678 - Douglas Stringfellow

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
Episode 678 - Douglas Stringfellow
Release Date: April 8, 2025

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Introduction to Douglas Stringfellow

In Episode 678 of The Dollop, hosts Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds delve into the intriguing and questionable life of Douglas Stringfellow, a figure who purportedly rose to prominence through fabricated war heroics during and after World War II. The episode meticulously unpacks Stringfellow's rise, the embellishments of his military service, and the eventual unraveling of his deceit.

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Early Life and Education

Douglas Stringfellow was born on September 24, 1922, in Draper, Utah, to parents Henry and Naomi Bertha Stringfellow. During his youth, the family relocated to Ogden, a significant railway hub east of Salt Lake City. An early indication of his later propensity for storytelling is seen when, in 1938, Stringfellow received a peculiar assignment to study the "artistic arrangement of colors and vegetables and fruit," which Gareth humorously interpreted as "field work" (04:00).

Stringfellow excelled in athletics, becoming a high school football star, and maintained a strong affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). After graduating in 1941, he attended Weaver Junior College, continuing his involvement in football and joining the local Excelsior Club.

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Military Service and Heroic Claims

With the outbreak of World War II, Douglas enlisted in the Army in April 1943. Initially, he was slated for an engineering course at the University of Cincinnati but was soon deployed to Europe with Company C, 62nd Armored Infantry Battalion (15:02). However, Stringfellow never saw combat. On November 19, 1944, while participating in routine mine-clearing operations in France, a mine explosion severely injured his spine, rendering him paralyzed from the neck down with only partial use of his legs (15:14).

Despite his injuries, Stringfellow became a prominent speaker within the LDS community, recounting embellished tales of his supposed valor. His speeches often included grandiose claims, such as capturing Dr. Otto Hahn, the father of nuclear fission, and leading daring missions behind enemy lines (26:04).

Notable Quote:

Dave Anthony [26:33]: "Now the biggest..."

Gareth Reynolds [26:33]: "I actually..."

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Post-War Life and Speaking Engagements

Released from the hospital in December 1945, Stringfellow married Lee Lemon in May 1946. He utilized his alleged military accolades to secure numerous speaking engagements, becoming a sought-after orator at LDS events, Boy Scouts meetings, and even national conventions. His charisma and fabricated stories garnered him standing ovations and prestigious awards, including the National Americanism Award from the Junior Chamber of Commerce (53:14).

Gareth and Dave highlight how Stringfellow's storytelling prowess allowed him to ascend socially and politically, despite the dubious nature of his claims (24:34).

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Political Career and Integrity Issues

In the early 1950s, Stringfellow ventured into politics, running for the House of Representatives. His campaign was heavily centered on his embellished military record, which was met with both admiration and skepticism. As his notoriety grew, so did the inconsistencies in his stories, raising questions among peers and the public (54:15).

Notable Quote:

Dave Anthony [55:00]: "You wouldn't be a doll Philip."

Gareth Reynolds [55:03]: "Yeah, but you can't possibly like he's..."

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Investigation and Exposure

Stringfellow's fabricated war heroics eventually drew scrutiny. Investigations by the Army Times and local newspapers began to uncover discrepancies in his military records. A pivotal moment occurred when Dr. Otto Hahn publicly denied being captured by Stringfellow, contradicting his tales (63:04).

Despite these revelations, Stringfellow maintained his innocence initially, leading to tension within the LDS community and political circles. Under mounting pressure, he finally admitted that his war stories were entirely false during a televised confession, expressing regret and shedding tears over his deceit (67:39).

Notable Quote:

Dave Anthony [67:12]: "Here are the facts. I never participated in any secret behind the lines mission for our government..."

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Later Life and Legacy

Post-confession, Stringfellow's reputation suffered irreparable damage. Attempts to salvage his legacy through a book and further speaking engagements failed, leading to a decline in his public presence. He eventually moved to Mexico to escape the humiliation and later returned to California, where he continued painting until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1966 at the age of 44 (77:40).

Gareth and Dave reflect on the broader implications of Stringfellow's story, emphasizing the dangers of unchecked hero worship and the ease with which one can manipulate narratives for personal gain (81:53).

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Conclusion

The episode serves as a cautionary tale about the allure of fabricated heroism and the critical importance of verifying historical accounts. Through their engaging and humorous dialogue, Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds shed light on Douglas Stringfellow's complex persona, ultimately revealing the tragic consequences of his deceit.

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Notable Quotes:

• Gareth Reynolds [07:02]: "I'm not mean."
• Dave Anthony [24:38]: "He's also a very big LDS speaker."
• Gareth Reynolds [53:30]: "I can't hear any more of the names of these functions."
• Dave Anthony [68:06]: "They raised almost nothing, so it's all fine."
• Gareth Reynolds [81:22]: "You are a liar."

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Key Takeaways:

• Douglas Stringfellow leveraged fabricated military achievements to gain social and political standing.
• His charismatic storytelling initially brought him acclaim but eventually led to public scrutiny and downfall.
• The episode highlights the importance of integrity and the potential harm of glorifying unverifiable heroism.

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Sources Cited in Episode:

• Salt Lake Tribune
• Ogden Standard Examiner
• Lindsay Gazette
• Deseret News
• Associated Press
• Time Magazine
• Evening Star
• Washington Post
• Historytogo.utah.gov

Transcript

[Dave Anthony]

The Dollop is going on tour in June 2025. We will be in Sacramento on June 3rd. We'll be in Boise, Idaho, on June 4th, Spokane on June 5th, Seattle on June 6th, Portland on June 7th, Bend, Oregon, on June 8th, and San Francisco on June 10th. Go to the dollop podcast.com to get all our tour links for tickets. You're listening to the Doll. It's an American history podcast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Why are you. Why, why, why? Why are you mad?

[Dave Anthony]

Why with this guy?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Why do the intro proper.

[Dave Anthony]

You're mean.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm not mean.

[Dave Anthony]

You're mean, man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm. You're. You. Gareth. Threaddles, do the intro. This is. You can't. Jesus Christ. It's like there's no call for professionalism on the show at all. The bar is so low. The bar is so low. And you refute. You mail in the intro to a podcast. There's someone right now in a mine listening to this, like, coughing up coal. They're like, boy, Dave really had a hard time with that intro on his podcast that he does from his home.

[Dave Anthony]

Look, if you're coughing up coal, you need to talk to your shop steward because you should not be ingesting the coal.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You are.

[Dave Anthony]

Does that make sense?

[Gareth Reynolds]

It makes sense. That's why we're putting the kids on the mind. Dave. Three, two, one.

[Dave Anthony]

You're listening to the Dollop.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on.

[Dave Anthony]

It's an American history podcast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

Each week I gave Anthony.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Gareth Reynolds, who has no idea what the topic.

[Dave Anthony]

Is going to be about.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Better, I guess. I don't know.

[Dave Anthony]

Is it?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Dave Anthony]

Are you better? How do you feel?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good.

[Dave Anthony]

You started this.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I did not.

[Dave Anthony]

Gareth, we're gonna be on tour.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Damn right.

[Dave Anthony]

Should I know the dates before I say that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. I think the whole thing is that people. People love to hear you discover the dates along with me.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, that's okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

June.

[Dave Anthony]

It is in June.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We're gonna.

[Dave Anthony]

June. We're gonna go on tour. We're gonna start in Sacramento on June 3rd, and then it's every day, this tour, then the next day, Boise, Idaho, and then it's Spokane, Washington. Then it's Seattle, Washington.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're making people do the date.

[Dave Anthony]

Oregon. Yeah. It's all right. And then Bend, Oregon, and then we end on June 10th in San Francisco, California.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's right.

[Dave Anthony]

Go. Go get tickets@dollar podcast.com tour.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's right.

[Dave Anthony]

And. And that's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think that's.

[Dave Anthony]

That's. Yeah, I think we wouldn't have anything else to say about that. Right? That's the whole.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We Got to get some more dates queued up, too. I don't think we have any coming up, do we?

[Dave Anthony]

After that, I think they're in motion.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, being set.

[Dave Anthony]

I love check. You could check with the people that do that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You could also do that. Well, I know that one of them is listening. I know that the great te is the teach listening. Probably.

[Dave Anthony]

He loves the fart chair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He loves the fart chair. He'll text me every once in a while, and he'll be like, you said the wrong date. He never goes, what a great. Sometimes he'll go like, that was a great episode. But other times he'll just be like, hey, real quick, you gave the wrong. The wrong city.

[Dave Anthony]

That's fair. That's fair. Because that's what we do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep.

[Dave Anthony]

And you more often than me.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm not good at this.

[Dave Anthony]

No, no one said you were.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, they were. Right.

[Dave Anthony]

How about this? Okay, so this is one we did live in Utah, and they didn't record it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Gee.

