dddddRichard R. Cole, a candidate for mayor of Chapel Hill, apologized for his

dishonesty regarding his experience in the Vietnam War as he spoke at the American

Legion meeting on Tuesday.

dddddCole, a former newspaper reporter and now the dean of the University School of Journalism

and Mass Communication, was a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam War who received the

Purple Heart for his injuries during combat.

dddddCole confessed to the 90 Legionnaires that although he had told everyone that his

leg had been seriously injured in combat in Vietnam, it had really been injured in a traffic

accident at a military base in Japan.
ddddd "I'm here to ask your forgiveness about the Purple Heart. I did earn it, but for

minor wounds, not for the big injuries I received in the car wreck," a teary-eyed Cole

said.

dddddOne of Cole's best friends was traveling with him in the military jeep and died on

the night of the accident. Cole said that it was very painful losing his best friend, and at

times he thought he was going to die from his injuries as well.

ddddd"Please forgive me," Cole said. "I can't explain why I made up this story. It was

just my way of coping."

dCole hopes that veterans will be able to look beyond his mistake and see the experience that

he would bring to the office of mayor.

"Don't let the media blow this out of proportion," Cole said. "Focus on my

qualifications, not on one mistake. Who among us has not made a mistake?"

dddddEveryone has made a mistake before, but that doesn't matter to Vietnam veteran

Edward LeCluyse of 117 Braswell Road in Chapel Hill.

ddddd"I do not want a mayor with a history of lying. The fact that he served his

country doesn't change the fact that he lied, and that means I won't vote for him,"

LeCluyse said. "That's a sign of character, at least in my opinion."

dddddOn the other hand, Piper Honigmann of 1215 Hillsborough Road in Carrboro,

found it hard to believe that Cole would be untruthful about the Purple Heart, but says

that combat does strange things to a man.

ddddd"I don't have to forgive him. He hasn't harmed me. He did his duty when it counted,"

Honigmann said.

dddddResidents will be able to make their decisions for Chapel Hill mayor on the day

of election, which is Nov. 5.