He was actually assigned to the 119th for a few months in mid- to late 1970, then finished his year with the 187th AHC. Other than that, he's a neffin liar who should be in the slammer, not worth the time to talk about him:
Flag Flap Exposes Phony POW
14 July, 2009
P.M. UPDATE: Officials say Wagoner man was never prisoner of war as he claims
A man who appeared before the Muskogee City Council on Monday night and identified himself as a former prisoner of war never was, spokespersons for national prisoner of war/missing in action groups said Tuesday.
Jim Lowrey of Wagoner said Tuesday he doesn't know why anyone would say he was never captured and held by the Vietnamese.
He said he was a machine gunner in a helicopter shot down near the Cambodian border on Jan. 13, 1969, and the three other men on board were killed.
He gave two of their names as O'Brian and Waters.
Mary Schantag of the POW Network of Branson, Mo., said records from the Vietnam War show there were 19 servicemen and women killed that day. None of them was named O'Brian or Waters. Neither was there any last name close to either of those, she said.
Lowrey said he was held four months before escaping one day when his captors opened his cage door to allow him to go to the bathroom.
He said he was debriefed, then rejoined his company to continue in the war.
Schantag said POWs were sent to Germany after debriefing and then to the Philippines before being returned home.
Lowrey said his name never made any list of those taken prisoner or missing in action because he "never wanted to make a big deal of it."
©Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. - CNHI
Muskogee Phoenix
LOWREY, JIMMY L
AKA JIM LOWREY
aka "CHOPPER"
Phoenix, AZ 07/2009
By Liz McMahan
Phoenix Staff Writer
Jim Lowrey of Wagoner choked back tears as he told the Muskogee City Council on Monday night of his experiences as a prisoner of war and his conviction that the POW-MIA flag should be flown at the Muskogee Civic Center.
Merle Haggard would be proud: Old Glory flies at the courthouse and within a few weeks, the POW-MIA flag should be flying at the Civic Center.
Veterans from the area and across the state packed the Muskogee City Council meeting Monday night with a standing-room-only crowd that clapped and cheered supporters of the idea of flying the black and white flag in addition to the American and Oklahoma flags.
They practically booed and hissed when they thought councilors were taking the other side of the argument.
The council finally agreed to instruct City Manager Greg Buckley and City Attorney John Vincent to prepare a proposal for the July 27 council meeting to ensure the POW-MIA flag would be flown at the Civic Center — on a flagpole separate from the American and state flags.
It took several months of prodding and campaigning by veterans groups and the Blue Star Mothers to get a pole installed to fly the American flag at the center.
That flagpole was dedicated July 2.
In the meantime, the cry went up among veterans for the third flag to be flown.
They hammered that point to the council Monday night.
Among those speaking was Jim Lowrey of Wagoner, a former prisoner of war.
He and others offered for the veterans groups to raise money for the additional flagpoles if money was the problem.
“We don’t want to bicker and fight about who flies this flag,” Lowrey said. “You don’t have to put it up, but if you don’t I’m going to be awfully disappointed.”
He said he had spent four months as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.
“You have never lived until you’ve almost died,” he said. “I challenge the city council of Muskogee to fly the POW-MIA flag.”
After the meeting, Lowrey made no apology for his state of being near tears while addressing the council.
“It’s (the cause) sacred to me,” he said.
Dear Editors:
Reference your 14 July 2009 Story "POW-MIA Flag to Fly" http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_195020411.html
No man named Jim Lowrey was ever with any one of us, the real 661 POWsof the Vietnam War who survived, nor is he known by the Department ofDefense in this regard. He owes you and the fine citizens of your community an apology. He is a "wannabe" who should be ashamed to have defrauded you.
For a list of the 3,797 MIAs (to include all POWs), please go to the DoD official web site. Mr. Lowrey is not listed: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/files.htm
For a list of the more than 2,000 phony POW wannabes, like Mr. Lowrey, go to the POW Network site. I suspect his name will soon show up there: http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies1022.htm
Sincerely,
Captain John M McGrath, USN (Ret)
POW in North Vietnam for 5 years 8 months
NAM-POIWs Historian
www.nampows.org
PM UPDATE: Officials say Wagoner man was never prisoner of war as ...