[Dave Anthony]

September 24, 1922. Let me see if you remember it off the name. Douglas Stringfellow was born in Draper, Utah, to parents Henry and Naomi. Bertha.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. Well, first of all, Bertha birthed him. No recollection. I vaguely remember that. I think you're overestimating how much I'll remember this.

[Dave Anthony]

I don't think so.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

When he was young, I really. I really think this is one you'll remember. When he was young, his parents moved to Ogden.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Utah. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

It's about 10 miles east of Salt Lake City, and Ogden was a railway hub and the second largest city in the state. And in 1938, the Ogden Stanner examiner wrote that Doug had received special out a special outdoor assignment from his instructor for, quote, studying the artistic arrangement of colors and vegetables and fruit.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What? That's the best pass to get possible. So he's just. He's just off. He's just doing field work.

[Dave Anthony]

He's. He. I think that's part of his class.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the best. That's what it should be.

[Dave Anthony]

I agree.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If. If it were that, like, I was. On what level did you dread school when you were a kid?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, sometimes, yes, but we had, like. We had, like. Okay. The best thing that happened in elementary school was there a guy who brought, like, discarded items. Garbage. Like, stuff. And then we would make art out of it, and they would just dump it on the playground, and then we would make art Great.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Real ripe for poking jokes about a guy who just dumps a bunch of trash and then tells the kids to make paintings or something. I'm talking about older. What about. What about 14? What's your level of dread with school?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, my French class was in the first period in one semester. I went three times.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, so you're just a nerd.

[Dave Anthony]

No, three times.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, three times total.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I thought you meant you kept showing up for class like, hello, teacher.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, my God.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What is bonus round?

[Dave Anthony]

No, I went three times.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I hated school so much. I like, couldn't. It shows on the knowledge I've. I've come into the show with, but I. I could not handle it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Let me ask you if you were, like, going to go garden or if you were going to learn how to make things.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, well.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Or you were going to. You know, that sort of stuff would be enjoyable.

[Dave Anthony]

Let me ask you a question. Do you think school liked you?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, I actually have many records of it suggesting that I was a major problem at it.

[Dave Anthony]

So. Douglas was an athlete and a football star in high school, and he obviously was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which we will call Mormons. They don't want to be called Mormons, but I don't care.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, first of all, rude.

[Dave Anthony]

Have a nickname.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I have to look at it. What the.

[Dave Anthony]

What's the new nickname of them?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, what are they? They're not Mormons.

[Dave Anthony]

They don't want to be called Mormons because like everybody else, they had a big molestation scandal when they want to.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Rebrand the reboot Jesus.

[Dave Anthony]

The rebooters.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, the rebooters.

[Dave Anthony]

All right. He graduated in 1941 and went to Weaver Junior College where he played football, and he became a member of the local excelsior club.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, boy. Fucking.

[Dave Anthony]

I assume that's just guys running around shouting excelsior.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I can't imagine anything else. Yeah, what else could it possibly be?

[Dave Anthony]

And in that case, I'm for it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I am kind of into it, too.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You should see me trying to spell excelsior right now. It's.

[Dave Anthony]

No, it's got to be an absolute nightmare again, as people just heard, you basically didn't go to school and just stared at squirrels like, how come I can't be one of them?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is it possible to just join their little. Can I go into their tree homes? You mean nest. Whatever it's called.

[Dave Anthony]

Can I get credit for math for hanging out with the squirrels?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hey, look, history is a real blind spot for me, but I've learned to pet a squirrel in the park.

[Dave Anthony]

Almost killed a squirrel yesterday.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, God. Your Temper's out of control.

[Dave Anthony]

Not. Not with a stare or the fists.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, oh.

[Dave Anthony]

Driving my car, I came running out and I had to swerve because they don't. They don't get it. They don't get it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Look, their brains are little and they gotta cross a road. I'm definite saying they're overwhelmed. But by the way, if I don't know how many squirrels listen to this show, if you're a squirrel, just dart.

[Dave Anthony]

Enough with the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Enough with the thinking. Get out there.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, the whole I'm going to go through with this no matter what's happening is not a good idea.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well or no, but I think a lot of the danger comes in the like, hey, I'm going to go halfway out and then peel back.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, there's that also. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you got to get over there, get over there.

[Dave Anthony]

What about this look both ways?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, I think they do. Look, it's a lot, but I'm saying just, it's like when a running back is like doing moves in the backfield. Just pound the goddamn hole. Squirrels.

[Dave Anthony]

Ew. In October 1942, the local paper reported Douglas had shot a 150 pound buck on the family ranch.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Nice.

[Dave Anthony]

So this is partially just an example of how there's not a lot of news in his town.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's a. I mean, yeah. Normally you go by points on the.

[Dave Anthony]

Buck, but in February 1943, the signpost, which is a paper said he took part in charm discussions during girls week events.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hey, 1943, girls week events. Charm conversations. Not a lot to love.

[Dave Anthony]

Quote. Lectures and roundtable discussions on the subject of charm were features of the AWS annual charm week.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Definitely concerning. Definitely how to cross your legs. Like from a guy.

[Dave Anthony]

I also feel like they. In college they used to do stuff that they now might do in high school.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, it's all very. It's. Well, what. What kind of refinement classes were there for guys? There was nothing.

[Dave Anthony]

No, they didn't need them. No. They're already refined.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You. And thankfully, boys, you came out perfect.

[Dave Anthony]

While Charles Lamp gave a lecture on how women should style their hair and do makeup, Doug was part of the co ed quiz roundtable where he discussed, quote, what qualities he believed a Weber coed should possess.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

Everyone agreed they should wear sweaters and skirts or some other casual type of dress. Short socks and low heeled shoes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Bad. I mean it truly, it's. Look, I'm not saying things are good, but at least it's now like we've limited it to like, pornhub search engines for guys rather than just being like, here's what I like. I like when you bend over and I can see down your shirt a little bit. Just the outline of the nipple, but not too much. Do you understand? That's kind of what we're going for. I just talked to God and he really enjoys it when you don't wear a bra, but you wear a white shirt and it gets a little cold. That's nice.

[Dave Anthony]

God likes the headlights. Do you know. Does that make sense?

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know what I'm saying? You know, really just something. Oh, I listen, you got to wear underpants, but nothing too baggy.

[Dave Anthony]

This is. This is like. This is like their. They went to ask, like, they had two guys come in and say what their fetishes are. So. So then women would dress that way.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, for them. And then they were. Yeah, like. And then other guys. Now, hold on a minute. I don't like it when they went under pants. Like, okay, look. Well, look, ladies, look. The charm week is full of varying opinions, which I think is what makes it such helpful think tank. So sometimes we want to see your panties, and sometimes we did. You understand?

[Dave Anthony]

So go ahead and take them off and just give them to me. Go ahead. Right there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And Randy here likes to sniff them. So there you go. There you go. You don't have a cold.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So see, women, this is what we're trying. We're coaching you in the right direct. And remember, this is a religious event. I think this is.

[Dave Anthony]

We're helping you with charm.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is charm. It's pretty important.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You've heard of charm offensive? Well, we're being offensive about your charm, so really, let us have it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wait, Dave, I do have to say, speaking of Randy, my character from. Do you remember my character from the last bit?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I am on the latest episode of dumb people town and they boxed me in promising that I would promote it. And it's a great episode. They want to have you on. They Kirk the sclars. Always a great time. Go.

[Dave Anthony]

Listen, they sent me a tick tock, but I haven't looked at it because I don't look at tick tock messages. But I saw it came up. It said the sclers sent you a message, but I didn't look at it. That's where I'm at with them. You're with everybody. Send me your panties.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. The idea of knowing someone sent you a tick. I'm in negotiations to open the sklars. Tick tock.

[Dave Anthony]

By the way, a Lot of people get upset when you use the word panties. So I would just like to say yes, especially when you say moist panties. We just lost half our listeners.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I'll tell you what.

[Dave Anthony]

And gain.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Those of us who are listening are growing.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes. So welcome Grogan boys.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hello.

[Dave Anthony]

The u. S. Entered World War II and Douglas enlisted, joining the army in April 1943. The signpost quote. Douglas may have a smooth voice, but he really knew how to treat the football rough. If Doug treats the sergeant the way he hit his opponents, the guardhouse bars will be the only remembrance retained from his army life. I don't know what's happening.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Super weird way to write it.

[Dave Anthony]

So obviously he's a good talker.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

That's probably why he was part of the co Ed roundtable.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

[Dave Anthony]

And he's a rough. He's a tough boy. Football guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep.

[Dave Anthony]

So if he treats the sergeant the way he did his opponents. His football opponents.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. It's going to be a problem.

[Dave Anthony]

The guardhouse bars will be the only remembrance retained from his army life.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh. So. Yep. Still don't fully have it, but I was sniffing around it a little bit, but then I think it's gone. Honestly. I mean, I think it's saying he's going to get kicked out of the army, but I think so. I think that's what it is.

