{"id":83323,"date":"2018-12-07T09:20:36","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T13:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=83323"},"modified":"2022-01-23T22:42:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T03:42:58","slug":"thomas-burke-phony-wounded-vietnam-green-beret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=83323","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Burke &#8211; Phony Wounded Vietnam Green Beret"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-face.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-83324\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-face-300x293.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-face-300x293.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-face-341x333.jpg 341w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-face.jpg 652w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The folks at <a href=\"https:\/\/militaryphony.com\/2018\/12\/06\/thomas-burke-green-beret-in-vietnam-purple-heart-combat-infantry-badge-blog-of-shame\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Military Phony<\/a> sent us their work on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/2namtec.thomasburke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas Burke<\/a>, who claims to be a Vietnam vet and a Purple Heart recipient.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-83325\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses-333x333.jpg 333w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-sunglasses.jpg 1248w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-side.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-83326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-side-285x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-side-285x300.jpg 285w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-side-768x809.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-side-316x333.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-side.jpg 1077w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last June, the A&amp;E Network profiled a Church in Pennsylvania on their series Cults &amp; Extreme Beliefs.\u00a0 In the episode, a man is shown taking part in church services wearing a green beret with a Special Forces flash.\u00a0 A search of the church\u2019s YouTube channel revealed an interview with the man, Thomas Burke, conducted by the head of the church, Sean Moon.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div style=\"position: relative; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; left: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sMJm-ol2Sss?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the video, Burke states he served in Vietnam as a Special Forces soldier. Here is a synopsis of some of his claims:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Green Beret in Vietnam<\/li>\n<li>Purple Heart Recipient<\/li>\n<li>He also wears a CIB on his beret<\/li>\n<li>Claims he was selected for Special Forces in part because of his Native American tracking abilities.<\/li>\n<li>Claims he worked for MACV-SOG, but refers to the SOG as Special Operations Group when the acronym actual meant Studies and Observation Group.<\/li>\n<li>Claims\u00a0 &#8220;I seen rivers of bodies that looked like a beaver dam&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) could not find a record for Burke&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-FOIA.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-83327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-FOIA-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-FOIA-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-FOIA-768x991.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-FOIA-258x333.jpg 258w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-FOIA.jpg 799w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Burke also claims on his Facebook page that he was the 1959 &#8220;World Pistal\u00a0[sic] Champ&#8221;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-facebook.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-83328 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-facebook-489x333.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"489\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-facebook-489x333.jpg 489w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-facebook-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-facebook-768x523.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/burke-facebook.jpg 886w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since he wasn&#8217;t specific as to this being a military accomplishment, it is hard to pin this down.<\/p>\n<p>One of our ninjas tracked down the following information:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Regarding the 1959 World Pistol Champ claim &#8211; the International Shooting Sports Federation holds its World Championships every four years. It held events in 1958 and 1962, but nothing in 1959. There was a National Shooting Championship held at Camp Perry in Ohio. Army MSgt Huelet L. &#8220;Joe&#8221; Benner won his sixth title in 1959. If Chief Burke competed in some other World Pistol Championships, he is welcome to submit evidence.<\/p>\n<p>According the Church Facebook page, \u201cChief (Burke) will be advising the King (Moon) in combat tactical training with Sanctuarians.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thomas Chief Burke goes by &#8220;Wounded Bear&#8221;.\u00a0 We wonder if this is related to his Purple Heart that he claims he received\u00a0for Vietnam?\u00a0 If that is true, then he would have gotten his Native American name later in life.\u00a0 Either that, or he was injured as a young child and the name was bestowed\u00a0on him at that time.\u00a0 At this point, we can only wonder if he is actually more than 1\/1024th Native American.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, if Wounded Bear is leveraging some wampum from his stories of being wounded in Vietnam, he may be putting himself at risk of being in violation of Stolen Valor laws.\u00a0 This case could even be a nice test of the brand new <a href=\"https:\/\/wnep.com\/2017\/06\/27\/pennsylvania-enacts-stolen-valor-law-penalizing-those-who-lie-about-veteran-status\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pennsylvania Stolen Valor Act<\/a> put in place last year.\u00a0 \u00a0What would the Indian name for &#8220;full of shit&#8221; be?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The folks at Military Phony sent us their work on Thomas Burke, who claims to be &hellip; <a title=\"Thomas Burke &#8211; Phony Wounded Vietnam Green Beret\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=83323\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Thomas Burke &#8211; Phony Wounded Vietnam Green Beret<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,183,391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phony-soldiers","category-stolen-valor-act","category-valorvultures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}