Man Under Fire For Use Of POW Term
St. Johns County Man Has Been Battling Officials Over Gun Range
Richard Willich explains what he meant when he said he was a POW.
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. -- The case of a St. Johns County man who's been battling county officials over a gun range on his property continues.
The man referred to himself as a "prisoner of war" when talking to Channel 4 last week about his plans for a Leaded Tea Party over Labor Day weekend.
While Richard Willich retired from the Marine Corps as a lieutenant colonel and received a purple heart, he's coming under fire for the way he used the POW term.
"I was a prisoner of war briefly in Vietnam," Willich said Friday. "I kind of felt like that again. Their attitude towards me was that aggressive, that arrogant controlling. You know, I felt like a POW."
Willich was talking about a dispute with St. Johns County after they told him the gun range on his company's property in Nocatee was against county code.
They also told him he had to file a permit to use the range at his upcoming public Leaded Tea Party.
Since that story aired, Channel 4 has received several phone calls and e-mails from people who said Willich is not a prisoner of war.
After the story aired, the POW Network, a nonprofit for POW's, did some research and now lists him as a phony on their Web site. And he's not listed as a POW with the Department of Defense.
So Tuesday, Channel 4's Laura Mazzeo asked him to explain.
"I was in a situation in Vietnam where I was wounded, but how I was wounded was running across a rice paddy I fell into -- what's called a punji trap," Willich said. "The enemy had taken that part of the battle field, so that night I was a prisoner of war for a night. In the morning, the Marines had attacked back across the battlefield."
Mary Shantag, a researcher with the POW Network, isn't buying what Willich said.
"His story is as bogus as they come, and we've heard it over and over before," Shantag said. "If you're in a pit and there's no enemy guard, then you're not a POW."
Added Willich: "When I told a reporter that I felt like a prisoner of war, I was referring to an incident in Vietnam. I've not been classified as a prisoner of war. I never asked to be classified as a prisoner of war, and I don't intend to."
Shantag said even if Willich meant he felt like a prisoner of war, he shouldn't have used the term.
"He felt he was a POW," Shantag said. "No, you don't know what it's like to be chained to a bed if you were not."
"They can call me whatever they want to call me," Willich said. "If you're on the firefight and you're separated from your men, and then enemy is there, how do you feel?"
© 2009 by News4Jax.com
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Shooting range owner says POW claim was misstatement
Friend defends a St. Johns man involved in a permit squabble.
By Timothy J. Gibbons
A St. Johns County man whose gun range is under siege for violating zoning regulations had to handle a different fight Tuesday: Cleaning up a mess brought on by what one friend referred to as "running off at the mouth."
Richard Willich is fighting with county code enforcement officials who want to shut down a shooting range he has in Nocatee, a planned unit development in which such ranges are not an approved use. Willich is planning a Labor Day weekend "Leaded Tea Party" there.
During an interview with WJXT TV-4 about the squabble, Willich compared the experience to being captured in Vietnam.
"I was a prisoner of war briefly, Vietnam," Willich said. "I kind of felt like that again. Their attitude toward me was that aggressive, that arrogant, controlling. I felt like a POW."
Within hours of making the statement, Willich's picture was posted on pownetwork.org with the notation "Never a POW."
"As soon as an article hits anywhere, we start getting reports," said Mary Schantag, an historian with P.O.W. Network. "You got a lot of veterans out there. This stuff spreads like wildfire."
But Willich said Tuesday he was referring to a night he spent in captivity during a firefight in Vietnam.
"I never claimed to be classified as a POW," he said. "I have never claimed to be anything that I wasn't."
During the battle, he said, he became separated from his unit and was captured by the enemy. He said he was rescued after being held in a hut for several hours.
The law authorizing a medal for prisoners of war says only that it is for military personnel "taken prisoner and held captive," without specifying a length of time.
Willich's public biography mentions that he received the Purple Heart while a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam, but does not say he was a POW.
This case isn't the same as the fraudulent POWs rightly called out by organizations like P.O.W. Network, said Dick Stratton, a friend of Willich who spent
years as a POW in Vietnam.
"The guy was running off at the mouth and tripped over his tongue," Stratton said. "I know what he's done for veterans. He's not one of the slimebags."
Willich said Tuesday that, looking back, he should have chosen his words better.
"In a firefight, I was separated from my unit and under the control of the enemy," he said. "Maybe I should have just said I was separated and captured."