Lynn Packer was the journalist who did the most to out Paul Dunn, particularly his war and baseball fabrications.

I wonder what Packer would say about Thomas Monson's stories about "Arthur Patton", as discussed in Angel Cowgirl's thread and by the "Stake President" blog.

So, is TSM a liar or a dementia sufferer? Well, I guess you can be both. But did people really totally blow off the

Steve Benson, didn't you come into contact with Lynn Packer during the course of this? I seem to remember something about the Arizona Republic.

I actually printed out, about two years ago (?), talks given by TSM about his "boyhood friend" Arthur Patton. The talks were given decades apart and detail the service and death (in WWII)of Arthur Patton on different ships, in different battles, and in different years. And the kicker...in the listing of Utah war dead there is no Arthur Patton (or Patten"). I posted about this on NOM (?) and Post Mormon Org. I think it must have gotten some interest. I wanted to see a serious journalist look at this story and other TSM stories. Where there is one lie there are bound to be others. If we wait too long people who may remember people may die and we won't be able to expose the truth.

So, I hope Lynn Packer or somebody does look at this.

1. I never believed Paul H. Dunn.
2. Monson was telling a story second-hand and changes are not surprising. One can presume that he has been making changes as he finds out about his errors.
3. Monson has absolutely no ability to figure out truth as witness his retelling the myth about the cream strippings. Clearly, Monson has no ability to get revelations.

I had started a sentence,

"But did people really totally blow off the Paul Dunn thing?"

It was a rhetorical question. Of course they did. But I just looked at the Deseret Book website and found only a handful of Paul Dunn products. At one time he was a major bullshit factory.

It would be interesting to see your lists put up as a table of comparisons. Of course, it would be giving in to the promptings of The Adversary. ;)

RAG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "But did people really totally blow off the Paul
> Dunn thing?"
>
> It was a rhetorical question. Of course they did.


Agreed. While still figuring my way out of The Village, I told a friend who was into Paul H. Dunn stuff that I heard it was all BS. Friend's reply? "Yeah...." That was his whole reply. He learned it was BS and that's all he could say to defend his precious little cult. Well, good riddance and good luck with raising 6 kids in the cult with no clue that he's being mind raped and robbed blind.

As far as Paul H. Dunn goes, I know I never listened to any of his talks after that debacle. I also never took spirichul feel-good feelings during a talk as a measure of truth after that, either. But I did remain a loyal member of the church.

But since Salt Lake media protects the boys in the COB I doubt it will go anywhere.

The "Republic" ran them as a sidebar (included in a major multi-part special section produced by the newspaper's investigative team on the Mormon Church back in 1991), with attribution to Lynn--which resulted in Dunn "coincidentally" being put out to pasture on emeritus status. Mormon Utah Senator Orrin Hatch phoned me directly and asked me to intervene in order to get Lynn off his Dunn investigation, telling me that Dunn was a friend of his. I asked Hatch if he knew anything about the details of Lynn's research that had uncovered Dunn's lies. Hatch said he did not. I declined his request, since I did not think it was at all appropriate for me to interfere with a good reporter who was doing his job. (I have posted about this episode and other related events separately on the board at: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,310841,310841#msg-310841).

Over the years, Lynn and I have chatted about various matters, including his own request that I illustrate the cover for a book he was planning to do on Dunn's war story and baseball career fabrications. (That never took on serious momentum, for some reason).

Lynn and I also talked about my grandfather's chelation treatments which ETB received in a Las Vegas clinic during his latter years and which Lynn eventually wrote about as part of an excellent story of his in a local Salt Lake weekly. I provided Lynn with some background information for that story, along with a copy of a so-called "chelation letter," which pointed to the secret treatments ETB was receiving.

Lynn also shared with me his thoughts about his uncle, Boyd K. Packer, whom he regarded with some fondness and who he noted to me was an accomplished wildlife sculptor and painter.
_____


I would think that the "Salt Lake City Weekly" (which published Lynn's ETB chelation story when it was known as the "Private Eye Weekly") might be interested in looking into Monson's Patton story.



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2011 11:20PM by steve benson.

and completely omits the description as to how and when Arthur supposedly died. But it does identify the mother as a Mrs. Terese Patton living in Pomona California.

http://ldsliving.com/story/4170-fhe-you-are-not-alone

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2011 12:11AM by steve benson.

In the earlier 1969 story he has the hapless Arthur sinking to the bottom on a completely different ship. Then in the 2007 story he has Arthur being "lost at sea" when the White Plains did not really see the kind of action that would account for that. This was supposedly someone who was a close friend of Tommy's and Tommy supposedly went to Mrs. Patton's house often to hear news of Arthur--but then he can't keep straight how it was that Arthur perished. If something like that had happened to a personal friend of mine when I was in High School, you can be sure that those particulars would have been burned into my brain.

"Oh, and then I remember when I hear of my close friend's death in car crash...or was it a train crash...or was it a pig falling off a truck onto his head. Well, I can't remember the particulars, but the important thing was me, me, me and how I was so spiritually mature that I was able to comfort his bereaved mother and help her learn about the beautiful principles of the Gospel...yeah, that's what's important." ;o)

I wonder if Terese Patton even exists. It's a nice touch to give a complete name, but the footnote given in Monson's article simply refers to "personal correspondence of Thomas S. Monson.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,310864



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2011 12:56AM by steve benson.

