Former teacher honored at Nellis for heroism during Vietnam War

Ron Taylor, who feels his military record was unfairly denigrated during the 2008 Clark County School Board race, took satisfaction Friday in being named a hero.

The Air Medal with Valor was presented at Nellis Air Force Base in recognition of his heroism in a Vietnam War rescue mission in 1971.

The 58-year-old believes he was given the Swift Boat treatment during the campaign in which he lost to Chris Garvey, a dental hygienist. He got 44,121 votes, losing by 856 votes, in District B, which covers northern Clark County.

"Swift Boated? Absolutely," said Taylor, referring to the 2006 commercial that criticized the record of the Democratic presidential nominee. "It was John Kerry all over again."

Gary Gray, who was Garvey's campaign consultant, responded that his Web site, therealrontaylor.com, was not an attack on Taylor's service.

"We honor his service to our country and applaud him for his valor, but we do question his erratic behavior and some of his statements, including those made about his military service," Gray said.

Gray said Taylor has openly admitted to suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, which Taylor says is true, and has trouble following authority. Gray said he was only questioning whether Taylor had the temperament for public office.

But Taylor said he and other veterans put "our lives on the lines so this moron can say he doesn't like my attitude."

Gray, who is married to Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, declined to release the text from therealrontaylor.com, which came down soon after the 2008 election.

"This is two years old," he said. "We clean out our files."

In 2008, Chip Mosher, a columnist for City Life, an alternative weekly owned by Stephens Media, which also owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, wrote that Gray's Web site "maliciously" attacked Taylor's decade-long military service.

Mosher quoted the site as saying, "Discipline and respect for rank is the most fundamental part of an operating military, but Ron Taylor didn't get this."

Mosher also wrote that the Web site "continues further to imply, without merit, that as a soldier Taylor was 'a danger to everyone.' "

Taylor said he has received 18 commendations for his service in the Army during Vietnam, including the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry for saving a 12-year-old girl from a field of land mines.

On Friday, Air Force Col. Howard D. Belote, commander of the 99th Air Base Wing, pinned the Air Medal with Valor on Taylor's chest, recognizing him for flying a helicopter into a combat zone near the borders of Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

Taylor was 19 during the 1971 mission. He still suffers nightmares and flashbacks from when his helicopter came under heavy enemy fire as it was landing.

A smoke grenade ignited and flew into Taylor's stomach, but Taylor ignored burns and fragmentation wounds to return fire with his M-60. His crippled helicopter was able to escape back to base at Khe San, according to military reports.

Taylor waited 29 years for official recognition because records were lost during a typhoon. The confusion of war also contributed in the delay because the rescue team was patched together from several different platoons, he said.

Belote said he was honored to correct the oversight. The base ceremony that also recognized heroes of the Afghanistan war and Air Force personnel for professionalism and community service.

Taylor, a recently retired teacher who specialized in computer science, invited Superintendent Walt Rulffes, School Board President Terri Janison, and Garvey to the ceremony. Both Rulffes and Janison sent along their messages of gratitude and praise for Taylor's military service, but said they could not make the ceremony because of conflicts.

But Taylor did not get any response from Garvey, who also did not respond to a phone call seeking comment. Taylor said Garvey has always distanced herself from the Web site.

"This should haunt her. She says it was not her Web site, but she was the candidate. They were doing this on her behalf," Taylor said.

Taylor is an outspoken critic of the school district who believes the teachers union is in collusion with the administration and that School Board members are stooges of the construction companies that fund their campaigns. He has filed numerous labor complaints against the union and the district.

He has vowed to run for the School Board again in 2012.

"I'm like the sleeping bear they shouldn't have awakened," Taylor said.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@review journal.com or 702-374-7917.