This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Phony soldiers

  • Blumenthal emails apology

    When Richard Blumenthal, CT’s AG had a chance to face the voters and apologize to them for lying countless times to their faces last week, he instead used the opportunity to chastise them for doubting him in the face of mounting evidence against him. Now a weekend later, the cringing coward emails his apology to the Hartford Courant.

    “At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves,” Blumenthal said in a statement emailed to the Courant late Sunday by his spokeswoman, Maura Downes. “I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words.

    “I have made mistakes and I am sorry. I truly regret offending anyone,” Blumenthal said. “I will always champion the cause of Connecticut’s and our nation’s veterans.”

    How brave! How courageous! Lie to m face and email an apology behind my back. I guess we can all figure out why he avoided service in Vietnam – he’s a coward to the bone.

    State Republican Chairman Chris Healy criticized Blumenthal for making his apology by email, calling it an “electronic mumble.”

    “Maybe he can’t look the Vets or people in the eye and really admit it,” Healy wrote on his Facebook page.

    How can he even consider running for the Senate now? Do the people of Connecticut really want this mealy-mouthed coward representing them in the Senate? Seriously.

  • Another Stolen Valor Politician

    Doug Sterner sent us this link to an article about yet another politician who claims to have been something he isn’t. This one is mayor of a Chicago suburb;

    In his campaign literature, Calumet Park Mayor Joseph DuPar touted his decorated service in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

    “As a Sergeant in the military, I received the Medal of Honor with (4) Bronze Stars for my Leadership,” his campaign flier states.

    DuPar’s military records, which the Tribune obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration, do not list the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration.

    Victoria Kueck, director of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, confirmed DuPar is not a Medal of Honor recipient.

    “We only have 91 living recipients,” and there’s an archived file on each one since the Civil War, Kueck said.

    DuPar, 69, declined to show his medals or discuss them, and his attorney did not respond to requests to set up a meeting to view DuPar’s medals.

    The fact that DuPar refuses to answer questions on the subject shows just how little he, or his lawyers, value true valor. As the citizns uncover more information about their mayor, I’m pretty sure they’ll find other instances in which he committed fraud and cost them real money

    And this problem is reaching epidemic proportions. There are promises of revelations on some of the cases we’ve highlighted in the recent past.

  • Matthis plays combat veteran again

    Someone sent me this link to the Times Herald Record yesterday about the protest that happened outside of West Point while the President was speaking yesterday. Apparently Matthis was there spreading his usual bullshit;

    Matthis Chiroux of Brooklyn said he agreed to enter the Army as an alternate sentence after “being busted selling mushrooms in Alabama,” but now regrets that choice.

    “I messed up,” he told a crowd of about 90 to 100. “I committed a crime when I went to Afghanistan.”

    Which crime would that be, Matthis? Did you take two scoops of sprinkles from the ice cream bar at the DFac?

    The truth is that according to the Army, Matthis was never stationed in Afghanistan;
    (more…)

  • Blumenthal’s other lies

    Our friend, Doug Sterner, is fond of pointing out that people who lie about their military service are also guilty of other shortcomings and indiscretions. This morning’s Wall Street Journal catalogs some of Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal’s other lies besides the ones he told about his service in Vietnam.

    Take for example the story of Gina Kolb whose small computer company was torn apart by the CT AG’s office on false charges. Ms. Kolb stood her ground and eventually won an $18 million law suit against the AG’s office for Blumenthal’s false statements about her and her company.

    …the Competitive Enterprise Institute rated Mr. Blumenthal the worst state AG, beating Mr. [Eliot] Spitzer, which takes some doing.

    He was the only AG to get failing grades in each of the four categories: using his office to “promote personal gain or enrich cronies or relatives”; “fabricating the law” by asking courts to “rewrite statutes or stretch constitutional norms”; bringing lawsuits “that usurp regulatory powers granted to the federal government or other state entities”; and “seeking to regulate conduct occurring wholly in other states.”

    Discovery of this lie about his military service and Blumenthal’s inability to apologize for it, is indicative of the true nature of the man that Democrats want to represent the people of CT in the Senate.

  • The Army’s Stolen Valor case

    We here at This Ain’t Hell know how difficult it is to prove that people aren’t who they say they are. Jesse Bernard Johnston seems to have been able to bring that point home to the Army;

    Jesse Bernard Johnston III, 26, joined the Army Reserve in February as a sergeant and was assigned to the Corps Support Airplane Company based at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station. But he wasn’t qualified to hold that rank, according to military records obtained by the AP. The records show that Johnston’s only military experience was attending part of a 12-week Marine officer candidate course for college students in 2004.

    He managed to award himself a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He even convinced, for two years, an Army Reservist who married him of his false story. The Associated Press outlines the consequences of the Army’s failures;

    The matter, currently under investigation by the Army, means a soldier received a security clearance and was in position to lead troops in combat even though he hadn’t gone through basic training or spent any time in the service.

    I don’t think it was quite that dire – he perpetrated the fraud earlier this year and was busted on it within a few months.