[Dave Anthony]

After basic training, he was picked to take an engineering course and trained at the University of Cincinnati for a year.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great.

[Dave Anthony]

In March 1944, he joined Company C, 62nd Armored Infantry Battalion.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And in September, he was sent to Europe. He never made it into the fighting, though.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, it's the way to do it.

[Dave Anthony]

Because on November 19, while in France, before ever engaging in actual combat, he was part of a routine mine clearing detail. A bouncing betty. Mine exploded and shrapnel hit his spine. In December, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported that he had been wounded in action in France.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You got the mind spine.

[Dave Anthony]

Now notice the Salt Lake.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He got the mind spine.

[Dave Anthony]

Said he had been wounded in action when he had actually just been in a mine. Wounded, non action.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure. So he.

[Dave Anthony]

It's action E, but it's different. He returned to Utah and he was hospitalized at Bushnell General Hospital. Now, Doug had lost some of the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can. Some of the nurses cut their outfits up a little bit so that the men feel comfortable around them.

[Dave Anthony]

This is for charm. This is for charm. I need the. I need more charm. You know what I mean?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Before the surgery, if a couple of the nurses could sit down and the way they should cross their legs is very important.

[Dave Anthony]

A charm.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A charm. And I like it when they put on a little bit of lipstick, but not too much makeup. Otherwise, I don't think I'll be horny for the surgery.

[Dave Anthony]

Not slutty. Not a slutty nurse. Like a nut.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I love a nurse outfit. But can some of the nurses dress as French maids or as you call them, maids?

[Dave Anthony]

What's best is when the nurse walks in and everyone starts chanting, charm, charm.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Charm, charm, charm, charm, charm, charm.

[Dave Anthony]

So he has lost the use of his legs.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And while in the hospital, Doug said he sat in his bed listening to war reports on the radio. And he's completely depressed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

And he saw his. His role in stopping the Nazis as just meaningless.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

And he said he just.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know how he feels.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. And he said he laid in bed and just fantasize about fighting the Nazis in the war.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You talking about a little.

[Dave Anthony]

No, it's not a sexual fantasy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. Well, that's good. I mean, that's.

[Dave Anthony]

That's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's. That's good. He's got patriotism in his blood. We want to stop the Nazis. He's Brad Pittish.

[Dave Anthony]

Douglas learned to use canes and leg braces to stand.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

He was a very good speaker and told his fellow wounded vets in the hospital about his heroics on the battlefield. Go ahead.

[Gareth Reynolds]

May I jump in with a query, my friends, if memory serves?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We've been talking about this guy for a little bit, and I do remember you saying he was never. He never saw combat and he got hurt in a mine. And so now he's parlaying that into talks about his life on the battlefield, which seems. How do I say that?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Someone went to French three times.

[Dave Anthony]

That, by the way.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So he's lying.

[Dave Anthony]

If you do that. If you do. On a French test, it actually doesn't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know what I would love to do is go to France for a little bit and just see their American impression. Because it has to be.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. It's got to be great. So he. Yeah, like you say, he is talking. Talking a bit much, I would say. So word gets out bad and soon about his heroics. And word gets out and soon he's asked to come speak at the LDS 13th Ward Sacrament Meeting Saints because he had obviously won rebooters Purple Heart and the Silver star and the bronze medal.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He. Now he's saying that he did or he did.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, he.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, he didn't.

[Dave Anthony]

He did a purple Heart. I. Yeah. Silver star and bronze medal. He just got he got blown up before he went into battle.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

He was clear.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So that's what it seemed that it would be strange for them to give him a Purple Heart.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, he's. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

So he spoke.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, it would be so great, the year's line, when people want to see it. I mean, you want to see it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. You do want to see it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Did you bring it? I didn't, actually. I left it in the Uber. I. You know what? I had it out on my dresser to bring today, but then I completely forgot about it. I keep forgetting it. I mean, I should wear the goddamn thing. That's what I should start doing is wearing it. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

This is your seventh speech here. And every time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know. And I keep forgetting the Purple Heart, the bronze. I mean, you know, it's crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What's crazy is I keep putting them near these letters that I want to mail, and neither's getting done. I keep forgetting it, and I. Boy, I tell you, is that the.

[Dave Anthony]

Only thing that's crazy?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. What do you mean?

[Dave Anthony]

No.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What do you mean?

[Dave Anthony]

Just. Yeah. Just asking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. That's the only thing that's crazy. I don't love. I don't care for this guy's attitude. Oh, wait, I might have it in my other pants.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay. He spoke on, quote, interesting and faith promoting incidents he experienced while overseas. So he focused on the lds. Around this time, he met Lee Lemon. She was a freshman at Utah University, and she ran Utah's largest dance studio.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great.

[Dave Anthony]

She had come and I would imagine at this point, if you're in a dance studio in Salt Lake City, your whole goal is to get on. Oh, now I can't remember the name of the show.

[Gareth Reynolds]

America Bandstand.

[Dave Anthony]

No, the one in Utah. The.

[Gareth Reynolds]

L. Right.

[Dave Anthony]

Lawrence.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Lawrence. Oh, right. What is that one called? Lawrence.

[Dave Anthony]

Lawrence Welk Show. Jesus Christ.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, man. Where people would be dancing and he'd be like, a little crotchy.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, I can't recommend enough people go on YouTube and just watch how white people behave back then. And it's my favorite. My favorite thing of all time was when he goes and now to dance. It's my favorite Mexican lady. Just really great stuff.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus. And my only. But it was like, then he saw Soul Train and he was like, ah, I don't. I don't think. No, no.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, those things were on at the same time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes. They were on at the same time. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. You can just see the Lawrence Welk audience, like, well, I Mean, this has been totally taken. Just another fine thing white people invented and black people stole from them. Keeps happening.

[Dave Anthony]

So she had come to the hospital to dance for the recovering soldiers.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

And it happened to be on Douglas's 23rd birthday. And when she met him, she said it was love at first sight.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great.

[Dave Anthony]

And Doug was released from the hospital on November 1945. And in May 1946, he married Lee Lemon in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

She called him Stringy. He called her Funny Face.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Me, I would push, but believe me, I in my relationship have to push for nickname changes.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're going with Stringy.

[Dave Anthony]

Stringy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Dave Anthony]

That's what I think you should be called now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, you leave me. Stop.

[Dave Anthony]

Stop. I'll send her a message.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Stop. Stringy, Benji. It's just a nightmare. The show has gone on too long. The nicknames are too much. There's just too many Stringing.

[Dave Anthony]

Take it easy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Stop.

[Dave Anthony]

They honeymooned in South Utah and Las Vegas and then returned to live in Ogden.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Beautiful.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, go further.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Try hard. Go.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, Jesus Christ, you're from Utah. Go to the coast. Go to the coast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Didn't Joseph Smith had another place in mind at first? Right. It was like Utah was like the plan B when they're like, then I can't remember.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, I think they. Yeah, they did try. Yeah. I can't remember what it was.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They were definitely like, God told us to come here. And then it was like, they're gonna kill us. Utah is okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, they were in Missouri for a while, and I think that's where the attacks happened on them. Whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The idea that, like, God gives you two options, and they're Missouri and Utah.

[Dave Anthony]

He got a job in radio at klo, which fit his speaking skills, and he started doing more speaking engagements. He would always stand using his cane. He frequently gave talks to the Boy Scouts and other youth groups. He's a big.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's able to stand and walk. He just has a limp or he. He said the use of his legs were gone.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. I don't know if he could. I think he can. FDR a little bit pretty, you know, roughly on the canes. I don't know if he's in a wheelchair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, Gotcha.

[Dave Anthony]

But I know he's. When he speaks, he's standing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

He's also a very big LDS speaker. On March 18, 1946, he gave a speech at a Red Cross drive, and his story had now expanded a bit. The Ogden examiner called him a, quote, former member of the OSS that's the Office of Strategic Services, which was the intelligence agency of the US during World War II.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He didn't do anything.

[Dave Anthony]

Comes the CIA. He didn't. No, he. He was. He was at the University of Cincinnati. Then he went over France and then.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He went to a mine. He was in Cincinnati for a year. He went to a mine and then his spine got hurt. Now he's on the Purple Heart, a couple of stars. And he was part of the os.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. His story seemed to be. It would get more embellished with each speech, kind of.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But that is what happens. That is what happens. That's what happens when you're going. I mean, it's how. I mean, it happens all the time where you go like, wait, it used to be this. Like when. Remember when Brian Williams got busted for, like, that story where he's like, yeah, I got shot in the head four times by RPG fire. And the people are like, brian, you got off of a helicopter when there was nothing going on. He's like, in retrospect. In retrospect.

[Dave Anthony]

So that's not great. Because he's getting offered more and more speaking gigs as the story becomes crazy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Bigger and bigger. Right.

