==================================
More Reported Claims:
Medal of Honor, Other than Vietnam POWs, Son Tay Raiders, DSC,
DFC, Purple Heart, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Navy Cross, SEALS, Rangers, Pilots,
Special Forces, Green Berets, Combat, Vietnam Helicopter Pilots,
Flying Tigers, DOUBT
EVERYTHING, Don't Encourage
Individuals reported as
of 03/2008
CLAIMING VIETNAM POW STATUS or as
noted
# = on list over 11 years
All claims highlighted in lavender are
eligible for prosecution under the STOLEN VALOR ACT signed
into law Dec 20, 2006.
Note: These individuals are IN ADDITION TO those
investigated and named in the book STOLEN VALOR.
Those
with a "LINK" have records, news articles, pictures or tales
posted Comments in GREEN are
from information contained in military records (or lack of
military records) obtained through FOIA when requested THROUGH the
National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
THOSE CLAIMING MEDAL OF HONOR NOTE: In 1996 HLI Lordship
Industries (at the time, the OFFICIAL USG contractor for the Medal of
Honor) admitted selling THREE HUNDRED unauthorized medals for $75.00
each from 1991-1994. They were fined $80,000. NOT ALL of those medals
have been recovered. Offenders in possession of an
unauthorized medal can be arrested, fined (up to $10,000) and jailed
(up to a year). It is the only military medal that CANNOT be bought,
sold, bartered, traded, collected, auctioned, exchanged.... EVERY
Medal of Honor is awarded by act of Congress. Less than 150 REAL Medal
of Honor recipients are alive today.
The
names listed in the next pages have made VARIOUS or multiple
claims that cannot be substantiated or have been proven FALSE.
W
[2]
Name
Date Reported
Hometown
Claims
Findings
WHITELY, WILLIAM T
aka T. Whitely William
aka William R Whitely
2001
2005
06/2008
NORMAN, OK
Kansas City, MO
El Prado NM
Claims NAVY SEAL, Ranger school, Silver Star.
Seen in uniform at his unit
and another time was when he was on campus at the Univ of Oklahoma (OU).
Both times he was wearing a Silver Star ribbon.
At one point in about the late
1980s/early 1990s he stated that as a result of his previous SEAL
qualification and experience, he was again doing SEAL work; he'd been
transferred from the Navy reserve unit in OKC to working as a reservist
with the West Coast SEAL teams
While on the business college
faculty at OU he volunteered to be an advisor to the NROTC's unit of
those aspiring to be SEALs, Force Recon, etc. and he did several
activities with them, including morning physical training. Just before
he was outed he was a keynote speaker for some activity having to do
with their grad. The program for that activity provided a sketch of his
military service which included his SS.
Previously listed on VERISEAL and AUTHENTISEAL
He was outed as an imposter a few years ago when he was on the faculty at
the Univ of Oklahoma. He retired from OU a couple of years after he
was outed.
On a Sworn Mission Seeking Pretenders To Military
Heroism
By PAM BELLUCK
Published: August 10, 2001
Last April, in a dignified ceremony meant to honor a war hero,
Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska pinned a Purple Heart on Timothy R.
Webster, who stood humbly wearing a large eagle insignia, the kind
worn only by members of the Navy's elite Sea-Air-Land units, the
Seals.
Mr. Webster, 26, of Columbus, Neb., had told Senator Nelson's
office that he had been wounded in the Persian Gulf in 1994, and he
had presented a letter on Navy stationery saying he won a Purple
Heart.
But Mr. Webster was not counting on the likes of Larry Bailey.
Captain Bailey, a former Seal commander, got wind of Mr. Webster
after his picture appeared in the Columbus newspaper. Captain Bailey
checked a database he maintains of members of the Seals, found no
Timothy Webster and alerted Senator Nelson's office, which asked the
Navy to investigate.
This week, the Navy gave the senator its verdict: Mr. Webster ''did
not receive Seal training, he was not wounded in combat and is not a
recipient of the Purple Heart Medal.''
Senator Nelson's office said Mr. Webster was a radio operator in
the Gulf. When reached by phone, Mr. Webster said he would not comment
until he received records he had requested from the Navy.
Captain Bailey, 62, of Mount Vernon, Va., is part of a growing
network of people who have made it their business to sniff out those
who lie about their military service.
The ranks of fraud hunters have grown in response to what appears
to be a surge of wartime fabrication, especially involving the Vietnam
War. The most recent notable example was Joseph J. Ellis, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian, who said he had been a platoon leader with
the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, when he had actually spent the war
teaching military history at West Point. But there have been hundreds
of others.
''We see it everywhere,'' said Tom Corey, president of the Vietnam
Veterans of America, who said the group discovered this year that
several members had falsely claimed in the organization's membership
directory that they had been prisoners of war. ''A lot of times they
say they're Navy Seals or special forces or POW's, and a lot of them
never left stateside.''
Most fraud hunters are veterans motivated by outrage. Operating
mostly through Web sites and on their own dime, they scrutinize claims
in small-town newspaper articles and in membership rosters of veterans
groups.
They also field an increasing number of calls and e-mail messages
from people doubtful about the wartime résumé of a co-worker or a
daughter's fiancé.
''It's an epidemic,'' said Mary Schantag, who with her husband,
Chuck, exposes impostors from their farmhouse in Skidmore, Mo.
Last year, the Schantags say, they logged 7,000 queries about
military claims, up from 22 in 1998.
''There's a very active hunt 'em down and hang 'em up kind of
thing,'' said B. G. Burkett, a Dallas stockbroker who helped catalyze
the movement to unmask pretenders with his 1998 book, ''Stolen
Valor.''
The fraud hunters are sometimes accused of being overzealous,
determined not only to expose fakers but also to get them fired or
ruin their lives. Critics cite the case of Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda,
chief of naval operations, who killed himself in 1996 after
revelations that he wore Vietnam decorations he had not earned.
The debunkers are partly the offspring of the Internet, which makes
it easy to check claims against lists of Medal of Honor winners,
prisoners of war and other elite veterans.
But they are also responding to a growing eagerness of people to
associate themselves with Vietnam, whether they were there or not. The
war's image has undergone an overhaul as time has soothed society's
bitterness, as movies and television have depicted Vietnam veterans as
sympathetic victims or admirable warriors, and as politicians and
business leaders with solid Vietnam records have become models of
success and dignity.
