earlier been awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, but it was revoked following this episode. In June Collins and Robin Moore's novel Khaki Mafia, a fictional character in a criminal cartel is based on Wooldridge in South Vietnam.

CSM Charles Hayden - Thanks Chuck. I read this and after reading it, I do seem to recall a SMA having his DSM revoked. Lots of information gets lost in this tiny brain of mine!

SFC William Farrell - Happens to all of us more often than not . . . ;-0

Yoy're welcome!

Indeed it does!