{{Short description|United States Navy Rear Admiral and chairman (1925-2022)}} {{distinguish|Roy Hoffman}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = | name = Roy F. Hoffmann | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | other_name = | nickname = "Latch" | birth_date = <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} if dead --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|2022|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} death date first, then birth date --> | death_place = | burial_label = | burial_place = | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | allegiance = | branch = United States Navy | service_years = | service_years_label = | rank = Rear Admiral | rank_label = | service_number = <!-- Do not use data from primary sources such as service records --> | unit = | commands = | battles_label = | battles = | awards = | memorials = | spouse = <!-- Add spouse if reliably sourced --> | relations = | other_work = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | module = }} Rear Admiral '''Roy F. "Latch" Hoffmann''', U.S. Navy (retired) (1925–2022) was chairman of the former Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, established May 4, 2004, in opposition to John Kerry's candidacy for U.S. President, and which disbanded on May 31, 2008. As a naval officer, he patrolled the Mekong Delta on swift boats during the Vietnam War.<ref>''Albion Monitor'': [http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0403a/copyright/ac-kerrysealords.html Kerry in Vietnam:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051111081021/http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0403a/copyright/ac-kerrysealords.html |date=2005-11-11}} March 24, 2004.</ref>
==Early life== Hoffmann attended the University of Notre Dame. He was commissioned through the Naval ROTC program on June 1, 1946.<ref name="Suez">{{cite book|title=The United States role in opening the Suez Canal, hearing before the Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia of ..., 93-2, May 8, 1974|date=1974|location=Washington DC|page=39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwVNuxLYa3oC|last1=Foreign Affairs|first1=United States. Congress. House}}</ref>
==Military career==
His awards included the Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal.
==Civilian career== Following his retirement from the Navy, he was a port director in Milwaukee, Wisconsin before being removed from the post.<ref>''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20050209075839/http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/aug04/253477.asp Hoffmann once rocked boat in Milwaukee]. August 23, 2004.</ref>
Hoffmann claimed he got involved with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth after reading Douglas Brinkley's book ''Tour of Duty'', which, among other things, detailed Kerry's Swift Boat duty in Vietnam; he told ''The Washington Post'', "I couldn't bear that someone was betraying us and being a dastardly liar. If I can be any more plain than that, I don't know."<ref>''Washington Post'': [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2975-2004Oct2.html Unfriendly Fire.] October 4, 2002.</ref>
In 2009, the Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann Foundation ceased operations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.admhoffmannfoundation.com/|title=Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann Foundation, Honoring America's Veterans. John O'Neill, T. Boone Pickens|publisher=}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Further reading== *Symmes, Weymouth D. ''This Is Latch: The Rear Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann Story''. Missoula, Mont: Pictorial Histories Pub. Co, 2007. {{ISBN|9781575101378}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Roy}} Category:1925 births Category:Year of death missing Category:United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War Category:United States Navy admirals Category:University of Notre Dame alumni