Mr. Burkett, who is known as Jug and has an admittedly unremarkable
Vietnam record as an ordnance officer, said he had helped expose the
fictitious military stories of about 1,800 people, including Wes
Cooley, a former Republican congressman from Oregon, who was forced
out of office after claiming falsely that he had served with the Army
Special Forces in the Korean War.
Captain Bailey, who commanded the Seal training center, said
counterfeit solders often had little trouble passing for the real
thing.
''Our society is so mobile and so reluctant to check out anybody's
bona fides, that we just accept it,'' said Captain Bailey, who said
more than 7,000 Seal pretenders had been uncovered, with about 650
posted on a Wall of Shame at cyberseals.org.
Embellishers have included Tim Johnson, the Toronto Blue Jays
manager, who was fired after his stories of search-and-destroy
missions in Vietnam collided with the reality that he never saw
combat. Darrow Tully, former publisher of The Arizona Republic and a
friend of Senator John McCain's, the former prisoner of war, admitted
that he lied about flying jet fighters in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Then there were the two top officials of a Vietnam War Museum in
San Antonio who falsely claimed they had served in Vietnam. And the
eight men in medal-bedecked camouflage who a few years ago visited the
Vietnam Memorial on Veterans Day and Memorial Day and swapped fake
stories of being in the Seals.
''Half of them had eyesight so bad their glasses made them look
like a frog looking up through a block of ice,'' said Steve Waterman,
a Maine lobsterman and Navy veteran, who helped expose them. ''I don't
even know if those within the group knew the others were all
phonies.''
Fraud hunters are most incensed by people who publicize fictitious
exploits in the media or use them to get elected, promoted or wangle
undeserved veterans' benefits.
Donald R. Nicholson, a retired police chief of Amelia, Ohio, said
the prospect of additional benefits prompted him to claim he had been
a prisoner of war, even buying fake medals and military papers and
persuading the Army to award him the Distinguished Service Cross.
Others seek to be heroes, giving inspiring speeches at schools or
becoming respected members of veterans groups.
William T. Whitely, a University of Oklahoma professor who founded
an organization to prepare students for Navy Seal training, admitted
in March that he had been lying for a decade by claiming he had been a
Seal member and the recipient of Silver and Bronze Stars. Mr. Whitely,
caught after a real Seal veteran reported him, said he had told
himself his fictional story was inspiring to students.
''I never claimed being a Seal in the beginning, Mr. Whitely said,
''It just kind of happened.''
Some play on the image of the troubled and traumatized veteran,
even using it to win sympathy from a judge or jury. Joseph Yandle, who
was convicted of killing a Boston liquor store owner, had his life
sentence commuted in 1995 after convincing the governor, the state
pardon board and national media that he had harrowing combat
experiences as a decorated marine in Vietnam. Three years after Mr.
Yandle was released, Mr. Burkett proved he had only been a clerk in
Okinawa, and Mr. Yandle was put back in prison.
There is debate about how many people try to use fake claims to
take advantage of government programs and veterans' groups. Bob Epley,
associate deputy under secretary for policy and program management at
the Department of Veterans Affairs, said the department's screening
system worked well.
''We don't think that this is a problem of magnitude,'' Mr. Epley
said.
But a criminal investigator for the department, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said military masquerading was ''probably
extensive.''
And Mr. Corey said embellishers ''go through chapters of V.F.W. or
V.V.A. or some other organization, and you usually don't find out
until they try to rise within the organization or if they're running
for office.''
Fraud hunters say they can verify claims of the highest military
honors or elite service quickly because those groups are relatively
small. Less extraordinary claims take longer, often months, as
debunkers wait for a claimant's file to be sent by the military
records center.
When they believe they have proof of a pretender, they post the
name on line and sometimes confront the person with phone calls or
scathing e-mail messages. Some people apologize; others stick by their
claims.
''The only thing we have in our corner is humiliation,'' said Ms.
Schantag, who recently discovered that a man who claimed to be a
prisoner of war and gave a keynote address at a Vietnam Memorial
Traveling Wall exhibit was apparently a prisoner only of his own
fantasies.
Some fraud hunters offer tips on spotting a pretender. Beware, they
say, of people who boast of grisly combat or say they are not on
official rosters because their duties were top secret. And watch out
for people who know too many details.
''I'm convinced some of them could pass a polygraph test,'' Mr.
Burkett said. ''They often know more about the battle, they study it
and work at it much harder than the guy who was there. Because the guy
who was there only remembers six feet on either side.''
Correction: August 14, 2001, Tuesday A picture caption on
Friday with a front-page article about efforts to expose people who
lie about their military service misstated the location of a medal
ceremony for a man later accused of having embellished his Navy
background. It was in Columbus, Neb., not in Missouri.
Whitmore pleads guilty to abduction, sex assault
TIM COOK
Canadian Press
July 23, 2007 at 6:22 PM EDT
REGINA
— It began innocently with a friendship struck up among co-workers
at a Winnipeg construction site.
It was July 21, 2006, and Peter Whitmore needed a place to stay.
One of his workmates was won over easily by the lumbering, oafish
man who called himself Robert Summers, and offered up some space in
his family's home.
Mr. Whitmore, an “unrelenting” pedophile with a shopping list
of sexual offences to his name, pleaded guilty Monday to abduction and
sex assault charges and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance
at parole for seven years. The plea was part of a deal the Crown
brokered in exchange for not pursuing dangerous offender status......
Mr. Whitmore kept his victim compliant with
outlandish threats that he was once in the military and had military
weapons in the van. He told the teen he could make one phone call to
people he knew and the youngster's family would be killed......
The younger boy was gagged with duct tape and
wrapped in a blanket. Mr. Whitmore threatened him with a pellet gun
and told him it fired bullets that could pierce body armour. He also
told the boy he was a Navy Seal and had a machine gun with him....
.
Whitley, Stephen R
.
Forsyth, MO
Claims 2 Purple Hearts - VFW CLAIMS OF VIETNAM HELICOPTER PILOT
CLAIMING COMBAT STATUS
Served US ARMY - never Vietnam, combat or Attack Helicopter
Pilot.
Whittredge, Jerry alan
1998
2008
07/2008
TX
2008 - now in Tampa, Florida
June
3, 1998
San Antonio Express-News
Man with fake credentials gains NASA clearance
Mark Babineck
HOUSTON - A pilot accused of parlaying phony NASA, CIA and war
credentials into access to some of the space agency's highest security
areas was in custody Tuesday, charged with impersonating a federal
officer.
