This guest Slog post is by Zachary Watterson, a writer who lives in Seattle.
In this season of goodwill, as we remember the less fortunate among us, Gary Sanford Raub remembers his friend John T. Williams.
- Zachary Watterson
- Gary Sanford Raub
Two days before he was shot to death by a Seattle police officer in August, Williams was walking down Broadway at 7 in the morning wearing a pink dress and no shoes. “That’s how far he was gone,” says Raub, who described Williams’s solo, pre-dawn pageant to me recently at the coffee shop at the corner of Broadway and Denny. Williams’s exhibition apparently wasn’t out of character. News reports have painted him as a man ravaged by chronic alcoholism, seizures, and severe cognitive impairment.
Like Williams, Raub resides on the streets of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Both men were born Native, Williams to the Nuu-Chah-Nulth First Nations tribe of the Ditidaht band, in British Columbia, and Raub to the Makah tribe in Neah Bay.
I used to see Williams wandering the streets near my apartment building. He seemed well kept and peaceable. But he punched a resident in the mouth at Skagit County detox center in May 2009. And it has been reported that the police were called, a month before his death, to take him away from Dick’s Drive-In on Capitol Hill, where he walked aimlessly among the cars and people, wearing no pants, his legs coated in his own filth.
As we spoke, Raub told me a bit about himself. He said he served in the war in Vietnam and was held in a prisoner of war camp in Cambodia for three years. While he was a POW, he said, he lived in a bamboo cage set in a river that rushed around his legs. His captors used a gaff on him and yanked out his teeth, he said, and as he talked, I could see his toothless gums. One day, Raub said, he was working in a rice paddy, when he saw a sharp rock in the water. He fell to his knees and stuffed the rock down his throat, he said. That night he used the rock to cut open the bamboo cage and escaped. Using skills he had learned as a boy, he studied the night sky and found his way to his base. Raub said that when he got there, no one could believe he was still alive.
Now it’s 40 years later, and he says he sleeps outside the Value Village thrift store. He quit staying in shelters after being robbed repeatedly. In the mornings, he trudges to the coffee shop. I have seen him trudging, like an old devout Buddhist, though he is a Christian.
There’s “one thing people don’t know about John,” Raub says. “He used to give money away.” He was a wood carver. “He’d sell one of his totem poles and have a pile of money.” Raub says “a lot of us”—meaning his tribe of Seattle’s homeless men—are saddened by Williams’s death. “Anybody who was on the street, John had a heart for. It makes me think: How ’bout talking with people instead of talking at people. We need more heart, less hurt.”
The fatal shooting of Williams is one of six incidents listed by the American Civil Liberties Union in its recent request for a Justice Department investigation into what it says is the Seattle Police Department’s frequent use of excessive force, especially against minorities such as Williams. As the city has seen with other Justice Department investigations, including the one into the King County Correctional Facility, where Williams spent part of his life, the probe is a step in the right direction. But the police department’s use of excessive force is unlikely to abate anytime soon. Perhaps it has something to do with the four officers who were shot dead in a Lakewood coffee shop last year. The man suspected of the execution-style murders, Maurice Clemmons, was hunted and killed by police shortly after the officers were slain.
There is a war in our city, and there isn’t a soul who can see its end. As Raub says, remembering his friend, “We need more heart, less hurt.”
Thank you, Zachary Watterson, and thank you, Gary Sanford Raub. Wow.
Seconded. Thank you Zachary and Gary.
The final paragraph of this piece just rings.
Wow. Thank you for this.
“and was held in a prisoner of war camp in Cambodia for three years”
That would be news to historians.
hate to be a total dick, but that story sounds fake.
And if he was captured by the Vietnamese they kept all us prisoners in north Vietnam and gave them red cross access. The only people who believe in the hidden cambOdia POWs are Rambo delusionists with pow/mia flags. But it makes for a nice story.
Wow, I’ve seen Mr. Raub around town for years. I remember smoking pot with him at the 1994 Hempfest. I never knew he was a Makah Indian, or that he was a Vietnam Vet (although I should have figured out the vet part, he’s of the right age.) I didn’t know he was currently homeless either, I thought he lived in a group home, but maybe he did at one time.
Thanks for the article.
Didn’t you hear? Any homeless male over 60 who saw one too many Vietnam War movies is a vet. This guys story of being held in Cambodia would be amazing if true. But if course, it’s not.
