The
Washington Post issued a correction Tuesday after falsely describing the elderly Native American man whose confrontation with a group of high-school students went viral over the weekend as a veteran of the Vietnam War.
“Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam,” reads the correction to
the Sunday report titled, “‘It was getting ugly’: Native American drummer speaks on his encounter with MAGA-hat-wearing teens.”
Phillips, who conceded that he initiated the confrontation after the more complete video footage became available, also appears to have misled reporters about his military service, as he was described as a Vietnam veteran by
Vogue and the
Detroit Free Press, and, in an interview with CNN, he described himself as a “Vietnam-times veteran.”