[Dave Anthony]

After a while, he was saying he had captured Dr. Otto Hahn, the father of nuclear fission.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, I mean, there's just. There's just. No, I mean, it's. It really is. It's such a lesson. You know what I mean? It's like a Stanford experience experiment, but just in a different way. It's just like, what if a guy thinks he could just say anything forever and then what if that guy was president? That's so great.

[Dave Anthony]

Now the biggest.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I actually. I remember the first. Like, if you're on the road with him and you're like, well, that's new. I'll never forget the time that I captured the father of nuclear fission. Wait, what? Well, I remember when I stabbed Hitler through his mustache with a katana blade not too long ago.

[Dave Anthony]

Interesting. I didn't hear about that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'll never forget when I was eating Ava Braun's brain with a troop of monkeys in a German jungle.

[Dave Anthony]

Why would you do that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

We had to gain her knowledge to figure out the secrets of the Third Reich.

[Dave Anthony]

Why were there monkeys in a German jungle? There's no German jungle.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that. Oh, yeah. There's some big ones.

[Dave Anthony]

Forests.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There's their jungly, though. They got a big jungle in there.

[Dave Anthony]

Don't agree with that at all.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Absolutely. And I went down to Hitler's bunker And it was basically a rainforest cafe. I mean, the place was just stocked with leafies. There was jaguar, he had panthers, monkeys, tree rats, you name it. He had fish that could walk. I should have brought my Purple Heart. And I left the goddamn thing on the coffee table next to a book I wanted to give to a friend of mine. I swear I'd forget my lies if they weren't screwed on properly.

[Dave Anthony]

What?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'll be head.

[Dave Anthony]

Head.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Head.

[Dave Anthony]

So here's the problem with the Auto Han line is that Hahn was caught on April 25th by an armored task force in 1945. And Doug was wounded in November and out of Europe in December of 1944.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sorry. I remember when I built a time machine.

[Dave Anthony]

That's correct.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You forget. Just forget that.

[Dave Anthony]

No, it's a good point.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's why I brought back with me a bunch of people from history to help beat Hitler.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I had George Washington. Remember him? Big player.

[Dave Anthony]

Big player.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes, big player. Mozart. These women who just wouldn't listen to how I like them to dress. Okay. I had a caveman.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dinosaurs. I'm not familiar. But two velociraptors and a bunch of other guys. Eric, Eric. Eric the Red. Okay, Is that a guy? He was there. He might have been lying. I hate liars.

[Dave Anthony]

So. So his new. So this is just making him more and more popular. And he runs and becomes president of the Republican League and then runs for county clerk of Weber County. And when he announced, the paper said he had worked for three years in the oss. Because that's what they said in their little.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure little.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He lost though, because that year was a Democratic romp. And in late 1947, he and Lee went to Northern California to be Mormon missionaries. Okay, those are the. If you don't know what that is, those are people who ride around in. On sometimes bikes and walk around and they have white shirts and everybody ignores them.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A little elder sign on their chest.

[Dave Anthony]

Uh huh. He continued to make speeches to churches while there. He told the San Joaquin Valley LDS Church he was just one of 200 students picked by the OSS and discussed his rigorous training. And said he and other OSS were sent to Marseille to clean up the black market. Quote, when the group was sent behind German lines, flown in 17 bombers, they dropped us under black parachutes over Nuremberg. While the nearby American artillery opened up a heavy barrage to distract the attention of the German forces, members of the group seized a key radio station and announcers who spoke fluent German broadcast messages designed to demoralize and confuse the Germans on the eve of the attack. Later, OSS operatives seized a leading German scientist whose name Stringfellow could not reveal even now, but who was a leading atomic fission specialist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Fuck me, dude, that is. Well, first of all, can we just commend the creativity because it's really good. Bullshit.

[Dave Anthony]

It is really good bullshit.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But. But it's also so funny to imagine them just like breaking into a German radio station. Just like hell here, my friend. Ash. Dick.

[Dave Anthony]

But it's also like hilarious because like, it's. It's like the one thing you wouldn't take because if you took it strategically, it's not. I mean, aside from just blowing it up and making it non functionary, but, but taking it over and then talking to German troops, like now you've just made yourself an incredible target.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What do you mean? Like in the lie, because you're going.

[Dave Anthony]

Behind enemy lines and you're taking over a radio station, well, then they're kind of just gonna know where you are and how to kill you really quick.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The idea of like the rate. I mean, I'm sure that we're listening to the radio, but the idea that all of a sudden you'd be like, what's up, everybody? My name, it's DJ Klaus House. And listen, answer ones and twos. Am I the only one who's thinking that this war is really going bad all of a sudden? Look, we're gonna play some great stuff in a minute. We got a bunch of accordions and jug music, but I don't know. Sometimes me wonder if this is even gonna work out. And if I were a troop, I probably would be looking at the mirror thinking, couldn't I have an easier life somewhere else? It's 11:15 weather right now, 55 degrees, demoralized. Here we go.

[Dave Anthony]

He said most of the OSS were captured and tortured for five days in a. In a notorious camp. And then American forces arrived to rescue them. As far as his injuries, he said it was from the explosion of a jet propulsion plant near the front lines.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, me, you know, obviously the greatest part of this story is we know what happened, so we can just enjoy every block that's built. Yeah, but holy. I mean, it's like. What is Lee must be like, honey?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, the article in the Lindsay Gazette notes his wife was there when he made these claims. She apparently didn't notice his insane changing story.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I never heard it. I didn't know that you. I didn't know that you flew through the sun. How did that happen? You never. I. I didn't tell you that one.

[Dave Anthony]

A couple months later in Merced, he said he received a presidential citation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's really cooking, dude.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, he's really cooking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I can't take it out of the trophy room. Honey, why didn't you ever tell me that when you broke into Hitler's bunker, you hit his nut bag like a speed bag at the gym? I didn't. I want to know.

[Dave Anthony]

They returned from their mission in the fall of. Just those two. Not the. That's not the German stuff. Sure. In the fall of 1948. And he went right back to speaking at the LDS churches. He was now saying he was only one of five of the original 200 OSS members who had survived the war.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So. Well, that's good, too, because those guys are probably like, wait, what? I mean, obviously none of it exists, but. But there's limited corroborations.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. You're sitting there, you're like, wait, am I dead?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Am I a ghost or in your house? Like, I don't remember that guy. What did we. Jet propulsion explosion.

[Dave Anthony]

Was I in, like, a fake oss?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Do you guys remember him?

[Dave Anthony]

He was now back on the radio at KLO. And in February 1949, the Ogden Standard examiner wrote that Doug said he was wounded while escaping from a German prison camp and then spent the next three years unable to leave the hospital. A few months later, he was describing himself as, quote, one of the Cloak and Dagger boys under General William. Who would say. Who would say that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, honestly, you know us. We're one of the Cloak and Dagger boys. Talking about. We were the guys who did Fox's Magic secrets revealed.

[Dave Anthony]

Under General William Donovan's office at Strategic Services. During World War II, I shot out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Of George Washington's penis when he. A flag.

[Dave Anthony]

Now he's saying he led 30 men into Germany and they captured a key radio station and they put out on the air key information that led to a successful assault by American forces.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

That's not.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We actually released a hit single called down with Reich. We put together a band called Krauts in the Krauts and the Germies.

[Dave Anthony]

I love that. The idea that American. The American forces needed a guy to go on the radio in Germany to coordinate.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Honestly, like, in his little head, he's like, what? We. Yeah, Operation dj.

[Dave Anthony]

Doug now said he was all. The only man of the 200 who was alive and not the rest are dead.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You got to believe me. That's it. Everyone else is dead.

[Dave Anthony]

That's probably why. Because people are like, you should get One of your other OSS guys to come. God, none of them made it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

For sure. Yeah, for sure.

[Dave Anthony]

Quote, he returned to America paralyzed from the neck down and still has only partial use of his legs. He has regained most full use of his arms.

[Gareth Reynolds]

His has never been better.

[Dave Anthony]

Douglas said captured scientists agreed to help. Help make the bomb only if the US Agreed to use it if they were going to lose the war. So. Right. So they. So they killed. So his. His story is they.

[Gareth Reynolds]

German stipulation is that they're like, only if you promise to use it when you're losing.

[Dave Anthony]

Like, you can't use it offensively. Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I thought. I thought they were just like, we just want to see the fireworks. Go.

[Dave Anthony]

Which is not what happened at all. So at the time, the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by mistake. That's what he said.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Whoopsie. Hey, did you put. Did you let the leaflets rip the leaflets?

[Dave Anthony]

What an insane and terrible claim.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Imagine thinking you can get away with saying that. And imagine thinking that. That in any way. Like that little. Whatever you gain from that, which I don't think as much does to the United States anything. Like, it's so under patriotic to.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, we're accidentally dropping nukes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just that. Trying to be as interesting as he could possibly be, but he's just to be like, oh, you know, we actually didn't even mean to bomb Nagasaki.

