“…A Marine Special Forces officer has been promoted in retirement after the Navy acknowledged that he was falsely accused of war crimes for leading his men through a terrorist ambush.
The Board for Correction of Naval Records admitted that Marine Maj. Fred Galvin was railroaded when he led the Corps’ first special operations unit (MARSOC) into Afghanistan. In March 2007 his unit was attacked by a suicide bomb followed by small arms fire from terrorists. Galvin and his men returned fire, killing 12 enemies, only to see senior military leaders and investigators accuse his men of massacring civilians.
MARSOC was withdrawn from the region before any investigation was completed. The men were put on trial only to be exonerated after it was discovered that the prosecution “was in possession of overwhelmingly clear evidence” and “suppressed exculpating evidence” that the Marines acted in self-defense. The board found that Maj. Galvin not only acted appropriately but paid a career-ending price for the animosity of senior brass looking for a scapegoat. The report cited one officer’s conclusion that Galvin “was beset by a perfect storm of toxic officers.”
“The convoy’s response was irreproachable… the magnitude of [the initial investigator’s] errors cannot be overstated,” the report says. “The adverse fitness report is inequitable and unjust because it was not fair to relieve him.”
The report said that Galvin should be promoted to lieutenant colonel and given back pay, while also removing the negative reports attached to his record that were associated with the false accusations. Galvin was pleased that the department had finally admitted he was wrongfully accused…”