An image of a typed file card relating to a Utah Military Service member, for service year 1941, is now up at Ancestry. Filed under Utah Military Service Years, 1861-1970:

Arthur Frank Patton, Navy; mother: Teresa Patton, 533 So. 2nd W, SLC.

No DOB, no DOD, years of service, rank, or other details included on the card itself.

Typed notation in lower right hand of card is: Enl-no. Bk#1, Pg 22. Below that is noted: c.l. Trib 12-12-41.

. . . lack such basic information? (Note: While the "ancestry.com" website does have the "typed file card" information to which reference has been made as well as some other data on this Patton individual, there is no date of KIA, or of death of any kind).

Second, since it is "now up on Ancestry," when, exactly, did it go up and who put it up?

Perhaps most importantly, an examination is in order of the following nationally-comprehensive online U.S. military record for "[c]asualties listed represent[ing] only those on active duty in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, resulting directly from enemy action or from operational activities against the enemy in war zones from December 7, 1941, to the end of the war. Casualties in the United States area or as a result of disease, homicide, or suicide in any location are not included. This is a State summary taken from casualty lists released by the Navy Department, corrected as to the most recent casualty status and recorded residence of next of kin."

Said information is available for direct online examination in:

"State Summary of War Casualties [Utah], U.S. Navy 1946, Compiled July 1946 by Casualty Section, Office of Public Information, Navy Department," under "Killed in Action, Died of Wounds, or Lost Lives as Result of Operational Movements in War Zones," alphabetized by name under "P," in "Dead" section, p. 5, at: http://archives.utah.gov/research/guides/wwii-navy-war-casualties-utah.pdf

Search result: No name listed for "Arthur Frank Patton" or "Arthur Frank Patten" (Neither is this particular "Patton/Patten" individual listed in the document's section of "Missing in Action or During Operational War Missions").



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2011 02:55PM by steve benson.

We need to find a Tribune dated 12-12-41, I think.

Someone may have just looked at an old newspaper image and typed up a group of servicemember's names from an article in that. Or used a printed list of servicemen returning to the area which featured in it, or taken it from an obit.

Other typed military service cards I viewed for Utah, for the same period, including Thomas S. Monson's card, are preprinted; info to complete the cards is typed into the labeled spaces by whoever submitted the card.

In this Arthur's case, the card appears to be a lined file card, like a blank contemporary index card; the info for this Arthur was typed on the card's existing lines.

There is nothing preprinted (professionally, or otherwise) on the card itself.

I suppose if the submitters ran out of preprinted cards, they might have just grabbed a plain index card and used that, but I am surprised they didn't stick to what seems to be the standard format.

Different groups of volunteer submitters over time do often use different methods, but they typically try to incude all the same basic info as before/as is typical or expected for that category of submission.

At the very least, try to include some of the same information as was recorded on what looks like the majority of the other cards in the same grouping or period.

ie: Age, DOB, where the soldier entered the service, service location, date of discharge, occupation at time of entering the service, etc as on Monson's card.

you were only supposed to listen to those stories closely enough to have them make you feel good, not so closely that you could glean details and then pick them apart!

study the gospel.... BUT NOT LIKE THAT!

Maybe emailing the details to the Salt Lake Tribune or City Weekly.

The "nara.gov" website lists Utah war dead with pertinent information (city of residence of parents, rank, etc.). There is only a "Kenneth Bingham Patten, Seaman 1c. USN, Parents Mr. and Mrs. George Edwin Patten 250 S. 3d East, Payson" listed.

I know other sources may list similar information (I used to do alot of genealogy...), but this source is the official government source. If someone could find an Arthur Patten in a 1930 and/or 1940 US Census, maybe some more information could be gleaned. I don't think the church could fake that information. The "new" listing on Ancestory looks, weird. But hey, even paranoid people get followed sometimes, right?

Apparently, in 1969, the real miracle is that Mrs. Patton happened to be neighbors of an LDS couple in California that invited her to listen to the very session of conference in their home wherein Monson mentioned the story.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/51186/Akin-to-a-miracle.html

Was LDS general conference broadcast in California in 1969? When I was a kid in Virignia and Colorado in the 1970"s we used to have to go to the church and listen to the broadcasts.

That's a great catch.

I could not find an "Arthur Patton" who fit the right range on the LDS Church's family history website, but I did find this in the Social Security Death Index:

Terese Patton
DOB: 11/28/1894
Place of Issuance [of SS #]: UTAH
DOD: June 1980
Last Residence: Visalia, California

In his 2007 talk, TSM identified "Mrs. Patton" as one Terese Patton of Pomona, California (which is around 200 miles or so from Visalia). Using the above dates, she would have been 31 years old at the time of Arthur's birth in 1925 (which date is based on Arthur's joining the Navy in 1940 at age 15, per Monson). So this data in the SS index appears consistent with the Terese Patton as described by Monson.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2011 03:18PM by steve benson.

. . . penchant for also telling exaggerated war stories. :)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2014 06:24PM by steve benson.

What about the SL Tribune? Would they be interested in your research Steve?