Jerry Whittredge, 48,
is charged with repeatedly claiming he was an astronaut, a CIA regent
with a lifetime appointment and a Medal of Honor winner.
Investigators say he used those fraudulent credentials to gain access
to a Navy flight simulator, sit at the console of Mission Control at the
Marshall Space Flight Center and receive non-public technical material
about the space shuttle. Mission Control is "NASA's most secure
area," according to a sworn affidavit filed Monday by Joseph
Gutheinz, the NASA Office of Inspector General agent who investigated
Whittredge's alleged antics. Gutheinz wrote that NASA and military
records show that Whittredge "is not and never has been" an
astronaut, nor is he a Medal of Honor...
================
Man Poses as Astronaut, Steals
NASA Secrets
HOUSTON (Reuters) [6.04.1998] - A licensed airline pilot posing as an
astronaut bluffed his way into a top-security NASA facility and got
secret information on the space shuttle during an eight-month deception,
federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jerry Alan Whittredge, 48, faces up to five years in jail and a $250,000
fine for misrepresenting himself as a federal employee, the U.S.
Attorney's Office for Southern Texas said.
Whittredge contacted NASA's Marshall Space Center in Huntsville,
Alabama, in November, claiming he had been chosen for a space shuttle
mission and requesting a tour of the facility.
According to an affidavit by NASA special agent Joseph Gutheinz,
Whittredge told NASA officials that he was a CIA agent and held the
Medal of Honor.
On the basis of his false credentials he was granted a tour on Nov. 21
and 22.
"Mr. Whittredge was permitted to sit at the console of NASA Mission
Control (NASA's most secure area) at Marshall Space Flight Center during
a shuttle mission," the affidavit said.
In March Whittredge tricked NASA into giving him confidential
information about the shuttle's propulsion system and in May
he hoodwinked officials at Kingsville Naval Air Station in Texas into
giving him training on a T-45 flight simulator.
Gutheinz said Whittredge had most recently been living in Texas but did
not appear to be employed there and that he
also had a permanent address in Florida.
Whittredge made an initial appearance in court on Tuesday and is due to
attend a bond hearing on Friday.
=======================
*** Bogus spaceman names 'Mr. Clinton' as his attorney
A Texas man who posed as an
astronaut and bluffed his way into a
top-security NASA facility appeared to claim President Clinton as his
attorney Friday. In bizarre proceedings before a federal magistrate, JerryWhittredge,
48, identified his defense counsel as "Mr. Clinton"
and again as "William Clinton" when asked for his full name.
The
court also heard Whittredge
persistently contacted female astronauts
and had been asked to stop pestering them. Magistrate Calvin Botley
took Whittredge's remarks about his attorney at face value, noting
Mr. Clinton was not in court and ordering a recess so that the lawyer
could be contacted. Reconvening after a break, Botley said no local
lawyer by the name of William Clinton could be traced.
2008 - claiming to be
ex-CIA and having been a POW from the Vietnam War serving time in a cell
next to John McCain.
STILL AT IT - 07/2008 - 12
Y E A R S OF BOGUS CLAIMS
NEVER
IN THE MILITARY
WIELER,
DEAN
aka DEAN FITZGIBBONS
DEAN, FITZGIBBONS W
Associated names:
FITZGIBBONS, DEAN EVERETT
FITZGIBBONS, DEAN WIELER
W-FITZGIBBONS, DEAN E
WIELERFITZGIB, DEAN
WIELERFITZGIBBO, DEAN
WIELERFITZGIBBONS, D WIELER
05/2008
NJ
HYANNIS, MA
WASHINGTON CROSSING, PA
MORRISVILLE, PA
BENSALEM, PA
CLAIM
LT COL, Gulf War helicopter pilot, homeland security. WEARS A FLIGHT
SUIT ON DAYS OFF.
ALSO USES 1967 DoB
CRIMINAL
RECORD
SBI
Number:
000354100C
Sentenced
as:
Wieler, Dean
Race:
White
Ethnicity:
White
Sex:
Male
Hair
Color:
Brown
Eye
Color:
Hazel
Height:
5'11"
Weight:
183
lbs.
Birth
Date:
December
12, 1962
Admission
Date:
January
28, 2000
Current
Facility:
Released
by Court - RFSP
Projected
Max Release Date:
N/A
Projected
Parole Eligibility Date:
N/A
Wilhelm,
Don
11/2004
.
Attended
military GALA in Branson. Introduced as Navy SEAL.
NOT a
SEAL.
Wilkins,
Edward
12/2007
.
Claims Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War.
He claims to have been a SEAL from 1970 to 1973. He is 55 years
old and is from Ohio. He states he was called the
"ghost". and was with a SEALl team that located and freed
POW's.
... "More than a dozen
veterans were interviewed for this story. All shared two reactions:
bewilderment at Wilkins apparent failure to realize that he already was a
war hero, and utter disgust at the possibility that he may have claimed
honors he did not deserve. Those who know him personally expressed profound
sadness; those who dont know him had trouble sympathizing with him."...
For a farmer’s son from the tiny southern Illinois town of Cobden,
Charles Joseph Wilkins’ success in academics, business, and politics is
phenomenal. He has built a prestigious and lucrative career comprising all
three fields.
At Sangamon State University, which became the University of
Illinois at Springfield, Wilkins divided his time between teaching
business-management courses and assisting the most powerful people at the
university — first as faculty associate to the vice president for academic
affairs and later as executive assistant to the school president, a post he
held through 1988. University administrators waived the school’s policy
requiring a doctorate for tenure and full professorship, granting
Wilkins both despite the fact that his highest degree was a master of
government. .......
...... Wilkins’ state connections have been more
lucrative. For four years, 1999-2003, he had a $40,000-per-year contract
to advise the Secretary of State Police Department, in addition to $35,621
from White’s office in specific grants and contracts on which Wilkins
served as project director. Since 1999, he has served as one of three
paid members of the state comptroller’s Merit Commission, a panel that
decides employment issues for the agency’s nonunion employees.
Fundraisers for the scholarship UIS established in
Wilkins’ name bring out representatives from all of his power bases. The
booklet promoting the scholarship contains glowing letters from U.S. Sen.