[Dave Anthony]

You know, he said that Hiroshima was not the original target and that the second bomb had to be dropped on Nagasaki because that was the original target. Wait, you're only going to do one.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. So he's saying little man and fat boy or whatever were. The second one was like, well, now we got to go.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, well, we were gonna hit. We were trying to hit Nagasaki. We hit the wrong city. So we're gonna do the imagine like.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If there was any nuclear mulligan. So we called it.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, wow. I mean, there's nothing about telling that story that is good. It's just. Gareth the dollop is brought Turtle Beach. Is it a beach for turtles? No. Gareth, you remember the feeling of just booting up your game for the first time. First video game. The game go late night. Right? Just huge sessions in there with all your buddies fighting, whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

It's. It wasn't just something you did. It was. It was like an experience. Like a. It was.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It was an event.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes, it was. And the right headset really made all the difference.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And Turtle Beach, I gotta tell you, when I showed my buddy these, he lost his mind. He did he was like, oh my God, you got Turtle Beach.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. No, Finn's a huge gamer, so he already grabbed it and using it. Turtle beach, it's bringing back that feeling. With the Gen 3 Stealth 700 headsets, it's like going right back into that sweet, sweet golden age of gaming. But this time, audio richer, surround sound, it's more immersive and the battery lasts 80 hours. 80 hours.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But we recommend that you get up to pee at some point during.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, please pee. So you don't get the crackly mics anymore. No more missed call outs. We got. We, yeah, we got this. We both have it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're getting emotional.

[Dave Anthony]

When your headset works better, you get an edge. You get an edge, you get more wins. It's also super comfortable. So look, so we gotta recommend this. So head to turtlebeach.com and use use code DOLLOP for 10 off your entire order. That's 10 off your [e-mail] with promo code DOLLOP and after your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you get the ultimate immersive gaming experience with Turtle beach today, Gareth, we are also brought to you by him. Look, Dave, if Ed is getting you down, if the little fella in big Felling.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow, I didn't know you went to medical school.

[Dave Anthony]

I did. You need Hims, right? To get your confidence, other things back up, you know what I'm saying? Hams provides access to treatments. It can help you stay hard, last longer. So you'll be ready whenever the mood hits.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

And Gareth, with you. I know it hits a lot.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's abusive. How much? It hits me.

[Dave Anthony]

Hams is changing men's health care. It provides you with access to affordable sexual health treatments right from your desk or the backyard, wherever you want to do it. Hims access to a range of doctor trusted ed treatments like chewable tablets and Viagra and Cialis and their generics for up to 95% less. That's a lot less.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a lot less to get a lot more. Wink, wink.

[Dave Anthony]

It's 100 online, so you don't got to deal with any doctor visit or uncomfortable weirdness that happens with that. You don't need insurance. One low price covers everything. Treatments, ongoing care, all that. Gareth recommends it because you sex, right? You're a sex guy. Big start your free online Visit [e-mail] dollop that's H I M S dot com for your personalized ED treatment options. Hisss.com dollop. The featured products include compounded products which are not approved nor verified for safety, effectiveness or quality by the fda. Prescription required. See website for details, restrictions and important safety information. Price varies based on product and subscription plan. We're also brought to you by Helix. Helix Sleep. I wear a sleep watch. I wear the apple when I sleep. Keep track of my sleeping sleep, my sleep sleeps. Since I have had a Helix, I'm killing it. On the sleep end of things.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It is just the best. We have the exact same bed. Truly, it is the best.

[Dave Anthony]

I used to not sleep well. I really didn't. I was up all night. I would also get a little bit of a backache from my previous bed. That's all gone with Helix. I'm sleeping like a baby. I'm sleeping like seven babies.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, you know, the other thing is like it spoiled me so much because when I go on the road now and have to stay in hotels, you can't wait, get back to that bed.

[Dave Anthony]

And Garrison's like a cat. I sleep like a baby. Seven babies.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

We highly recommend Helix Sleep. It's very comfortable, it's delivered straight to your house. It comes a little box that you open it up, it comes to life. So look, go to helixsleep.com dog up for the sleep savings event 20 off statewide April 1st to April 30th. That's helixsleep.com. for the sleep savings event April 1st to April 30th, 20 off state wide helixsleep.com dollop we also brought to you by Squarespace. It is an all in one platform. It's going to help you stand out and succeed online, which Gareth needs.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a business machine.

[Dave Anthony]

Gareth, your website is a Squarespace website.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dave, your website is a Squarespace website. Dave, the Dollop website is a Squarespace and why don't you say it? Hit them with it.

[Dave Anthony]

The sources page is a Squarespace website. We work with them because we have worked with other hosting companies and they blue and Squarespace is by far the best. Sweet ass templates. They look great. You can go in there and fudge around with it and see if it works for you. Then sign up for Squarespace. It looks great. It works great. You can do anything you want. You can streamline your work with built in appointment scheduling and E marketing tools. They got AI stuff going on there for all your AI needs. That's not, that's not a good way to say it but they have AI that helps you, helps you do stuff on there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They really built themselves up.

[Dave Anthony]

They got all the built in analytical tools that you need and like you said, 24. 7 support. So look, go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code dollop to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com dollop for a free trial and when you're ready to Launch, use offer Go Dollop to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yay. Evan and I one time had a. When we first got out here, we had a. A pitch, like our first pitch ever. And we made a little like, whatever. We made a little like. It was like a sketch we'd made. And the guy. This guy ended up going to jail like two years later for embezzlement and stuff. But the guy who gave us five grand to shoot the thing in a meeting was just like. He was like, so I gave the boys here 15 grand to make a little something. And Evan and I were like, give us five. Why would he say. And he just did it because it made him sound more wealthy. But we were like, that undercuts everything. Like five grand. You're like, oh, it wasn't bad. Fifteen grand. You're like, these guys are terrible.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And you were like, what is the. Who benefits from this lie other than just one person right now? Quickly.

[Dave Anthony]

Right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He was also predicting, quote, the next war will be fought between Christian loving people and God haters. Boy, they. Boy, they. They've wanted that forever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They really want. They really want. It's called manifesting.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He had become a bit of a big deal in Utah and within the LDS and among the patriotic types.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure. Yeah. Well, of course he is.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean it. Of course that's. He knows this.

[Dave Anthony]

He does. In 1950, he became the chairman of the Americanism Committee of the Ogden Junior Chamber of Commerce. First of all, you guys get America. Get a life. Get a stop. Get a. First of all, you're already in. You're not even in the Chamber of Commerce. You're in the Junior Chamber of Commerce. And then on top, you're already the most American Americans that could be in America. You don't need to Americanize that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can we. Can we also just talk about this worship a little bit for. It has to stop. Look, you love it here. That's great. Stop wearing flags. Just. Would you chill the fuck out? You are in a fucking abusive relationship with a location and all you keep trying to do is suck its dick.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Stop putting the Flags on everything. Shouting for freedom all the fucking time. Like, I understand you want, you love it here, here. But you're letting it. You're letting it get away with murder and be run by fucking sick people because they know if they tell you that they love the flag more than anyone else, that will work on your brain. The idea that you have to walk around with, like, merch this fucking country, and it's goddamn merch. Just hold it to some fucking standard, for God's sake, would you? I gave you the, just everything you're doing, just being like, hey, I got a T shirt with the Constitution on the sleeves. Okay, good for you. Good way to fucking go. Okay? At some point, would you sit down and have the hard conversation?

[Dave Anthony]

Now I gotta look up shirt, constitution on the sleeves. Because I bet that's the thing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ask to me. I remember when I was in a Coming back from Australia one time, and I mean, you know, whatever. I was, like, not excited to head home. And I saw this guy in a shirt at the airport on my American flight back, and his shirt said, fuck your feelings. And I was like, well, I'm excited to go home. Home. That'll be fun. That's exciting.

[Dave Anthony]

There are definitely shirts with the Constitution on them, but I'm not seeing one with the Constitution on the sleeve that might be considered derogatory. It wouldn't be on the main part.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, I, I, it's just this, it's, it's really, you know, it's just, just, can we just wear clothes? Can we stop, can we stop bedazzling everything?

[Dave Anthony]

No, Doug stories were.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now I worry if I go out, people won't think I love.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, go out. Just go buy. If you, if you're out with me and you don't have a flag on your shirt or, or an army symbol or military symbol of some kind or the Constitution. I think you're a animal.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, I got a. Oh, my God. Does anyone have a flag I can borrow? I got to go inside to buy shoes here. I got a flag you could drape yourself in.

[Dave Anthony]

So his stories are now being repeated by Mormon church leaders, and they're being written into church less lessons for young people.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So let me tell you about the time that Doug and Jesus broke into the Nakatomi Towers and saved Bruce Willis.

