News-Info-Alerts

Re: Fighting to Expose the Phonies

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: May 26, 2003

"Vets fight to expose fakes

By BRENDA HARTMAN - Press Enterprise Writer

BLOOMSBURG -- World War II vet John Paul won't wear his Navy uniform without his lame duck pin on it.

If he did, he could be accused of impersonating an officer. The pin is a sign that he was honorably discharged.

But a new crop of "veterans" has little regard for the truth. They're as phony as the war stories they spin and the fake medals on their chests.

These pretend heroes don't just steal the honor and glory showered on real veterans. Some obtain veteran's benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars by using fake credentials, veterans groups say.

Other impostors steal the identities of true veterans.

But real veterans are fighting back by exposing the phonies on the Internet and listing their names and sometimes pictures on Web sites. There's even a "Hall of Shame."

"We don't go after the guy in the bar," said Mary Schantag, co-founder and researcher for the POW Network, one of the lead organizations devoted to unmasking bogus military heroes. "We're not interested in bar tales."

Instead, her group and others expose fake heroes who use their fabricated tales to join the VFW or other organizations or to go into schools and brag to students or defraud government veterans' benefit programs.

The network has 1,000 names on its Web site, and reports of other phony veterans flow in daily. Schantag said she received 22 reports of fake veterans in 1998. Last year, she got about 4,000. No one is posted until their lies are proven against military records and documents.



Most phony vets are not from the World War II generation, they're younger.

"Most World War II vets wouldn't lie about it," Schantag said.

The fakers are out to grab the spotlight, a space on stage or in the community parade, she said. Some fabricate war stories to get sex or adulation.

Schantag said true veterans find it deeply offensive.

"They are stealing the honor, and glory and respect" due veterans, she said.


Need for heroes


The stories told are often fabulous, but the public often buys it. Schantag thinks that's a sign of the times.

"We're so desperate for heroes, we'll accept anyone that give us a fairy tale," she said.

But it's not always easy to finger a fake.

The frauds capitalize on today's advanced technology, which allows them to counterfeit documents with ease.

Schantag said one man from Iowa was found to have received $485,000 worth of benefits using fake documents. Others steal tax breaks, medical benefits, funeral benefits, widow's benefits.

"Unless somebody turns them in, it's our tax dollars paying for this," she said.

There are reportedly hundreds of ex-Vietnam POWs on the benefit rolls in Texas, which is impossible since only 681 from across the whole country came back, Schantag said. If divided equally, there would be only a baker's dozen in each of the 50 states.

The POW Web site lists 750 people falsely claiming to be Vietnam POWs.

"That's more than came home," Schantag said.

When impostors soak up the benefits, it costs real veterans, she said.



Closer to home, a Mountain Top man committed suicide this spring after he was fired from Luzerne County Community College for falsifying his job application and falsely claiming to be a Navy Seal.

A Time Leader newspaper investigation found that David Silbergeld, 65, who had worked as an adjunct history professor, had been convicted of several felonies, including involvement in a major cocaine smuggling ring while teaching at the Nanticoke college.

His name and story are now posted on the Internet.


Stealing IDs


There are also cases of identity theft. Brigadier General Al Lurie, Arizona, once watched his impostor in a televised military parade, Schantag said.

"Brigadier General Lurie has fought this for 30 years," she said.

Impersonating an officer is a crime. But in a world filled with murders and drugs and terrorism, most phony veterans avoid prosecution unless it's a high profile case or involves financial fraud.

"Humiliation is all we're left with," Schantag said.

That's why Web sites exposing phony vets are growing, she said. Schantag said the non-profit organization she founded with her husband, Chuck, now devotes 60 to 70 percent of its time to researching claims about fake veterans.

Some phonies are easy to spot because their lies are outrageous, she said. Claims about escapes or rescues are often a red flag. There were only 28 escapes throughout the entire Vietnam War and that number included some civilians, she said.

"There were no planned successful rescues since WWII until Jessica Lynch," she said, referring to the 19-year-old Army supply clerk rescued during the recent war in Iraq.

Schantag said the public needs to be aware of the problem and exercise some skepticism, especially schools and veterans organizations. The VFW is beginning to require prospective members to agree to searches of their military records, she said.

"People need to do their homework before they get somebody to speak, especially when [the tale] is too good to be true," she said.


Wannabe heroes


"I don't know how you combat it," said Paul, 77, the Bloomsburg Navy veteran who frequently speaks at local schools.

Paul said real veterans can usually tell when someone is spinning a war fib.

"But unless you've been there and done that, it's hard" to spot a fake, he said.

True veterans might stretch the truth about small things, such as how much they drank or what trouble they got into, he said. They won't lie about combat or boast about being a hero, he said.

"We're not heroes," he said of veterans. "The heroes are the guys we left over there."

What's offensive about phony veterans is that "they try to make themselves out to be heroes," Paul said.

World War II vet and Purple Heart recipient Chic Thackara, Bloomsburg, said fake vets are just wannabes.

"It's an ego thing for them and probably something they wanted to do," he said.

Thackara said he doesn't allow himself to get mad about the impostors.

"They have to live with the lie and look themselves in the mirror," he said.

Reporter Brenda Hartman can be reached at 387-1234, ext. 1323 or by e-mail at brenda.h@pe-online.com.

©Press Enterprise, Inc. "