Dick Durbin, former U.S. Sens. Gary Hart of Colorado and Alan Dixon, Gov.
Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Senate President
Emil Jones, Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, and Comptroller Dan Hynes.rman, co-chaired a reception at Pasfield House to raise
funds for the Wilkins scholarship.
In August, Davlin and former Springfield Mayors Hasara,
Langfelder, and Houston, along with the mayors of Jerome, Southern View,
Chatham, and She
========================================= April 7, 2005
..... I don’t think dishonest people
like this should serve to help veterans when their lies have only helped
themselves. Because of his “Silver Star” and “Purple Hearts”
the
University
of
Illinois
at
Springfield
made him a professor without the required education it would normally take a
person such as me. .... They would not allow me a teaching position
with only Maters, unless perhaps I had a “black-ops clandestine”
background. How convenient. It is a shame that being a veteran
was not enough for Mr. Wilkins. I am a wife of an AGR Illinois
Guardsman, a daughter to two Army officers, and a grand-daughter of a Purple
Heart Battle of the Bulge glider pilot. All Veterans that I have ever spoke
with have said that if someone served meritoriously through terrible combat
they would not be braggarts about it. I think this man needs to be
exposed in the national media for the opportunistic ways he has used his
service and lied. There are veterans all over this country that
don’t get to drive Corvette’s with Purple Heart plates, and they have
been injured in combat and deserve the awards they have earned. These
Veterans are trying to get medical care, food, and housing. There are
heroes of today’s war such as Illinois National Guard Maj. Tammy
Duckworth, who lost both legs from an RPG and then tried to land her
Blackhawk helicopter in
Iraq
. She does not care about the awards she may one day be able to brag
about, she is trying to get reinstated to fly for the military again.
And let us not forget about the ones who have not or will never make it
home. .......
Navy officials have confirmed that former Aurora
police Chief Stephen Williams was not a Navy SEAL.
“We have no records that indicate he has graduated
from the SEAL training program,” said Lt. Brian Ko, public affairs
officer at the Naval Special Warfare Center, in a phone interview
Monday. “According to our records, this guy is not a Navy SEAL.”
Williams has claimed that he served with the elite
organization in the early 1970s.
Reached for comment, Williams said he wouldn’t
respond to the Navy’s official statement “until I read my paper
tomorrow. I have no comment right now,” he added.
The Naval Special Warfare Center at Naval Amphibious
Base Coronado, San Diego, Calif., is the training hub for all students
seeking to enlist as a SEAL, Ko said.
“Our data processing folks looked it up,” Ko
continued. “They have records of every student who has ever
graduated from SEAL training.”
Navy human resource specialist Audrey Cowen, a
student control officer at Coronado, said, “There was no record of
him ever being at this command for training.” ...
================================================================================
January 6,2006
On Friday afternoon I received a Google News Alert for the phrase
“Navy SEAL” and subsequently read your 5 January 2006 online article
about Mr. Steve Williams. I have been peripherally involved in the
investigations related to Mr. Williams’ claims of being a Navy SEAL.
The fact is that Mr. Williams was NOT a US Navy SEAL. He was a US Navy
“SeaBee” who served as a diver on a ship
where he encountered an embarked group of Underwater Demolition Team
“Frogmen”. As an “outsider” on the ship he found fellowship with
the UDT Frogmen who were also “outsiders” and not members of the
ship’s regular crew. It was his familiarity with these men and their
work which apparently provided the basis for his false claims.
I was recently contacted by a Special Agent of the Defense
Criminal Investigation Service who was investigating Mr. Williams
claims of being a SEAL. At his request I checked the SEAL database and
confirmed that Mr. Williams was NOT a SEAL (or UDT “Frogman”). In
his initial interview with that DCIS Special Agent, Mr. Williams offered
him the name of a man he claimed was “a classmate and fellow SEAL”.
Imagine my surprise at learning from the Special Agent that the name of
the man offered by Mr. Williams was actually that of one of my own
training class fellows, and that Mr. Williams claimed to have been a
member of MY SEAL TRAINING CLASS. I verified the identity of the man
whose name he cited (my very real Teammate) for the DCIS Special Agent,
along with the fact that there was no one named WILLIAMS in our SEAL
training class.
Two days ago I received a “courtesy call” from the DCIS
Special Agent, informing me that after repeatedly questioning Mr.
Williams regarding his claims, and presenting him with the facts, Mr.
Williams finally admitted that he was NOT a SEAL – he admitted that
his claims were completely false.
Whether or not the Mayor and the City Council of Aurora reinstate
Mr. Williams as the Chief of Police is between them and the members of
their community; I have no intention of becoming a part of that
particular debate. My only interest is in upholding the integrity of the
SEAL Teams, and maintaining the respect and honor due our fallen
comrades. I have been engaged in this effort since 2001, and have
personally provided statements regarding the false nature of over 3,500
SEAL imposters. False claims of being a SEAL are widely viewed within
the Naval Special Warfare community as walking and spitting on the
graves of our Teammates who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to
the nation. Whatever the outcome of the civic debate regarding Mr.
Williams, I feel that the public has a right to know the truth about the
Mr. Williams’ claimed service within the Naval Special Warfare
community; he was NEVER a member of any Underwater Demolition Team or
SEAL Team.
Very
respectfully,
Steve
Robinson
USN 1970-1978
SEAL Team ONE
UDT-SEAL Association
Special Operations Association
POW Network Advisory Board Naval
Special Warfare Archives - SOF
Analyst/Contributing Journalist FORMER
Special Investigator - SEAL Authentication Team
Author of the book NO
GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters
Thousands of people across Hardin County gathered
Monday, all with one purpose in mind: to remind each other to remember......
Arthur J. Willing, a decorated
Vietnam War veteran, said the holiday holds a special place in his
heart.
"It's a time for us to offer remembrance to
those who sacrificed so America could be America," he said.
Willing, who was awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross for valor, recounted the night that most sticks out in his
mind.
His squad encountered an attack so severe that by
the time it ended, only 13 of the original 106 men remained.
"I was the senior man left when the sun came
up," he remembered.
Like many veterans, Willing is a bit hesitant to
talk about himself. His wife Claudia elaborated a little more.
"He'd never tell you so I will," she
said. "He got the Cross because he stayed
behind until everyone got out, instead of leaving like he could have."
