veteran’s corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

Giving Hearts Day was here and gone. The freezing for a good reason event is over. The FM Legion Riders gave out around $14,500 in checks on Giving Hearts Day.

Some of the charities benefiting are Honor Guard, Homeward Bound Animal Shelter, Brady Oberg Legacy Foundation and Garden of Healing.

Thanks everyone that came out and supported the Legion Riders during this event.

Speaking of hearts, another Valentine’s Day has passed. Few things have spilled as many military secrets as a fragile heart.

One needs to look no further than Minnesota to find our first lonely heart.

Clayton J. Lonetree was a USMC Embassy guard in the USSR in the 1980’s. He quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant and was highly regarded by his peers. So much so he was chosen as one of the guards during the Reagan/Gorbachev summit.

What went wrong? Embassy guards sign no fraternization pacts. They cannot be friends with citizens of the country they are assigned. During the annual Marine Corp Ball in 1985, Lonetree met Violetta Seina. She was a lovely young Embassy employee that operated the switchboard and did translating. They began dating and spending a great deal of time together. Eventually Clayton was introduced to her family including “Uncle Sasha”.

Uncle Sasha never approved of the union BUT, he could make an exception for certain favors. If you haven’t picked up by now, Violetta and Uncle Sasha are KGB (Russian spy agency) operatives. These favors were stealing documents, building plans etc. He was asked to plant a bug and he refused. Eventually he was transferred to Vienna, Austria. There he was introduced to another “Uncle” which promised to reunite the two. Lonetree went to the CIA station Chief and spilled the beans of his past dealings.

Lontree was brought out and publicly stomped on. Retrospectively the damage he did was very minimal. He was blamed for a lot of things double agent and greedy traitor Aldrich Ames did at the time.

Lonetree went to trial in 1987 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 1989 former Marine Corps Commandant Alfred Gray asked for his 30 years to be dropped to 15 stating that the marine’s motivation “was not treason or greed, but rather the lovesick response of a naive, young, immature and lonely troop in a lonely and hostile environment.”

Lonetree was released in 1996. In 2001 he was an expert witness in the trial of former US Army Reserve Colonel George Trofimoff, who was charged with spying for the KGB. After remorsefully describing his own recruitment by the Soviet State, Lonetree publicly sobbed on the witness stand and apologized for his actions.

Trofimoff was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. I cannot find where Mr. Lonetree is at today. Last I could find is his daughter ran for president of the Navajo nation.

I feel Lonetree was harshly punished. One only look at Congressman Swalwell’s romp with Chinese spies, Manning’s document dump and the constant flow of “leakers” from all over that make Clayton look more honorable.

Story or Veteran ideas contact me at 11btwk@gmail.com.