Category: Phony soldiers

Someone sent us a link to a Philly.com article about Philadelphia councilman David Oh who claims he was a “green beret”, but it turns out that he was an infantry officer assigned to 20th Special Forces Group in Maryland as the “detachment technician” when the unit was briefly called to active duty in 1991. He failed the selection course just before that.

Jim Croall, Oh’s commanding officer in 1991, said that claim is “absolutely not” accurate.

“That would be totally stretching it,” said Croall, who retired as a colonel after serving a tour of duty Iraq in 2003.

Croall, who recalls Oh not completing the Special Forces training, said he resents it when “wannabes” call themselves Green Berets without justification.

Croall said Special Forces units for all branches of the military must deal at times with people who make exaggerated claims about their military service. Some use Internet sites to expose Special Forces fakers, he said.

“There are plenty of people out there who claim to be something they are not,” Croall said.

Another Republican in Florida, retired SOCOM colonel Mike McCalister, who is branched Engineer according to Army Knowledge Online (AKO), claimed to be a Special Forces officer during his campaign for the Florida Senate seat.

He’s drawn the ire of an ad hoc group calling themselves “Stolen Valor” (real original, guys). They claim that McCallister said he’d been involved with “black ops”, which is probably true in that he worked at planning while at SOCOM, but not in the way he’d intended voters to interpret the phrase.

Now, I can’t find anything in print in which McCalister is reported to have said to particpate in “black ops”, but Mr Chuck Winn, McCallister’s main antagonist, tells me that he did. it should be noted that Chuck Winn also tried to derail Marco Rubio’s Republican primary campaign last year while Winn was working for the Bob Smith campaign, so Winn, also an Army veteran, clearly has a problem with Republicans who are not his choice for office.

However, a colonel should know better than to mince his words and give an inaccurate impression that can be used against him.

Both Oh and McCallister are Republicans, if I didn’t make that clear enough. Both were officers and should certainly know better than embellishing their careers. The best way to attract doubters, though, is to call yourself a “green beret”…I don’t know anyone in the business who calls themselves that.

AverageNCO sent us this link at about the same time Mary at POW Network sent us the same information about Buffalo native Ralph “Cotton” Lawson, 89 who tells tall tales about his service as a fighter pilot during World War II;

“I was awarded the Navy Cross for shooting down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (who planned and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor) on April 28, 1942,” Lawson said.

Our buddy, Doug Sterner, writes;

This is bogus information on a very FAMOUS air Mission. First of all, the Yamamoto shoot down was April 18, not April 28. The mission was assigned to U.S. Army Air Force pilots by the Navy, since they had the long-range fighters. FOUR Navy Crosses were awarded for that operation, ALL OF THEM to U.S. Army Air Force Personnel who are listed below:

Barber, Rex T.
Hine, Raymond K.
Holmes, Besby Frank
Lanphier, Thomas G., Jr.

It must be tough out there for these old guys who’ve been telling these lies for decades and now they face the consequences when they tell the tales one last time and a million eyes scrutinize every word. It shouldn’t be so hard for the idiot journalists who refuse to do even a Wikipedia search on basic facts like dates.

This old clown is named George H Lauve, well, sometimes. He sometimes goes by George Lauvec and he’s from Wenatchee, WA, the same town where we found another phony living, Bob “Spooky 8” King.

I think the first indicator that this asshole is not a Marine is that weak-ass salute. According to the people who sent me this article, they can’t find his name anywhere in relation to a service record. I know he’s not on the list of Navy Cross recipients at Home of Heroes.

But he is an officer at the American Legion Post 10 in Wenatchee.

Nicholas Marshall was arrested driving a stolen car in Mansfield, Massachusetts several months ago, but standing on his military record, he promised the judge that he’d return to court to answer the charges. After a high speed chase the following month, he displayed in court “war wounds” as proof of his service, but the prosecutor questioned his record – a Silver Star and two bronze Stars according to Marshall;

While Marshall claims he was discharged, a criminal investigator for the Army at Fort Dix in New Jersey wrote in a letter to police saying that Marshall is an active member of the Army who is AWOL and is considered a “flight risk.”

The Army said it will take Marshall into custody once he completes whatever jail time he received for his criminal cases, according to the document.

Of course, the thief claims that he’s a war hero being victimized by the Army.

In addition to his problems with the military, Marshall is also wanted in Rhode Island, where he is on probation for violating a restraining order, in addition to being a fugitive on an auto theft charge in East Providence.

He is also wanted in Pennsylvania for larceny-related and identity theft charges, according to authorities.

i guess the Army is last in a long line of states queued up for a shot at this jackwagon’s ass. If he doesn’t manage to steal the prison.

I’m sure you remember William Clark, the heavy-drop phony we discussed almost a year ago;

Joe Momma sends us a link to the report from Associated Press that he’s been convicted of passing bad checks and impersonating a military officer. The US Attorney’s office in Fairbanks also reports that he was convicted of weapons charges.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner says the super-sized phony could get 25 years for this bit of malfeasance.

According to court records, Clark passed more than 200 bad checks inside and outside of Alaska, where he falsely impersonated an officer. During that time, he also had two hand guns and ammunition.

In the check fraud case, sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 21, with the maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to a press release, the actual sentence will be based on the seriousness of the crimes and his prior criminal history.

Seein’s how he’s been convicted and served in Federal Pound-Me-in-the-Ass prison for impersonating an Army officer in the past, this one might not go well for him. But if you can’t do the time….