Missouri National Guard sergeant tied to Nazism is fired

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/missouri-national-guard-sergeant-tied-to-nazism-is-fired/article_0cc1adf5-a5fb-5b54-ae64-c2c9923daf6b.html


BY PHILLIP O'CONNOR • poconnor@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8321 stltoday.com | Posted: Saturday, March 17, 2012 12:00 pm


Former co-workers say Nathan Wooten is a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who had a portrait of Adolf Hitler in his living room, tried to recruit others to the cause and named his son after a notorious leader of the German SS.

Until last week, Wooten also was a Missouri National Guard sergeant whose full-time state job was serving as part of a state military honor guard that pays last respects at the funerals of Missouri veterans, many of whom fought against Hitler in World War II. snip

Brandon Knott, 24, said he began working with Wooten in the Macon office in 2007. Later, Wooten was promoted to team leader. About that time, according to Knott, Wooten told him that he had joined the National Socialist Movement. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization, characterizes the group as one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States, notable for its violent anti-Jewish rhetoric and racist views. snip

"He always talked about how great of an organization it is and how they hate minorities like blacks, Mexicans and Jews and how great the U.S. would be without them," Knott later wrote in a complaint to a superior. Knott and two other co-workers provided copies of their complaints to the Post-Dispatch.