    If it’s proven that Johnston gained his Army rank based on a phony Marine record, it would be the first documented case of so-called “stolen valor” in which the military was duped during the enlistment process, according to watchdogs of such fraud.

    It was a family court case rhat busted him, though;

    In a recent court proceeding, Johnston’s former wife, also an Army reservist, accused him of using falsified documents to make it appear he’d served in the Marines. Melanie Rolfing, 24, made the claim in a sworn statement filed last month in Fort Worth family court when she had her two-year-old marriage annulled, alleging fraud. Johnston did not contest the annulment.

    Thanks to Paul for the link.

  • Dick Stoops revisited

    Dick Stoops

    Regular readers will remember Dick Stoops from the post I wrote last month. He claimed he was a Ranger with 187th Infantry with three combat jumps, briefly a POW. Stoops was about to be inducted into Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame, but there were just too many questions about him.

    The folks at POW Net submitted a FOIA for us and it seems that Stoops ended his six year stint in the Army as a Private First Class (not a Sergeant First Class like in the photo). It appears that he was indeed a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division and 187th Regimental Combat Team, but in HQs and Service companies. I don’t see any infantry assignments so toss out the CIB, too.

    His only assignment to Korea was from July 18, 1953 – October 1, 1953 (the cease fire in the war began on July 27, 1953) and then he was assigned to Japan until May 1954 when he returned to the States. By the looks of the units, he was a rigger or at least assigned to rigger units.

    Some folks have called Stoops about the results of the FOIA and asked him what happened to all of the medals he’s wearing which aren’t in the FOIA results. Stoops responded that he had asked that the military remove them from his records (for some stupid reason). I wonder how he got the glider badge when the Army ended the school in 1948 and Stoops didn’t join the Army until 1950.

    There may be forgery involved;

    In speaking to Stoops, he provided me with several pages of Army documentation that included his combat history, number of years in war time and military and what looked to be authentic certificates of commendations from the Korean War. His induction was verified with the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office and with the Kansas Museum of the National Guard. I know that he would be more than happy to talk to you and show any proof of his service.

    I’ll update this story as more information rolls in.

  • VFF calls for apology from Blumenthal

    On Fox News this morning, Pete Hegseth, our friend and Executive Director of Vets For Freedom demanded an apology from Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal to his opponents and to all Vietnam Veterans;

    Claymore sends us a link to Democratic Underground (in my opinion, Claymore spends more time there than I would consider healthy) in which many DUmmies are more than willing to throw Blumenthal from the train. I guess that’s reflective of the Democrats’ worries about losing Congress in November.

    I guess that’s what it takes to make Democrats aware of their candidates beyond the (D) next to their names.

    On the other hand, TSO sent a link yesterday to Jim Starowiscz’ post blaming Blumenthal’s duplicity on the Nixon White House somehow.

    Meanwhile, speaking of morons with megaphones, Gordon DUff ignores the biggest story in the country right now to call the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan so they can seal the border. Not a mention of Blumenthal in Veterans Today “Top 10 Veterans Story in Today’s News“.

    What passes for news at AP? The fact that Blumenthal ONCE stated the character of his service correctly.

    The Connecticut VFW commander rightly blasted Blumenthal;

    Richard DiFederico, the commander of Connecticut’s Veterans of Foreign Wars, said he won’t forgive the comments either, whether they were intentional or not.

    “It diminishes the service of all who served and sacrificed, most especially those whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Wall,” he said. “Mr. Blumenthal was considered one of the best friends a veteran could have in Connecticut. It is a true shame that he let a false claim of Vietnam service change that.”

    An unconfirmed rumor is spreading that Jesse MacBeth and Ward Reilly are inviting Blumenthal to join the Iraq Veterans Against the War since he has the same amount of time in Iraq as most of the membership and he’s pretty good at lying with a straight face..

    MOTHAX asks Are some animals veterans more equal than others?

  • What’s funny about the Blumenthal conference

    1stCavRVN11B sent me a message from one of his friends who recognized one of the veterans on the stage with Richard Blumenthal from POW Net’s Wall of Shame. His name is William Joseph Trumpower and here’s the picture of him at Blumenthal’s press conference taken from a screenshot of a Fox News video;

    And here’s a screen shot of an interview Trumpower did on local TV under his AKA name Elliot Storm;

    Trumpower or Storm actually did serve in Vietnam, but he embellished his career to sell a book.

    CLAIMING BRONZE STAR w/VALOR device. Claims 2nd Lt, Claims Wears 3 Purple Hearts, 2 Bronze Stars w/V. The jacket in EARLIER pictures boasted 8 ribbons. This NEW pic has more and includes V device on Bronze Star and 2nd Lt bars. Claims he worked with Ollie North.

    ACTUAL – National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Purple Heart w/1*. Served 11 Oct 1968 to 30 Jan 1970 as a USMC rifleman (MOS 0311). Has enlisted service number (not officer’s)

    There’s more at the POW Net link including an email Trumpower sent to our friends admitting his chicanery.