[Dave Anthony]

It's. Yeah, it's bad. He told the Logan rotary Club. The 200 OSS men were caught and sent to a concentration camp. Quote, the stench of burned human flesh was almost unbearable.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This guy went to France once. I mean, this Is like if Hilaria Baldwin was in the armed services.

[Dave Anthony]

I don't know who that is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dave. Dave.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, oh, oh, the. The Spanish lady.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, no, she's from Boston, but no, she. Also.

[Dave Anthony]

That story and the fact that they have a new reality show is just.

[Gareth Reynolds]

She. The fact that she has gotten away with being on national TV saying that she doesn't remember what a cucumber is called with her fake ass accent.

[Dave Anthony]

Gist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, look, I'm not saying that what Alec Baldwin did on set is not crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

Alec Baldwin was a monster. Monster.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But he shot someone on set, and that's horrible. What she's done is worse, okay? She was on the Today show. Just like. How do you say cucumber from Boston?

[Dave Anthony]

When they were. When they were in their concentration camp and they were tortured, they, quote, prayed as they never prayed before, so they never happened.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We've never prayed like that because it didn't happen.

[Dave Anthony]

They. Have you ever hard prayed? Like, really, like, hard pray? Like a normal prayer, but, like, really go hard.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Really go hard again. I mean, I really.

[Dave Anthony]

Level 10.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, just even imagine in this hypothetical lie that never was anywhere close to existing. What he's comfortable making up, that in a world where Jews are being held because of their religious belief, he sort of camp fired and had a prayer. Pow. Wow. Come on, guys. Let's pray that this barbed wire melts.

[Dave Anthony]

The German underground created a distraction that allowed the men to escape and flee in a truck.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just them, though. Note none of the other people in the concentration camp. No, no. Okay. No, just them.

[Dave Anthony]

This speech was titled what Price Freedom?

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's that. Grammatically, it's unsound.

[Dave Anthony]

So he is a. He is a very good speaker. So he is in major demand. He spoke at Rotary, change your chambers of commerce, the Quantity Club, the youth sports meetings, VFWs, many, many LDS events, and. And he's now speaking outside of Utah. He's spreading.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It must be fun.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

To just be like, ooh, I gotta. I just thought of some bullshit.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. It's like I shot Lincoln. It's like if he went on the news and just kept saying, we're gonna be on Mars in two years and all my cars will be driving without drivers. In December, it was announced Doug was nominated for a National Americanism Award given out by the Junior Chamber of Commerce. At the end of, he came in third place in a speaking contest, losing only to General Eisenhower and President Hoover.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Dave Anthony]

The contest was called Operation Comeback for vets who came back after being horribly wounded. In that speech, Doug Said he had only been. He'd been in a coma for six weeks.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think he's still in it. I mean really, this is, is. You know, again, it's like this guy going around parading himself as the most patriotic when really what he is doing is as. I don't even like fucking throwing that. But it's just so against the people that he's trying to charm with his bullshit. He's doing everything in the opposite direction. Lying about the patriotism that he espouses, his patriotism from his story and just stealing valor like such, like the most incredible stolen.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, it's insane. In 1951, he had about 200 speaking engagements. He was the keynote speaker at a telephone company convention. Other speakers there were governors and senators. After he flew to Tinker Air Force Base to speak, then to Denver to speak at the Crusade for Freedom rally. He's getting standing ovations constantly.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I can't hear any more of the names of these functions.

[Dave Anthony]

The most American because you hate America. He said that at the phone convention. He got a 12 minute standing ovation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus Christ.

[Dave Anthony]

So now he's like Prince.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's playing Prince.

[Dave Anthony]

He won the National Freedom foundation award for a speech promoting American ideals, American idea.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, it's just. I don't know. I don't remember this story. So I don't know what happens to him at the end. End. But he better be like drawn and quartered.

[Dave Anthony]

This is when McCarthyism is. Is really hit.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Perfect for him. Perfect.

[Dave Anthony]

So Doug announces he's running for the House of Representatives.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh my God.

[Dave Anthony]

Campaign is pretty much just about how awesome of an American hero he is. Which leads to more, more and more repeating of. Of his amazing feats. Near the end of the campaign, a Republican activist told Doug. Doug that a colonel had traveled to Ogden and heard the stories. And he apparently served with Doug during the war and said he was a phony, as was his story. And Doug reassures the Republicans that's not true.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, you can't at this point, you just have to hope you can die before they get you. Because this, this level, this isn't going to end well.

[Dave Anthony]

How can it end well?

[Gareth Reynolds]

You can't possibly.

[Dave Anthony]

You wouldn't be a dollar Philip.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, but you can't possibly like he's. Yeah, I have been lying. I mean, you go, that guy's bullshit. A plane flew into my head.

[Dave Anthony]

So rumors swirled days before the election that Dems would attack his war record.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

But it did not happen. Probably because it would blow back on.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Them hard yeah, it's the same.

[Dave Anthony]

You're in a no. 1 situation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Very easy to just be told you hate America.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, the way you see Trump, like, Trump was just like, they don't care. Now he's just like, they want to blow it up from the inside because they hate you and they hate the flag. It's like, dude, stop. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

It would just be, why are you attacking hero, etc. So Republicans sweep the election in a landslide and Doug wins and he's now a congressman.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Dave Anthony]

Which means more speeches. He also signed a studio deal for the rights to his life story. Really getting in deep.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Imagine paying for that. I went to town and would you sign. Did you get anything? I got a handful of magic beans.

[Dave Anthony]

In February 1954, Doug thought he was going to LA to get an award, but he suddenly found himself instead on a TV show.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh. Oh. I kind of remember this because it's.

[Dave Anthony]

A TV show that surprised people.

[Gareth Reynolds]

People.

[Dave Anthony]

It was, this is your life.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

So people didn't know when they were going to show. People didn't know. Someone just tricked them to go, all right, right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. Oh, the nerves going through him.

[Dave Anthony]

He's suddenly on tv and. Let me pull this up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, right. I gotta. I gotta go ahead because these idiots are doing a thing. So. Oh, right. So 3:34.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, Lee. It was like, I have something to tell you. You're actually on the show. This is your life.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay, ready?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Straight. Right in the face with.

[Dave Anthony]

The goddamn. This stupid.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I hate it just the worst.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, just work. Just please, like, why does it have to be. Why do you lift up your phone? Does it have to turn? Oh, my God, it did it again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

How about when you try. How about if, you know, on YouTube now, if you touch the screen. Touch it. And this is. This is your life brought to you as always.

[Dave Anthony]

Hold on, I'll speed it ahead. So I guess the right part, but.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you, like, touch it wrong. YouTube's like, oh, you like that ad?

[Dave Anthony]

You're like, nope, nope, I don't. I really don't. Okay, this is it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Writings in the hoses of the Nazis in the Gestapo building. Our mission, of course, is to stay so close to them that they couldn't expect us. And I've guessed them on the spot for split second operation. He started becoming a great orator and starting to really fine tune his speeches. Working with the British and French, you capture a high German official and destroy all installations. At that point, on a split second schedule, you have A rendezvous with an allied plane that lands in a hayfield to pick up 10 of your men and your famous prisoner. Now you, Doug, with four of your men armed with Tommy guns, form rear guard protection. The plane is three minutes late, but the mission is accomplished. He's stuck there with four other military men. We were off schedule on our split second plan. And immediately we felt the sharpness of our banks.

[Dave Anthony]

They caught up with us.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We were first stripped of all of our clothing, then forced to walk across the street and watch them burn the church to the ground. And as persons would come running from the building, they were shot down in cold blood.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay, so I. I have questions. Well, first of all, the people you heard interjecting are grandsons. Today day, Right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I remember this. Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

But this is one of the biggest shows on television at the time, if not the biggest. It's a huge television show.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And the guy who's recounting what happened to him is the host.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes, the host is telling him. The host is like prompting him to say stuff. Right. It's like. It's like the setups of the questions will prompt you to talk about what happened. Yeah, so. So vets are watching this. The vets who actually captured Otto Hahn are not really into the salt Lake.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You should have been on this isn't your life. That would have been better.

