Ex-Guard typist recalls memos on Bush

By James Rainey
Los Angeles Times

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

But Marian Carr Knox of Houston said she thinks four memos unveiled by CBS News last week were forgeries, not the ones she typed at the time.

Knox, 86, worked for 23 years at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston and served as a typist for Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, then Bush's squadron commander, and several other officers.

In a brief interview yesterday, she confirmed Killian had concerns about Bush's failure to take his physical examination in 1972, which prevented him from flying, and about efforts by higher-ups to protect the future president from the fallout.

Knox told several newspapers that Killian kept the personal files on Bush, and on other topics, in a desk drawer as a way of "covering his back" in anticipation of later questions about his actions. She retired in 1979, before Killian's death, and said she did not know what became of the files.

Knox said in several interviews that the four memos shown last week on CBS did not look authentic. After speaking briefly to the Times, Knox said she was tired of giving interviews and turned the phone over to her son, Patrick Carr.

Carr said he had heard his mother describe for other reporters how some terminology in the memos, including the use of "billets" and a reference to the "administrative officer," were not in common usage in the 147th Squadron, for which she worked. She said those terms sounded more like those used by the Army National Guard, her son said.

Killian died in 1984, and his views of Bush have been hotly debated by those around him, with Knox joining a former Guard officer who said that objections to Bush's service sounded like those the squadron commander would have made.

Killian's son and widow, however, have said adamantly that they do not believe he kept such "personal" records on Bush or other employees and that the officer held his young pilot in high esteem.

Gary Killian, 51, of Houston said that Knox was a "dear old lady" whom he liked but that she was not in the best position to know or recall his father's feelings of 30 years ago.

"I had more time to talk to my father and know what he thought about those things than Ms. Carr, bless her heart," Killian said last night, adding that she had "no special insight" into the matter.
 
CBS officials appeared jubilant over Knox's revelations. "While we do not believe that she is a documents expert," CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said, "it is exceptionally noteworthy that she supports the content of our story."

White House officials could not be reached for comment, but earlier, the Bush administration made its strongest statements yet rebutting the memos. Aides said Bush had recently reviewed the contested documents and told them the memos did not reflect the nature of his relationship with his commanding officer.

The debate over the memos has raged for a week in a campaign in which Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, have gone to great lengths to bolster their credentials to lead the nation as commander in chief.

A group of veterans opposing Kerry launched a campaign challenging some of the five medals he won as a combat Navy officer in Vietnam. They also said Kerry's postwar protests against U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia had damaged the morale of those who continued to fight after he left Vietnam.

Documents from the era and the vast majority of Kerry's men and commanders verified his leadership skills and bravery during the war, in which he received purple hearts for three wounds, along with a Silver Star and Bronze Star.

The debate over Bush's service began when he ran for governor of Texas in 1994. Since he won the presidency four years ago, his backers have said repeatedly that his honorable discharge is the best evidence that he served admirably.

But a six-month gap in his service in 1972 has never been completely explained, and most of the men who served at an Alabama base where Bush was supposed to have reported that year said they did not recall ever seeing him.

The discussion leapt to the fore six days ago, when the "CBS Evening News" and the network's "60 Minutes" aired reports saying Bush was fast-tracked into the Guard over other candidates and had his path to an honorable discharge cleared, despite the fact he didn't fly for his last 18 months in the service.

CBS interviewed former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes, who said that, on the request of a Bush family friend, he talked the head of the Air National Guard into giving Bush a coveted position that would keep him out of combat.

To buttress its story, the network displayed four memos it said were written at the time by Bush's by-the-books unit commander. But a tempest erupted almost immediately over the authenticity of the documents, with some experts saying the typing and spacing were unlike what would have been produced by typewriters of the era.

Knox based her objections to the memos not on the type but on the content, which she said smacked of the Army, not the Air Force.

Like every aspect of the debate, the views of the principals tended to coincide with their feelings about the election. Knox identified herself as an opponent of Bush. Killian's son, meanwhile, called himself a Republican who would vote for the president as "the best alternative."