The rise & fall of fakers

[thedrifter]

The rise &amp; fall of fakers <br />
More people are embellishing their records, but the Stolen Valor Act helps punish them to the fullest <br />
By John Hoellwarth and Michael Hoffman -...

[thedrifter]

5 NEWLY EXPOSED FAKERS <br />
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Posted : September 17, 2007 <br />
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1. Name: Former Staff Sgt. Preston Garris <br />
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From: La Grange, N.C. <br />
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The lie: In order to be appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission...

[thedrifter]

Database could serve as example for feds <br />
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com <br />
Posted : September 17, 2007 <br />
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With the nation at war, the number of decorated veterans is on the rise, a...

[Alphaonethree]

Is there any one service that is prone to this type of behavior???

[sparkie]

GUESS> I will bet,,, USMC.

[Dannycanterberr]

I just can't understand why anyone would lie about medals earned,especially combat medals such as purple heart etc. when our brothers and other servicemen and women have and are losing limbs and...

[Sgt Leprechaun]

All the services are having massive faker issues. Fake SEALS, Green Berets/Rangers, 'combat vets' from every service. It's just that nowadays, it's easier to smoke them out with some basic research on the internet instead of doing the paper searching.

There have been fakers after every war, for various reasons.

[heritageman]

One of the most admirable efforts to preserve American Military History is the "Veterans Living History Project" administered by the Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov/vets The problem is, without a national database of TRUE recipients of awards, even the LOC can not check out the veracity of these stories, preserved for posterity and stamped with the legitimacy of having it recorded by the Library of Congress.
See For Instance: The page maintained by LOC for the most highly decorated man in history, Wallace M. Gallant who, according to LOC earned the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, and Air Force Cross (accomplished by no other person in history) at: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/14966
In a sampling of 49 records in which the interviewee claims to have earned the Medal of Honor in a VLHP interview, 24 are NOT recipients of the Medal of Honor.
In a sampling of the TWO interviews in which the veteran claims to have received the Air Force Cross (only 191 have ever been awarded), only ONE is a legitimate recipient of the AFC.
In a sampling of 100 interviews in which the veteran claims to have received the Distinguished Service Cross, more than 30 are bogus.
In a sampling of 50 interviews in which the veteran claims to have received the Navy Cross, nearly ONE THIRD are bogus.
In a sampling of 144 interviews in which the veteran claims to have been a Prisoner of War, as many as ONE THIRD are questionable.

To get a clearer picture of this problem, check out American hero (according to the Library of Congress) Joseph Bernard Murphy who has a page in which he claims he was Special Forces, earned the DSC, and suffered as a POW at: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/29411 Then, to really ruin your day.... take the time to watch Mr. Murphy's video interview in which he tells his outlandish stories of SF service, covert missions into the USSR, Laos and Cambodia, and his capture and daring escape at: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.29411/video?ID=mv0001001
We DO need a national database to identify true heroes, more for the admirable purpose that launched the VLHP of preserving TRUE history, but without a means to verify and then weed out the phonies, the REAL history becomes suspect and looses its meaning.