[Dave Anthony]

The Salt Lake County Young Democratic Club began an investigation into Doug's war record. Labore and vets organizations quickly got involved. In June, CBS aired a drama of his war story.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

Now, not a movie, a drama. So it must have been like an hour program or something. But it's like. It's not a film. It's. It's a recreation. Yeah, recreation sort of thing. And then right after that airs, a producer buys the rights to his life for a film. Now this is your life. Say he. It was totally vetted.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

His story now include. His story now included being told by doctors he would never walk again. Overcoming that and walking with a cane. So he ran. He runs for office again in 1954 and that. So like, I guess a couple months later or something, he says he's running again. And his opponent now is Walter Granger, who had run four years before. And when he ran, he was called a commie and all that shit. Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So is McCarthyism still kicking?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And a quote, dupe of the Kremlin controlled Communist party. That's what they called the guy last time. So now he's running against him. A paper made up a corruption story about Granger in the last election, but people are like, he should be the guy to run again. So he does. So. So Granger had known for a year that Doug is lying about his record. So he'd already known this, but he's not going to leak it or go public himself because he thought it would backfire. So at one point, well, I think you don't have to say anything publicly. Yeah, you leak if that's what you wanted, but you have to hit him with it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Someone has to do it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. You can easily go and find the soldiers that he was supposed to have been with, and they would come out and go, what the fuck? Easily. That's not hard. Anyway, at one point, someone asked a grandchild question about Doug's record at a public meeting, and he declines to discuss it. The Army Times begins investigating Doug in January after his TV appearance. And then there was a following newspaper series about how awesome he was. Another unknown news organization investigated him in the summer, but they couldn't find any document documentation to prove Doug's claims are false. So this is why when anybody in the media reaches out to the Department of Defense, they're stonewalled. The DoD does not want to offend a sitting Congressman because it can hurt their funding.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. God.

[Dave Anthony]

The OSS doesn't exist anymore.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Everyone he worked with died.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, everyone. Or was captured.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

In. In August, a congressman who was wounded in battle reached out to the Army Times with a tip. And this is considered the first reliable tip. The Times began going through all Doug's speeches and any documents, and they got a letter from Dr. Hahn saying he had never been kidnapped.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, you've got to be like, a lot of this is not adding up. I mean, you. It must be very difficult for you to be like. I mean, I'm starting to wonder, is he pathological? This is insane.

[Dave Anthony]

And they also quickly realized that Doug had not been in Europe when Han was taken in.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

So on October 11, an editor reaches out to Doug. Doug. Right. So it's under a month before the election. And they Talked for about 30 minutes. Quote. It was an unsatisfactory conversation. He was evasive, calm, and confident sounding, but unable to produce one source.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Show me the Purple Heart to his backstory. Yeah. So literally nobody, but, I mean, he's kind of crafted that over time that there's nobody who could corroborate because everyone's dead.

[Dave Anthony]

The edit agreed to take, quote, any one sentence confirmation from anyone in the CIA who had the OSS files. Doug asked Eisenhower to release the CIA records to vindicate him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He won't.

[Dave Anthony]

He hoped the CIA would say the records were closed forever. And say what they said, that the records didn't exist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Better.

[Dave Anthony]

So Doug called his friends in D.C. and then he got them all the call. The Army Times editor, quote, some accused, some warned, some threatened, most reasoned. So they're doing the full court press to save this guy's ass. The Times published the story on October 14th. Then the really hit the fan at the paper. They were attacked by many and called it a hurricane. The Democratic Party bought 10,000 copies and distributed them in Utah. That's smart. That's good.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's. That's strategy. That's something I've missed.

[Dave Anthony]

They also gave their investigative report on Doug to LDS Church President David McKay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, like he's going to give a.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, he called. He calls Doug in for a meeting. Really, we need. We need to talk about this. And Doug's like, it's not true. This is lies.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Everything's a lie. That you did. Did. No.

[Dave Anthony]

But then McKay keeps getting information, and later that day, he goes, I need you to come back. So second meeting in the same day about how you lie.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, it's ladder in the day.

[Dave Anthony]

God damn it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on.

[Dave Anthony]

And Doug again. It's fun.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes, Poopy, we're having some fun.

[Dave Anthony]

And Doug again denied the reports. He told the press he was going to sue the Army Times and the writer.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm gonna sue him.

[Dave Anthony]

Then Doug was grilled by two fellow Utah Republicans, one who was a senator, and he finally admits it's false.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. All of it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Quote.

[Gareth Reynolds]

See, I wouldn't even do that. I'd be like, oh, yeah. A couple of them. I fudged.

[Dave Anthony]

I think. I think the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He was hurting. He wanted to.

[Dave Anthony]

No, I know. I think really the timing is. It's the Otto Hahn thing. And been not being there in Europe is really. I think he's just. How's he gonna deny part of it?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, I would. I don't know. I guess I would. I. I really. If. I mean, I'm just. I'm trying to be. It's like Madoff. You know what I mean? It's like. I guess you don't really have an option, but I would certainly be like. A couple of the things are made up, but most of it's true. I'd start there. I think a couple of them got away from me.

[Dave Anthony]

So, quote, suddenly I was free. I wanted to shout.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I was free.

[Dave Anthony]

I wanted to shout. It. It was like A spiritual baptism.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, shut. Oh, you. You absolutely. Dude. No, no, no. This is me when he did. No, no, you don't. No, you don't.

[Dave Anthony]

I felt flushed out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You piece of.

[Dave Anthony]

So then LDS leaders are like, you gotta come clean. So he did. That night. He went on tv, ksl. And in his speech he said his war stories were false as tears streamed down his face.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dave, quote.

[Dave Anthony]

Here are the facts. I never participated in any secret behind the lines mission for our government. I never captured Otto Hahn or any other German physicist. And when he was done, he sobbed in Lee's arms.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is when. Let's just say this is when.

[Dave Anthony]

How proud we are of his service though.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, this is when you put this guy in a vest of bricks and throw him in a lake. You. You do not. You.

[Dave Anthony]

That's what they. That's what they. That's what they. That's what the Germans did to him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is the pro. No, they didn't. He just admitted that. This is the problem.

[Dave Anthony]

Sorry. The friend.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You are not allowed in the same day to go from a lying war hero to a church redemption story. No, I am not going to allow that.

[Dave Anthony]

This. So Gareth. Ha. America and police. For the record, he hates American heroes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I love. I love it. The spok on my sleeves.

[Dave Anthony]

The Spokane Chronicle reported both political parties were now mad at the Army Times because they printed the story when they did. And Republicans were upset. It was before elections. And Democrats are. Because they didn't wait for them to drop their own report first so they could be the guys.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sorry. The parliamentarian was reviewing the documents.

[Dave Anthony]

Jesus. Their report, their. The Democrats report was a 17 page report detailing all of the lies. And it was learned the White House had found out about the lying six months before and done nothing. So Eisenhower knew.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Thuggett even lied about going to Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati. Daddy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, Jesus. If he starts doing jumping jacks, a.

[Dave Anthony]

Few days later he drops out of the election. Republicans scramble, they get a new candidate and he wins.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Losers.

[Dave Anthony]

Doug went back to Ogden and said he hit up an old employer for a job. Quote, they told me to never set foot in this place again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's nice.

[Dave Anthony]

And then someone who ran speaking club. So it's like a dinner club for. For speeches. And they're around the country. It's called the knife and fork Club.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just like the cloak and dagger boys.

[Dave Anthony]

They asked him if he wanted to speak again. And in early 1955, just. This is just months later, he gave his first post ruined life speech in Detroit's town Hall. And Doug said people started asking him when he was going to go back into politics.

[Gareth Reynolds]

See, this is what it. So stupid. This is what we do. This. Now we take a. A ghoul and then we go, hey, go on, big brother. And then you're like, oh, they're not so bad. And then you go, okay. And then they. They become a figure again. It's like Nigel Farage, like. Like these. These turds deserve to sink. And instead, because of these little outlets where. Because they're a scandalous figure, they're able to kind of have. They carve. It's like cameo. Cameo. It's like you. So you just. You now, you have a little world. There's a little area where you can exist and you build yourself back up. And then people like, I like him.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, let's see. Let's see if that's what happens. Gareth. He wasn't doing many speeches and they didn't pay what they used to. He got an occasional job, like working for insurance company between lectures. The title of the new speech that he was doing is called I Believe. And it's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sir. Sir.

[Dave Anthony]

It should be called I Don't Lie Now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sir.

[Dave Anthony]

Truth teller, Doug Stringfellow.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I actually think it Did Happen now by Doug.

[Dave Anthony]

It was a mix of his personal philosophy, current events and spiritual stuff. Quote. It's the same speech I gave before with the elimination of the war story.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's four seconds. It's a four second speech. It's me saying thank you and good night.

[Dave Anthony]

He was also giving talks in LDS churches. Again, though quite a few people were disgusted that he had the gall to show his face in public.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What the actual fuck? If, like, I was in church and this guy showed up, I would be like, hey, what are we doing here? What's like, our thing here? Because it feels like biblically. No, no.

[Dave Anthony]

Redemption.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, I know. That is what it is, but it's like you have to. You have to have some standards. That's why.

[Dave Anthony]

It's why guys like Russell Brand go over to the church, because then they can say, but then I found Jesus.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. You could.

[Dave Anthony]

Absolutely.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He. He planned it great. He really did. He planned it great. He, like, built the bunker. He was like, huh? And then they come out for him, and then he just goes, oh, God, what did I tell you? No, it's more just like, yeah, yeah. Well, I tell you. I told you they were going to come for me. May.

[Dave Anthony]

When he had a speech in a town, there were a few angry Letters that would come in the local paper. He can't hold the job. Lee got a job selling dinner china and went back to school and eventually became a psychologist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And you would just, like, look at the back of it, and you're like, this was made in Poughkeepsie.