Yes, thank you for printing this. I’ve seen this gentleman around town for many years and often wondered what his story is. It’s sad that so many dignified and intelligent people are left to fend for themselves on the streets.
What are the numbers of veterans living on the streets these days? As I recall the percentage is terribly high.
It’s messed up crazy dudes faking being veterans that keep me hiding my own veteran status – because thanks to them and a raft of shitty movies, being “veteran” means “crazy.”
I’m sure Mr. Raub has seen a lot of terrible things, but not one of those terrible things happened in Cambodia.
I always knew that you naive white sheltered libtards at The Stranger were gullible credulous hacks, but GODDAMN!
A quick search of the US government’s official list of POWs (lcweb2.loc.gov/pow/powhome.html) from the Vietnam war shows no sign of a Mr Gary Raub, or Gary Sanford Raub. Maybe Mr. Raub’s confused about a hellish weekend at Hempfest and has mixed up hippies for the VC?
I thought POWs held by Charlie only hid things up their asses or am I confusing my movies?
You unregistered users are a bunch of jerks. Sure, he’s probably embellishing his war stories, what soldier and fisherman hasn’t? But if he is over 60 and a Native American it’s not unlikely at all that he was drafted into the Vietnam War, and served in combat, and saw a ton of crazy shit. So Maybe the Cambodia part is BS, whatever, I’m not an expert on the Vietnam War, but I did see Apocalypse Now, and the boat went into Cambodia, so even if the US Govt denies that any US troops were in Cambodia it doesn’t seem that far fartched. Yes, I realize I am poking fun at myself.
Anyway, leave the poor old guy alone, he’s a nice guy as far as I have talked to him. Have some respect for your elders.
BTW the US invasion of Cambodia was 1970 so if he escaped 40 years ago after being held for 3 years in Cambodia (even though there are no records of US POWs held in Cambodia except by the lunatic POW/MIA Rambo-lovin’ fringe groups), that means he was captured there in 1967.
That means the Talent Mr. Raub would have been special ops which means he’s confused himself with Martin Sheen from Apocalypse Now as opposed to Charlie Sheen from Platoon (who never went to Cambodia anyway). The bamboo cage in the water, of course, is his John Savage moment from The Deer Hunter. The rock in the throat of course is Chris Walken in Pulp Fiction but replace ‘rock’ with ‘watch’ and throat with ‘ass’.
I am impressed with Mr. Raub’s Vietnam movie recall skills, he’s quite a vet of Blockbuster.
Try using The Google sometime before you listen to people’s tales.
@14 agreed, never let facts get in the way of a good story. Journalism 101
@10, you’re an asshole.
I know Gary, I worked at the V-Village for a while, and he’s not crazy, he’s a perfect gentleman and a favorite customer of most of the store. And yes, he is most definitely a vet who was tortured as a POW – why do you think his skin looks like that? I mean, jesus fuck. You’re probably the kind of vet who thinks he deserves special treatment, huh?
Fuck you.
what I know for sure is, he’s a nice old man who had some bad shit happen to him that he didn’t deserve. (Though unlike the unregistered, I’m no expert on US military secrets…)
why do you think his skin looks like that?”
DUUUUH now this is just a wild guess here, how about EXPOSURE and ALCOHOLISM? The bum has been homeless for decades and has probably been sunburned AND had his ass frozen off countless times.
OCCAM’S RAZOR, duuuuuuuuh!
“tortured as a POW”
Tortured by who? North Vietnamese, VC/Vietminh or Khmer Rouge? And since his story would be remarkable to both historians and POW/MIA groups, how come the only thing that turns up when you search his name and ‘pow’ is this webpage?
The skin? Looks like the same thing Michael Jackson had.
Now, go back to your incredulous job at VV.
Yeah, I mean, c’mon guys. It’s not like Right-Wingers would ever lie about THEIR (or anyone else’s for that matter) military records, donchaknow?
yeah, couldn’t have happened because governments and armies never ever send anyone to another country to be imprisoned and tortured…
Thanks for agreeing he’s a liar.
Next week in The Stranger, we interview Comte’s pet shi-tzu about his relationship with former dash cam regular Mr. John T. Williams.