My Source was mr
willing and his wife claudia. I was doing a memorial day story at
one of the events around Elizabethtown, and the couple volunteered to talk
to me.
The issue has since
been cleared up with a written statement from Willing that the statements
he gave me were false.
Thanks
c.j. gregory
Corrections
The
News-Enterprise works diligently to publish accurate information. From time
to time, errors do occur and it is the newspaper's policy to correct them.
INCORRECT
INFORMATION. Arthur J. Willing was awarded the Bronze Star with V Device and
a Purple Heart during the Vietnam War. Because of incorrect information
provided, medal information was incorrect in a story in Tuesday's The
News-Enterprise.
No
Purple Heart is noted in his records. The story of 93 losses cannot be
confirmed.
Wilusz, Rich
aka Wilus, Richard George
aka Wilusz, Richard
DECADES
Lyons, IL
Claims Vietnam Combat
Purple Heart Marine.
Had USMC "bulldog" as pet.
Had PH license plates on mini-van.
Had PTSD temper tantrums.
Served United
States Air Force
6 Dec 66 until 12 March 1971.
Warehouse Specialist; Apr Mat Fac Spec;
Material Specialist; Receiving Clerk; Delivery Driver.
Nam 5 March 69 - 6 April 70
Awards: NDSM; SAEMR; VSM
Wilson, Kevin Shane
.
.
Claiming SEALS and/or
Frogman... and Ranger
.
WIMMER, Andrew
aka Andrew Wimmer
aka Andreas Wolfgang
aka Adrian Wilman
05/2006
04/2007
Austria
Claims to have a Special Operations background
and to have trained with the US Army Rangers and other elite forces from
around the Globe. A thorough check of records at the US Army Ranger Training
Brigade Headquarters and records located at the National Personnel Records
Center, St. Louis, MO revealed no records existing for Mr. Wimmer ever
having trained with the Rangers or any other portion of the US Armed Forces.
Mr. Wimmer currently works in the Private Security Sector and therefore it
is warned to use extreme caution when hiring or working with him.
He
was born in Vienna, Austria in 1965 as Adrian Wilman.
He has
changed his name to: Andreas Wolfgang Wimmer. He
is known as Andrew Wimmer in the business world. He served in the Austrian
Army.
Wise, Kevin aka WISE, KEAVIN
aka LAWDERMILK, KEAVIN (KEVIN)
aka Lawdermild, Keavin Lee
11/2007
Ohio
CAUGHT ON VIDEO, this guy was giving group coins to two young actors as
well as "letters" signed by GEN Petraus. He made statements
prior to the "coin" ceremony that he "just got in
from Baghdad y-day and he will be going back next week.
KELLY CLAY WITHERS (AKA K.C. WITHERS), IS NOW
LIVING IN GRANBURY TEXAS AND STILL PROCLAIMING HIS FALSE GLORY OF BEING A
CAPTAIN IN THE U.S. ARMY. HE CLAIMS THAT HE WAS IN THE ARMY FOR 17
YEARS, THAT HE IS NOW RETIRED, AND THAT HE HAS BEEN BUILDING "CUSTOM
MOTORCYCLES". HE CLAIMS THAT THE ARMY SENT HIM TO A
MOTORCYCLE SCHOOL AND THAT HE WAS A FIRE FIGHTER IN THE ARMY. HE
CLAIMS TO HAVE A PURPLE HEART AND HAS CLAIMED DISABLED VET ON
HIS PROPERTY FOR A DISCOUNT ON TAXES.
Claims SF
and Delta, a combat veteran in Bosnia and Somalia. Claims to have received a
Purple Heart in Somalia.
"Kelly Withers falsely claimed to be
current U.S. Army Captain, and was wearing that uniform to show horses at
Ft. Sill. He wore a variety of medal ribbons, including CIB and purple
heart, none of which were actually his. He used his appearance at Ft. Sill
to gain an invitation onto a military equestrian team based in Ann Arbor,
MI... He forged orders for his participation in this team, and used
them to get financial credit extended by the veterinarian and boarding
stable where he kept his horse. He defrauded them out of thousands of
dollars, because when he was exposed as a phony, he bolted out of state
leaving all his bills unpaid. He also used his well rehearsed story of being
a wounded veteran to gain all sorts of favors from our very patriotic and
supportive (and naïve) group fixing his truck and trailer, room and board,
etc, etc.. He has been banned from the United States Cavalry Association as
well as any participation in military equestrian groups."
He used to work in Iraq. He often said he was a ranger, with the rank of
captain with missions in Somalia, Colombia, and Iraq (claimed to have made
an airborne assault at Al-Quayyara Air Base, 2003). He even said that he was
on that mission from the story portrayed in the movie "Blackhawk
Down" He worked as a firefighter with WSI for about 4 months and
left saying that he had a job to be a fire instructor at Qatar with Texas
A&M and that he was chosen because he is fluent in Arabic. The funny
thing is that he went to be an instructor for the fire service when this was
his first job as a firefighter, which lasted about 4 months!!
He claims to have been injured by RPG fire in Iraq, and that is why he
returned from there prematurely. .....
have contacted Texas A&M and other than taking a few fire related
classes there they don’t know him.
Name KELLY CLAY WITHERS
Service ARMY
Service Component REGULAR
Pay Grade E-4
Military Specialty 77F1O00 77F
Petroleum Supply Specialist
T. Running Wolf is the Great Grand
daughter of Chief Crowfoot of the Blackfoot Nation who signed Treaty 7
with Canada and the US.
Ms. Running Wolf is also known
for her Native American Indian Education Programs and her role as a
Head Lady at Traditional Pow Wow's.
"A published poet, a highly
skilled artisan and educator, with a teaching style as unique as it is
engrossing."
She is also a 25
year US Air Force POW Veteran. Special Assignment Congressional Wing.
To date she is an active member in the
Woman's Warrior Honor Society, and the Veteran's Honor Society
She is a Volunteer in Education Programs
for Youth and Teachers in Public and County Schools teaching cultural
native arts made with all types of mediums from stone to bones. ...
There is also a rumor that she won the Medal of Honor, which I know to
be untrue unless she is very very old and was known as Dr. Mary Walker.
Whether or not she is the source of the rumor I do not know.
She is to be back in our area for a POW WOW in a nearby park and will
dedicate a veteran's monument then.