Muskogee Daily Phoenix - Muskogee,OK,USA
Mary Schantag of the POW Network of Branson, Mo., said records from the Vietnam War show there were 19 servicemen and women killed that day. ...
VIDEO AVAIL ABOVE LINK:
07/15/2009
Name of man claiming to be prison of war can’t be found on official lists
refer to video online.
w/photo slugged lm Flag mcmahan.tif in News
By Liz McMahan
Phoenix Staff Writer
Jim Lowrey said he “never made a big deal” out of being a prisoner of war and still doesn’t want to, but representatives of national organizations said that may be because he was never a POW.
Lowrey said he was on the verge of tears as he told the Muskogee City Council on Monday night that he had been held four months in a tiger cage during the Vietnam War before he escaped.
“It’s sacred to me,” he said afterwards of wanting the POW-MIA flag flown at the Muskogee Civic Center.
He carried the black and white POW-MIA flag to the podium with him and said because he was a former POW, he was the only one at the meeting who really had the right to talk about the reasons for flying the flag.
In a Tuesday interview, Lowrey said he didn’t know why anyone would say he was never a POW. He said he was manning a machine gun aboard a helicopter when it was shot down on Jan. 13, 1969, near the Cambodian border. The three other men on board were killed in the crash, he said.
He gave two of their last names as O’Brian and Waters.
Mary Schantag of the POW Network of Branson, Mo., said records from the Vietnam War show there were 19 servicemen and women killed that day. None of them was named O’Brian or Waters. Neither was there any last name close to either of those, she said.
Lowrey said he was held four months before escaping one day when his captors opened his cage door to allow him to go to the bathroom.
He said he was debriefed for a couple of weeks in Saigon, then rejoined his company to continue in the war.
Schantag said POWs were sent to Germany after debriefing and then to the Philippines before being returned home.
Anyone ever held by the Vietcong was so tortured and so undernourished that when they got free, they were in such bad physical condition that they would never have been allowed to return to combat.
Lowrey said his name never made any list of those taken prisoner or missing in action because he “never wanted to make a big deal of it.”
Schantag said Lowrey’s military records show he was trained for helicopter repair and “grunt” infantry — “guys that were on the ground.”
She said he served 14 years in the U.S. Army and was a sergeant at the time of his discharge.
After that, he served several years as a Wagoner County deputy sheriff and as an investigator for a collection agency.
Lowrey said he now receives 100 percent disability from the Veterans Administration as well as Social Security disability.
That veterans’ disability is related to post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
Doug Sterner of homeofheroes.com in Pueblo, Colo., which is dedicated to preserving the history of recipients of the Medal of Honor, said Lowrey’s name doesn’t appear on the list of people taken prisoner of war during Vietnam.
Sterner said there is no chance that Lowrey was a prisoner of war, and his name was not included on the Department of Defense’s official list.
Lowrey said Tuesday that while in the service he had received the Prisoner of War Medal, the Air Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Leaf and other medals. On the leather motorcycle jacket he wore Monday night, there were patches showing he had received the Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart.
If he is claiming those decorations without having earned them, he could be guilty of a federal crime of stolen valor, Sterner said. That is punishable by up to six months in prison for the POW medal and a year for claims of a Purple Heart, Sterner said. A false claim of a bronze star could also carry a six-month prison term.
Sterner has been instrumental in the prosecution of several people falsely claiming to be war heroes, he said.
In an Associated Press story published earlier this year, it is reported 661 officially recognized prisoners of war returned alive from Vietnam, and 100 of those have since died. However, there are 966 purported Vietnam POWs getting disability payments, according to a report from the VA.
“I get one a day at least (report of false claim of someone being a POW),” Sterner said.
“Unfortunately, the vast number of them get away with it,” he said. “I got a call from a reporter last week. A guy I had busted last year was sentenced to a $500 fine and sentenced to 100 hours of community service, and he turned in his letter from the VFW to the judge showing he had done his community service and the letter was a forgery. He’s on his way back to court.”
He said his stories go on and on.
“Congress named a post office for a phony last year,” he said. “We busted eight guys in Seattle. They got $1.4 million in VA benefits. None of the eight had never even served in combat, and two had never even been in the military and they were getting VA benefits.”