“because governments and armies never ever send anyone to another country to be imprisoned and tortured”
So you have historical evidence of US soldiers captured by the Khmer Rouge surviving the war? Because no actual ‘history book’ does. And if Mr. Raub did ‘survive a camp in Cambodia’, he’d be one of the most famous and written about POWs in the historical record. Amazing, then, how when you search for his name and the words ‘Cambodia’ or ‘POW’ all you get is this webpage. Not a sign of him in the US government POW/MIA database. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
So this guy has a story that contradicts virtually everything in the historical record but the only folks who found out at Zachary the Incredulous Contributor and some guy working at Value Village.
BTW the only folks who think there were US prisoners held in Cambodia and kept alive are rightwing conspiracy groups…the Rambo-types. Amazing how the loony left and rabid right can be so similar in their delusions.
Yes, you naive children, people who tell strangers stories of their traumatic war time exploits that read just like movie scripts and yet strangely their name is not mentioned in any records for service or heroism – definitely telling the truth.
There’s a whole lot of ways to get fucked up, and he might have even been a vietnam vet. But the dramatic escape from hidden prisoner camp X is bullshit.
“You’re probably the kind of vet who thinks he deserves special treatment, huh?”
I haven’t got a VA loan. But if I did, I’d DEFINITELY start believing this guy’s story! Or something. I don’t really see where you’re going with this, but it’s probably pretty funny.
whatever troll @ 24, no one said he was captured by the Khmer Rouge, rendition is hardly a new concept, and has been practiced for as long as you want to go back and on so many scales it would boggle your feeble mind… the problem is that it is and has been done, not who’s doing it…
though, if you think “dissappearing” people is fine, well keep on ranting troll-e-oh.
Unbelievable asshattery in this thread.
All you unregistered trolls should go look at your faces in the mirror, right now. Log off the library computer and go into the bathroom, right now. Just fuckin look at yourselves. Look yourself in the eye, all of you. Not a single one of you would say ANY of this to someone face-to-face, you just hide behind your internet anonymity and fling your smelly poo as far as you can.
What Roosevelt said, have some respect for your elders!
I’ve had a couple homeless people ask me for cash and spin some bullshit veteran story, and each time I know it’s fake. I don’t say that to their face for the same reason I don’t say that to the face of the guy who just needs a dollar to make a phone call to this company in alaska that’s going to hire him, or whatever.
They’re going through hell, they need a dollar, and I don’t really care that it’s fake.
But, that was nonetheless a beautiful stand for not hiding behind online identities, “merry,” which I am totally sure is your real name. And why not? It’s clearly “believe total bullshit is true” day here on slog.
@12, that llink is not to a database of POWs but to a database of documents about POWs. This includes government docs and even stuff like New York Times articles (try searching ‘john mccain’). Raub not being in there doesn’t prove anything either way.
“no one said he was captured by the Khmer Rouge”
So who held him in Cambodia for 3 years? The Vietnamese kept all US captives in the North and provided regular Red Cross access to them. The only two possibilities for being a POW in Cambodia were death (the Khmer Rouge executed all westerners they caught) or he was kept in a secret North Vietnamese prison in Cambodia. Now, if the latter were true, the POW/MIA groups would go ape shit over his story, since Mr. Raub would be the ONLY LIVING PROOF for the Ross Perot funded, 40-odd year campaign claiming that the Vietnamese had secret prisoners that they did not report to the Red Cross. He would be the dude Rambo was looking for in Rambo 2 (since all of you seem to have all your knowledge of the Indochina War from Hollywood, I’m trying to help you here).
So again, where do we find Mr. Raub’s amazing tale of POW escape from a secret Vietnemese prison camp in cambodia that would be historically significant? No where. Nada. Zilch, Zip. With the hundreds of thousands of pages produced by various POW/MIA fringe groups claiming the Vietnamese held secret US captives, not one has ever been produced….until, of course, ‘More, I Say’ and Zachary found him outside Value Village.
Sure, I’ll respect my elders. It’s reporters repeating their obviously bullshit stories that I’m making fun of. Mr. Raub? He’s just a regular lunatic with fanciful tales.
So fnarf, how did Mr. Rains amazing story of escape from a prison in Cambodia, the only escape to ever happen from that country, not get into anyone of those millions if documents? Maybe Comte’s shi-tzu knows, because from a jounalistic perspective, that mutt would be as reliable a source of info.