Remembering
Always
Veterans Memorial
386-931-1783
available for any
show or Pow Wow TRunningWolf-Walks
with Thunder 25
year US Air Force POW Veteran Special
Assignment 459th Congressional Wing Air One tnativeproud@yahoo.com
============================
Claims POW for 90
days, captured with others.
-------------------------------
Claims this posting is all a mistake. And yet on her web
site she claims to be a 20 year veteran of the Air Force and a POW.
Shows a file of her military records (much of which is blacked out and
stamped SECRET).
Unless her real name is Melissa Rathburn-Nealy or Maj Rhonda Cormum or
Crystal L. Rickett she was NOT held as POW during the Gulf War.
She was NOT held as a POW during the Vietnam War - esp with the USAF!
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 16:43:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Tamaira madison <tnativeproud@yahoo.com>
Subject: Questionable Site?????
To: info@pownetwork.org
How can information on any Military person be posted without proper
documentation? Serial #, S.S. # , ie. How can this site allow postings with
this info again I ask? What does a Pow Wow of Native Americans have to do
with military service? Classified infromation can"t be posted for any
reason. If you do not have the proper information then the persons that have
posted the information have improperly made a faulse statement,so that makes
the posting illegal. When posting on this site, you must have proper
name,rank,and serial number,along with any proof that is available to
anyone, in order to avoid a law suite. Apprently this site allows anyone to
Slander any person for any reason. And this is called the American
Way?
In oder to update your site I would suggest that all information
gathered must be proven without a shadow of a don't in lue of just posting
because your mad at said person. Please get in touch with me as soon as
possible before this is turned over to proper authorities. Thank you for
your attention to this matter for their are persons listed here that have
indeed the proper paperwork and can't for Confidintial Reasons disclose that
info to any" Joe Blow '
end quote
=====================
01/2007
NO MILITARY RECORDS FOUND
==================================
June 4, 2007
... I am currently assigned to the 459th Air Refueling Wing (Air Force
Reserve) at Andrews AFB MD.....I have never known this individual as I
have been at the 459th since 1988 and never heard of her.
Not only that, there is no "Special Assignment "Air One" at
the 459th.
In 1988 when I first arrived there from active duty the Wing had just
converted from a C-130 Wing to a C-141(I believe about 1986 or 1987 time
frame). In October of 2003, we converted from the the C-141 Starlifter
to the Boeing KC-135R and changed from the 459th Air Wing (AW) to the 459th
Air Refueling Wing (ARW).
If you want to take a look at more 459th Air Refueling Wing (not
Congressional Wing except for the old patch) go to these links...
As we say now at the Wing "Fuel to the Flight"....and this
probably adds "fuel to the fire".
Thanks for your work and keep it up!!
Cheers
(name withheld)
Wolfe, Millard Thomas
08/2006
.
From the “Pataskala
Post “
Never
seen it go THIS far before. In addition to the MOH, also claims DSC, NC, and
AFC—ALL THREE!
Sincerely,
Doug
Wood,
Billy Gene
09/2001
Ft
Worth, TX
CLAIMING
NAVY CROSS. Claims WWII Naval Aviator, Navy Cross, Legion of Merit,
DFC, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service, Navy Achievement,
Good Conduct -
It seems that the saga of Billy Gene Woods
has ended. He died March 5, 2005 apparently after a long illness
with some type of cancer. His obituary contained all the lies
that he claimed at the outset of our inquiry.......
Billy
Gene Wood
1925 - 2005
Billy
Gene Wood, 79, a Fort Worth orthodontist, passed away Saturday,
March 5, 2005, after a long bout with cancer.
Funeral: 2 p.m. Thursday at All Saints
Episcopal Church. Burial: Greenwood Memorial Park. Visitation: 6
to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Greenwood Funeral Home.
Memorials: in lieu of flowers, the Salvation
Army, 1855 E. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76103.
Dr. Billy Gene Wood was a graduate of Baylor
University and Baylor College of Dentistry and earned his M.S.D.
in orthodontics from Northwestern University in Chicago.
A veteran of World War II, Dr. Wood was
commissioned a Navy ensign and fighter pilot at age 17. He
served on the USS Wasp, USS Lexington and the USS Franklin. He
was a graduate of the Air War College and National War College.
He was awarded the General Jimmy Doolittle Fellow along with the
Navy Cross, the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, the
Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He flew F6F-3 Hellcats and he
saw action in the Battle of Leyte Gulf invasion of the
Philippines and Tarawa. He served as an orthodontic consultant
at Carswell Air Force Base for 34 years.
During his life he received many honors
including the Distinguished Alumnus by Baylor Dental Alumni
Association. He served as secretary of the Baylor College of
Dentistry Century Club, past president of the Fort Worth
District Dental Society and past chairman of the Westside Fort
Worth Chamber of Commerce. He founded the Fort Worth Civic
Leaders Association in 1976 and instituted the first Fort Worth
Military Ball in 1979. He received the Department of Defense
Exceptional Service Award presented by Secretary of Defense
Weinberger and won Fort Worth District Dental Society's Veteran
Honor Award.
Dr. Wood had been a Sunday school teacher,
chairman of the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce, a member of the
Parker County Sheriff's Posse, past president of Weatherford
Noon Lions Club, founder and president of the Chisholm Trail
Days and chairman of the Weatherford Peach Festival.
Dr. Wood was a fellow in the American College
of Dentists and also a fellow in the International College of
Dentists. He was a member of the American Association of
Orthodontics, Texas Dental Association, Fort Worth District
Dental Society, Texas Tweed Society, the Southwestern Society of
Orthodontics, the Texas Association of Orthodontics and the
Tarrant County Society of Orthodontists.
Survivors: Wife of 49 years, Carol Hall Wood;
son, William Millard Wood; daughter, Susan Wood Torpy and
husband, Art Torpy; son, Steven Charles Wood and wife, Stacey
McKay Wood; and grandchildren, Wil and Abby Torpy and Reilly, Zöe
and Amy Wood.
Published in the Star-Telegram from 3/8/2005 - 3/9/2005.
Woods,
James Andrew
.
09/2006
Claims
he graduated from Seal training in September of 1983, Coronado Island.
Suspected of having falsified/forged DD214.
