The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Derrick Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL, planned to question the Wisconsin American Legion Department about their commitment to ferreting out valor thieves when his time to speak at a state convention was yanked.
Derrick Van Orden, a 26-year military veteran and resident of Butternut in northern Wisconsin, pointed to two veterans in particular who were allowed to serve as state Legion officials — including one who served as a state commander — despite having lied about or misrepresented the extent of their service.
Van Orden said he was the one who let the state Legion know its then-historian, Howard “Gordy” Clewell, had exaggerated his service during the Vietnam era by claiming to have been in Special Forces. He had actually been stationed in Germany as a social worker.
Clewell resigned, and we discussed him last month. His wife, now the commander of the Wisconsin Department claims that she is kicking his ass to the curb in a divorce.
Van Orden also gave the organization documents that prove that their former state commander Robert Oliver, who died in 2011, was dishonorably discharged which disqualified him from membership in the Legion.
Van Orden points to a variety of groups that seek to expose those who are lying about their service or falsely claiming to be veterans and says it’s likely many Legion members are among the fraudsters.
Most recently a Legion member since 2014, Van Orden said his broader goal is to ensure Legion members who aren’t being truthful about their pasts don’t undermine the organization’s ability to help younger veterans cope with the trauma they’ve experienced during wartime.
“I take this super seriously,” he said, pointing to veterans he’s known who have been killed in combat or committed suicide. “That is the beginning and end of my agenda.”
We’ve done our share of exposing members of the American Legion who have lied about their service, as well as members of the VFW and Disabled American Veterans – all are organizations to which I am proudly a Life Member.
The American Legion has been instrumental in our battle against valor thieves. They shouldered much of our legal battle in Florida last year. While the Legion has some problems with commands below the National level, overall, they’ve been doing a great job in supporting us in our efforts.
Amber Nikolai, state adjutant of the Wisconsin American Legion, said she has a lot of respect for Van Orden but his presentation was canceled only a few hours before he was to give it because it wasn’t appropriate for the convention, which was marking the department’s 100th anniversary.
“It is important and we want to address the issues,” she said. “It’s just that this isn’t the forum.”
When I first started on this quest to rid the country of military fakes, I battled with the VSOs almost as much as I did with the fakes, but that culture in VSOs is shifting more to my point-of-view. They are magnitudes better than they used to be. The Legion has been leading that shift among the VSOs.
It’s been my experience that many of these phonies joined the organizations before the internet and before Jug Burkett’s book which opened all of our eyes to the size of the problem. By that time, many were ensconced in their organizations. Now it takes a crowbar to pry them out of their dark corners.