Btw I know it’s hard for you folks, but when you do ‘agenda’ journalism and you print utter bullshit like this man’s story, it makes you look like effing idiots. Just saying, your agenda gies up in flames when you fuck up basic facts and truths and refuse to acknowledge these fuckups. When your main source is clearly a fanciful bullshit artist, well, there gies your entire agenda down the crapper.
The troll here is the banned user Naive White Libtard or whatever his name was. Stranger is either unable or unwilling to block his IP(s). He’s been like 99% of the racist spunk for months.
@26, i hope you realize the “he” I’m referring to is you.
Yeah, I know, and I can’t imagine what the “special treatment” you’re talking about is, or what that has to do with anything here.
Issues much? Did a veteran take some candy from you?
I do find dogging on an actual veteran here, as you support the fabulous tales of veteranly heroism to be kind of ironic. If I told you I spent time in a Syrian prison camp, would you like me more? Because I totally did. Even though there’s no records of it ever happening, it’s true. And if you doubt me, you’re an asshole!
To all those folks who do think mr. Raub was held in a secret vietnamese camp INSIDE Cambodia, congratulations. You believe the same shit as Col. Bo Gritz, Ross Perot and other assorted right wingers who’ve spent the past 40 years demonizing the Vietnamese government.
What’s the next great story Zachary will write from Mr. Raub? That Charlie does in fact surf?
this has nothing to do with the claims of Bo Gritz or a Rambo movie mentality(I am more of the amnesty international and human rights type); more that people and govts do things in wartime that does not always make it into the official liturgical version of said war, so thus the argument that those things could “never” happen even despite other firsthand accounts to the contrary seems to me patently false.
There is a war on reality in this community, and the romantic fantasists are taking no prisoners.
@32, I have no idea. I’m merely reporting that @12’s characterization of the database was wrong.
“”never” happen even despite other firsthand accounts to the contrary seems to me patently false.”
But mr raub’s first hand claims are the only ones ever reported. No other POW was held in Cambodia and has escaped to tell such a tale to folks outside Value Village. If his tale is true, it’s truly fantastical!
However, those of us in the reality based community and who know our Indochina War history, know this story is bullshit.
So to recap, when you drag out a character witness for your ‘victim of the month’ club, make sure it’s not the insane delusional one anyone with a wit of military history can see right through. It kind of undermines the purpose.
Having said that, I would to see how he swallowed that rock and regurgitated it later to use it to break out of that bamboo cage in the river him and Robert Deniro were held in for 3 years.
@41,
Don’t you think #12 and #32 are the same person?
Aside from his story seeming like it was lifted directly from The Deer Hunter, how did he find his way back to base just using the stars? Finding his way back to Vietnam in general? Believable. Finding his way through dense jungle to a specific base? Not so believable.
This piece is also a good example of why REAL journalists fact check.
Fnarf is normally a member of the reality based community, and knows full well tales of rock eating escaped from bamboo cages in rivers don’t serve Mr. Williams’ case well, but tonight he’s obviously suffering from a case of Will in Seattlitis where throwing out any bullshit in defense of your man is worthwhile.
OK I read this story because I was led to believe Mr Raub would be memorializing his friend that was SHOT to death by the Police…. Unfortunately barely anything was written about the Mr Williams instead the story went off on a weird tangent, seemingly, AIMED at making Mr Raub look like a Rube.
Mr Watterson, you should be ashamed of yourself or be more aggressive about demeaning a homeless gentleman, who, May or May NOT, be a POW or aVeteran for all that matters.
All you other kids should be more concerned about this literary poop from the fingers of Watterson than the ramblings of some old homeless dude you can and have walked past on the street with out making Eye contact.
@42: what’s fantastical is you spouting your “knowledge” of military history like some sort of aspiring ROTC butter bar based only upon published accounts and vetted sources, your discounting, out of hand, anything that may be non-conventional disqualifies you from any future service other than a long stint as a lackey in the Quartermaster Corps.
@48 yes, I agree, unvetted, historically improbable sources are important, you know, like the lunatics who have facts that show Obama is a Muslim.
enjoy the coolaid.
@44, again, I repeat: I have no fucking idea. I don’t know or care if Mr. Raub is telling the truth. @46, likewise, I am not defending Mr. Raub’s story.
I’m merely pointing out that in the process of tearing his story apart one of the commenters here made what seems to me to be a deliberate mischaracterization to make his own story — “Raub must be lying” — sound better.
I don’t think this discussion here is a particularly enlightened or fruitful one either way.