Claims:
HM-8404 FIELD MEDICAL SERVICE TECHNICIAN
BUDS-8417 BASIC UNDERWATER DEMOLITION SEAL
8479- BASIC BIOMEDICAL EQUIPMENT SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN
I greatly
appreciate your interest in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL
Teams, and your search for the TRUTH. Before answering your questions I
must make clear that I am a private individual, not affiliated with the
US Dept. of Defense or any other government organization. Additionally,
although I worked for/with the AuthentiSEAL verification organization
for several years as an Investigator (and later as a Special
Investigator dealing with the media),
I ceased to work for that organization in late 2004. Due to a steadily
diminishing number of available personnel, the members of
that organization elected to formally disband in 2005.
If the
name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the
SEAL database for anyone named JAMES
ANDREW WOODS JR. Be aware that I have also examined possible
alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations. Although
there are ten (10) men with the last name “Wood” listed in our
database, NONE are named “WOODS”. In that total number of ten men,
six (6) completed training before Mr. JAMES
ANDREW WOODS JR
would have been old enough for military service, two (2) completed
training in 1988 (June and December respectively), one (1) completed
training in 1997, and one (1) completed training in 2001. None of the
ten men with the last name “Wood” is either listed as “Junior”,
“II” (i.e. ‘the second’), or carries any other mark or notation
signifying a sequential generation naming status.
Unless
he has undertaken the unlikely action of a legal name change (an action
for which there would be court documentation) since his claimed service
with the SEAL Teams, and based upon the information you have provided, I
can state conclusively that JAMES
ANDREW WOODS JRhas NEVER completed SEAL training, and he is not now, nor
was he ever a US Navy SEAL or UDT “Frogman”. Please be aware that
the SEAL database includes the names of all men who served with the
Underwater Demolition Teams (“Frogmen”). Since 1983 when the UDTs
were all re-commissioned as SEAL Teams it has been the convention within
the Naval Special Warfare community to use the modern term “SEAL”
when referring to all men who ever served in any of the SEAL
‘precursor’ units.
When members
of the Naval Special Warfare community meet others who claim similar
service, but whom they do not recognize, there is a conversational
exchange of information that establishes the bona fides of each to the
other. There is no set formula for this exchange, nor
for the information that is exchanged, but it ALWAYS takes place, and
the REAL Naval Special Warfare members can ALWAYS spot a phony as a
result of this exchange. I urge you to ask Mr. WOODS
three questions:
(1) What was
his BUD/S class number?
(2) Where did
his training take place?
(3) When did
he graduate from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training?
The answers
to those three questions may then be compared to hard, firm,
comprehensive documentation to absolutely verify his claims. There are
many other questions which could be asked to further establish the level
of veracity or untruth regarding his claims, but those three questions
are absolutes; the answers are totally UNCLASSIFIED, and every real SEAL
will gladly provide that substantiating information upon request. If Mr.
WOODS offers you any
specifics which he claims answers these questions (or if he offers
reasons why he cannot answer them), I would be very interested in
learning about it.
It is quite
common for those making fraudulent SEAL claims to cite a “secret”
training class, “special selection and skills which allowed them to
bypass BUD/S training”, or “secret missions” as an explanation for
the lack of military documentation to back up their stories. SEAL
imposters also tend to claim their military records are “sealed” and
cannot be accessed. Occasionally inventive imposters claim their records
were destroyed in a fire at the
National
Personnel
Records
Center
. While that facility did experience a fire, no Navy records were
involved, damaged, or destroyed. I would caution you that despite
anything the man might have told you, there are NO secret SEALs. Before
any classified operations may be undertaken, a man must first
successfully complete the totally unclassified BUD/S Training program;
the names of all those who successfully graduate from that training
program are compiled in the SEAL database. Later participation in
classified operations has no impact on whether or not a person is listed
as a graduate of the training program. No one gets to the SEAL Teams
without completing BUD/S training; there are NO EXCEPTIONS! The
graduates of that training program are listed in the SEAL database –
an unclassified document which is nonetheless considered “highly
sensitive” and therefore not available for general public circulation.
There are records of every man who has qualified for the title of
“SEAL”; there have been and will continue to be secret missions, but
there are NO secret SEALs… we know them all.
I might
suggest that you also ask Mr. WOODS to
specifically identify WHICH SEAL Team(s) he served on, and when. I am in
direct contact with several hundred of my SEAL Teammates whose
collective experience covers virtually all time periods from the Korean
War to the present; I can quickly contact those individuals to verify
any specific names, events, or other claims offered by Mr. Woods. If he
feels that his name has somehow been mistakenly omitted from the SEAL
records, I’d be pleased to speak with him and hear details of his
service which would serve to validate his claims. The Director of the
Naval Special Warfare Archives – a close personal friend and SEAL
Teammate – is only a phone call away and standing by to amend the
records if this is ever found to be true. However, I’ve made the same
offer to more than 3,500 SEAL imposters in the last five years, and
I’ve only heard from a handful… and none of them ever turned out to
be valid SEALs. If Mr. WOODS subsequently
suggests to you or others you know that he has contacted me, the
Department of the Navy, or “the government” in some way and
“straightened things out”, I’d be very interested in hearing from
you again.
I
checked another online database held by the Department of Defense and
accessed through www.military.com
under the Freedom Of Information Act by using
their Buddy Finder. That database of over 10 million records is one of
the most complete available to the general public, and is fairly
accurate from about 1974 to the present day. That database originally
began as a listing of all military service personnel who might have been
exposed to Agent Orange while on duty in
Vietnam
, and was a means of keeping records for later possible monetary
compensation. It was quickly recognized by the DoD
as the start of a very comprehensive database of military personnel, and
subsequently expanded to include virtually ALL members of the military
in later years. The closer to the present time, the more detailed and
complete the records in the database. I found two entries which appear
to address the same person at different stages in his military career;
first at pay grade E3 in the rating of HOSPITALMAN (a designated
‘striker’ for the Hospital Corpsman rating), and later at pay grade
E4 in the rating of HOSPITAL CORPSMAN (NEC 8404 – a Field Medical
Services Technician trained for assignment with the USMC).
