Iraq vet who got free wedding admits lying about combat wounds
DALLAS — Last weekend, William Colvard's wedding was news.
Today, it still is — for a different reason.
It turns out he's not the "wounded warrior" he's been saying he was.
Colvard's wedding was the subject of two television stories on Saturday, and Colvard and his bride celebrated the nuptials they never had five years ago when they were married. The reason, the story went: He had been injured in combat in Iraq and they couldn't afford a ceremony.
Now, Colvard says he was never injured in combat and is apologizing to a number of people he's been lying to for the last several years.
"I feel violated. I feel completely violated," says Tina Nealy, who owns Paradise Cove, a wedding venue on Lake Grapevine north of Dallas.
She threw a wedding with all the trimmings for the Colvards when she heard their story. Nealy's facility was destroyed by floods recently, but she pulled strings with her friends in the wedding trade to make sure the Colvards got a venue; food; a cake; flowers; and a photographer — all for free.
"Their time was donated thinking they were doing the right thing for a wounded warrior," Nealy says.
Colvard has been living on a legend that began at least two years ago, when he was honored in a "McAfee Military Moment" celebration at a Frisco Rough Riders game.
"In March of 2008, his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb which caused the Humvee he was in to roll over," a news release said. "He (Colvard) suffered burns, a separated shoulder and hearing loss."
The Rough Riders said the news release was based on an interview with Colvard — he approved it, and was there when it was read at the baseball game.
Colvard now concedes that he was lying.
He was never injured in a bombed convoy, he says. He hurt his shoulder diving over a wall at Camp Taji, a large base in Iraq. Records show he was in the National Guard and spent seven months on active duty in Iraq. He spent an additional 17 months in rehabilitation in San Antonio, Colvard says. He was honorably discharged five years ago.
It's not clear if Colvard is a wounded warrior, even though he has a "Wounded Warrior" medallion on his pickup. Congress defines a wounded warrior as a combatant with a 30 percent disability. Colvard did not describe the permanence of his injury but he now describes himself as an "injured veteran."
Colvard apologized for lying about his record, but it appears that he continued to embellish his injuries as recently as last Sunday. He told professionals at his wedding that his Humvee was bombed in a convoy, when the road he was travelling on was not secured.
It was a "very extensive conversation," Tina Nealy says.
Nealy has donated two other weddings to wounded warriors, and says she will ask more questions the next time around.
"I will ask for documentation for sure," Nealy says. "But I'll still give. It's not going to stop me from helping a wounded warrior — no way."