[Dave Anthony]

I believe Doug is really trying to make ends meet. And after a while, he did get back in a radio in Salt Lake. Using an alien alias, Don Douglas. Lee said she would come home and, quote, he'd be sitting there with tears in his eyes listening to Madame Butterfly.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my goodness gracious. Crikey, crikey, crikey, crikey.

[Dave Anthony]

We all have our holes. We all love our dark places. For me, it's Hamilton.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Me, it's Cats. Oh, my Lord. That is wild.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm not sure when, but at some point, Lee talked him into moving the family to Mexico to get away from the, quote, taunting and humiliation in Utah. Remember, he has kids. He's got, like, four kids, I think, so his kids are just getting harassed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I bet you he just had, like, an ant farm.

[Dave Anthony]

So they moved to Mexico. He starts painting. His paintings are actually selling well.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can we stop with these motherfuckers? Can we just start to take the hand of these people, please, so I don't have to look at dog paintings from war criminals anymore.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm sure it's all religious paintings. I'm sure it's all right. It's got to be.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, do you know. You know, George W. Bush does paintings of the injured from the Iraq war, and then is like, yeah. I mean, you're just like, hey, what are we doing? What are we at? I. I think I painted this guy's limb that I'm responsible for losing. Pretty nice ash.

[Dave Anthony]

So he. He starts having heart attacks. So they moved to California, Long beach. And he said he was writing a book and had a publisher. Quote, I was immature and, like most enjoyed a hearty slap on the back. From there, the story bloomed all out of proportion.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, no, no. You are a liar. You are a liar. Back pats aren't the seeds of your fib garden, you, pieces.

[Dave Anthony]

Lies are like flowers. And the people were watering his flower.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. I mean, I'm just giving people what they want to hear really great stories.

[Dave Anthony]

So it sounds like he knew what he was doing, right? But not according to the book he wrote, which he said he got a 20,000 advance, or maybe he did. He got a $20,000 advance from Random Random House to Wright. In 2013, three of his grandkids said the family had his never before published book and that it wasn't his fault. So that thing I played earlier, the kids intersecting, they're saying, yeah, their whole thing is that, well, this isn't his fault. He wrote that he didn't realize he was telling lies until after he was elected to Congress. And once he did, he couldn't admit it because people would think he was crazy. So he was trapped, Gareth. He was trapped. He said when he was in the hospital listening to war stories on the radio, he began imagining himself in battles, and then they became real to him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What is. What are we doing? We just literally. China kills billionaires. You just have to. We have to just start picking some people and we just have to do it. Like, the second he starts doing this, you have to be like, look, we're going to. We're going to put you on circumstances, cbs prime time, and we are going to kill you.

[Dave Anthony]

After the election in 1952, as rumors popped up that he wasn't a war hill, he then did start to doubt himself. And one night he was alone on a trip and he decided he needed to see his war records to jog his memory. The Salt Lake Tribune quote, later that same night, he woke suddenly shouting, there are no records. Words. Then he remembered it all, and he realized his time in the OSS was a figment of his imagination. So. So this story of how it's a figment of his imagination is as stupid as the stories he was telling. It's the same lying shit. This isn't how it works.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Lying. He's got a problem. No, it's not. No, it's completely not. But. But again, he's being enabled by a couple different bumpers around him. Well, family at this point. Politics.

[Dave Anthony]

Just trying to get his family to believe him. Don't you think that's all he has right now?

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is a man who should not have any mirrors in his house, because looking into them is not an option.

[Dave Anthony]

Cue Madam Butterfly. He never sends the book to the publisher. Instead, he returned the money and put it away in a drawer. That's what he. He said. I'm assuming that he just wrote the book and no one wanted it, and that's what he told his family.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Or that, like, someone read it and.

[Dave Anthony]

They were like, doug, are you kidding me?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm serious. You should go back to Mexico, my man. Like, you need to get the. Away from you.

[Dave Anthony]

So they're living in Long beach, and at some point, he Gets a job in radio. And Lee stumbled across the book in 1994. He. He died in 1990, in 1966 at 40 of a heart attack. So he dies young. Okay, so she finds the book in 1994. I mean, clean out your drawers once in a while.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, honestly, I mean there's supposedly, like, there's supposedly a big cash bonus in one of them.

[Dave Anthony]

30 years. Look through the drawers.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Honestly, what did A and E come over to do? A Hoarders.

[Dave Anthony]

Doug wrote that being on the stage during this is your life made him feel physically ill. Lee wrote a forward in his book. Quote, he literally reimagined a total story sufficiently important to warrant the extent of his injuries. His ego latched on to the attention this story brought him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There is. You are the. You are the only time this happened, sir. You are. You are a liar. You are a liar.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, they can't say.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They can't say that you're a liar. So everyone around you has to lie. Enable and rebuild your lies.

[Dave Anthony]

Counterpoint. No, I sleepy made it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. What?

[Dave Anthony]

It's a technical psychological term you sleepy make. So when you're laying in a bed and you listen to radios, you absorb it and it's called sleepy making. And then you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're a liar.

[Dave Anthony]

The story is you lie. So I.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You lie.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, I have two brains. From the book. Quote. Without a pastoral call, a future to plan and build for I fled each night to that world of fantasy where time and space did not exist. I roamed the battlefields of the world, conquering the enemy and restoring peace to a war torn earth. Thus, psychologists do not think it so strange that I awoke one morning consciously remembering my dramatic. Dramatic but imaginary part in a war that was all too real.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, could you say any clearer that you have the mind of a toddler?

[Dave Anthony]

But look, if that. Okay, let's just take and say that's true, right? Then why did the story keep getting crazier and changing?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, completely doesn't work.

[Dave Anthony]

This lie just is complete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you woke up and I'm realized that your life. That you remembered an event and it was a lie. Okay, let's give you a pass. You kept fucking riffing on your lie because making your spotlight bigger.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Yes, Lee.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Lee said on the book, we really do just start. We need to castrate the relatives like the younger generations of these people. We just need to start taking ball bags off of them. It's going to stop the genetics. And also it sends a message that, like look, if your grandpa was a pathological Liar. And you try to reinvent that to redeem him in some way, you will lose your genitals.

[Dave Anthony]

This is Lee on the book quote. I think he definitely believe he had those experiences, but I really don't know how to account for it. Right, because, you know, because you sat there and watched him increase the lie.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's a fucking liar.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So his three grandkids tried to start a Gofundme. It made no fucking money. They were like, we're going to get his real story out there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Should be called a GoFundMe.

[Dave Anthony]

This. That was in 2013 that they.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That gofundme to take the genitals of these three grandkids who tried to do that.

[Dave Anthony]

It's weird.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. The genital taking.

[Dave Anthony]

At the time, the Salt Lake Tribune wrote up an article mostly backing this new narrative.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dave.

[Dave Anthony]

They raised almost nothing, so it's all fine. So, yeah, like I said, he died in 1966 at first 44 years old of a heart attack. Oh, my God. Sources. Historytogo.utah.gov, washington Post, some YouTube stuff. Deseret.com, the Ogden Standard examiner, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Lindsay Gazette, the Salt Lake Telegram, the Deseret News, Associated Press, the Evening Star, Time Magazine, and. Yeah, that's it. And it's all like, tribune. I said that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good stuff, man. Good stuff.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, at some point, look, I. I don't expect it to happen, okay? And I'm not going to make this a long one, okay? Let's just. Let's just get it over with. But at some point, at some point, we need to start finding a consistent moral compass and punishing those who crush cross it. Otherwise, we are going to continue to just allow lie. Like, allow lies veiled in our team's jersey to fester complete and continue. And until then, it's just. It's. We. We don't deserve things. This is just crazy. Do we love the army? Do we support the veterans? Then these grandkids need their genitals to take him. Oh, we don't. Okay, then let's stop fucking saying we do. We are. We are him the country. We are. We are, Doug, the nation.

[Dave Anthony]

Holy shit. We are.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We are just a thousand. A thousand piles of bullshit in one flag, walking around pretending to be the greatest. And by the way, apparently I've heard this one before. All right, There you go. Hey, Dollop fans. I know you love the dollop. You love listening to the Dollop. Do you want to watch the dollop. You're like, gareth, what are you talking about? By the way, it's not Gary, it's Gareth. Well, we have partnered with Lakeside Animation and we are starting to animate some of our episodes. So if you want to go watch a five parter animation, which is actually like a 22 minute episode or 30 minute episode, I can't remember, of the Rube, you can go to LakeSide Animation on YouTube and watch a really awesome animation of the Rube. It. It really genuinely kicks ass and we're very proud of it. And the more you share it, the more you give it to people, the more you follow Lakeside, all that stuff, the better chance we have of making a lot more of them. We're already making a second one, so go there and watch the rube.