Name:
James Andrew Woods Jr Service: NAVY
Pay grade: E3
Rate/specialty: HN (designated striker of HM “Hospital Corpsman”
rating)
Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code: 0000 (no formal schooling for
rate training)
Name:
James Andrew Woods (no designation for “JR” found with this listing)
Service: NAVY
Pay grade: E4
Rate/specialty: HM (Hospital Corpsman)
Naval
Enlisted Classification (NEC) code: 8404 (Field Medical Services
Technician… some with this NEC also receive SCUBA/LAR Dive
Certifications)
From the
beginnings of Naval Special Warfare in early 1942 until the late 1960s,
all medical personnel serving with the SEAL Teams (or their precursor
units) were fully qualified graduates of UDT/SEAL training. Due to an
urgent need for medical personnel, and the lengthy requirements of both
HM training and SEAL training (which limited the number of individuals
available for wartime service), for a brief period of about 4 years
during the late 1960s and early 1970s the Hospital Corpsmen serving with
the US Navy SEAL Teams were not required to attend the full BUD/S
training program. They were drawn directly from the Field Medical Force
(FMF) school graduate roster of qualified 8404 Hospital Corpsmen, and
subsequently attended only a portion of BUD/S training. They were never
granted full “SEAL” status as they were not qualified for the SEAL
NEC or for duty as a “Combat Swimmer, SEAL” as specifically
described by the Navy’s Bureau of Personnel (BUPERS). Prior to the end
of the Vietnam War it was decided that the demands of SEAL service must
preclude such abbreviated training, and all medical personnel serving
with the SEAL Teams were subsequently required to successfully complete
ALL of the BUD/S training program in addition to their regular HM
schooling. All
those men who served as Hospital Corpsmen with the SEAL Teams, in
whatever capacity, including those who were not SEAL qualified but who
served under the abbreviated training conditions, are listed in the SEAL
database. Mr. James Andrew Woods Jr. is NOT listed with those names and
never served with the
US
Navy SEAL Teams.
Searching the
DoD online database does not by any means
constitute an exhaustive search and full information regarding Mr. WOODS’
military career should be requested from the
National
Personnel
Records
Center
in
St. Louis
, using a Standard Form 180. Unfortunately the online DoD
database does not provide viewers with dates of service, but while
absolute surety is not provided here, it is certainly possible that one
or both entries listed in that database and the man named in your
inquiry actually relate to the same individual. While it appears that he
may actually have served in the Navy, he was most definitely NEVER A US
NAVY SEAL!
Thank you
again for your concern in this matter, and for your assistance in
upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams
Very
respectfully,
Steve
Robinson
USN 1970-1978
SEAL Team ONE
Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE
UDT-SEAL Association
Special Operations Association
POW Network Advisory Board Naval Special
Warfare Archives - SOF Analyst/Contributing Journalist
Disabled American Veterans - Life Member FORMER
Special Investigator - SEAL Authentication Team
Author of the book NO
GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters
Woyak, James
C
aka
"Dr Jim"
Arizona
11/2005
08/2006
Claims
Capt in Special Forces, 2 Purple Hearts, Bronze Star, Silver Star,
Distinguished Service Cross. Claims 1st Special Forces Group, retired.
Talked extensively about his special forces
training, etc. He had some type of ring - was supposed to
signify his Special Forces time.
Served July 15 1969 to Nov 12 1969 USAF
Reserves
Discharged as "AB"
"No assignments shown in records", no awards and decorations
Profile
for Keith Wood found
on CLASSMATES.COM Email
me My Life Biography
Awarded the Congressional Medal
of Honor
for extraordinary bravery during the line of duty while
serving commission as a Green Beret.
Questions and Answers Current country you live in today:UNITED STATES Kind of pet(s) you have:None Describe your political views:Conservative Current relationship status:Married About children:I have 2 children State you live in today:Georgia Kind of car you drive:Sedan How do you feel about your life right now:I've accomplished more than I thought I would What do you do with your free time:Sports or strenuous activity Your dream vacation:My couch Why you're here at Classmates:I don't even know how I got here Your main source of current events:Internet
Wright, Brian or Bryan
09/2004
Central
Missouri
Claiming SPECIAL FORCES and "GREEN BERET"...
Claims 31 years old. Claims Delta Force with "Delta
Code Number AFC 649D4," claims commo MOS. Claims commo with MOS of 18
D. When informed 18 D is medic he claimed to be a medic. When
asked how long his training was, he stated 3 weeks. Claims he was
initially an MP and "they" pulled him out of high school to
serve in the Panama stint, that would have made him 16 years old. Claims
he is still in SF and assigned to State Department doing black ops,
clandestine ops, etc. Claims tours in Panama, Somalia, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Germany, and several others. Had no idea who Chargin Charlie
was, did not know Camp Rowe and Camp McKall were in North Carolina.
Claims assignment to 1st SF at Fort Lewis.
.
Wright,
Freddie Raymond
06/2005
Florida
Claims to be a Special Forces Vet from
Vietnam
. He claims that he had done 3 tours in
Vietnam
and had all the horrendous “stories” to back it up, and even
scars. He claimed 2 Purple Hearts, speaks to groups of people and
the
Vietnam
“Stories” are always included.
He had never even been in the
military.
Wright, Micak Ian
.
EXPOSED
Rangers Lead the Way
in Exposing Authour as a Fraud
By Richard Leiby The Washington Post
Sunday, May 2, 2004; Page D03
In the Style section last summer we profiled a Los Angeles
writer named Micah Ian Wright, who'd just published a shrill antiwar
poster book called "You Back the Attack! We'll Bomb Who We Want!"
In his book, he described himself as a veteran of combat, a former Army
Ranger whose experiences during the 1989 invasion of Panama turned him into
a peacenik. In interviews with The Post and other media, he played up that
background.
Wright, it turns out, is a liar. He never served in the military -- and
confessed that last week to his publisher, Seven Stories Press, after we
insisted on evidence of his service. Pursuing a tip from real Rangers who'd
never heard of Wright, we filed three Freedom of Information Act requests
with separate Army commands -- and last month finally confirmed that Wright
never served.....
"I
feel awful about it. It was a lie that just grew and grew and grew,"
Wright, 34, told us Friday. He said mounting combat deaths in Iraq and
Afghanistan, including that of Ranger Pat Tillman, compound his sense of
remorse: "I plan to make a public apology on my Web site [www.micahwright.com]."
Seven Stories has canceled publication of Wright's next book, "If
You're Not a Terrorist, Then Stop Asking Questions," due out in two
months. It also will remove from future printings of the first book his
detailed and wholly fictional account of parachuting into Panama under fire
during Operation Just Cause. Wright's book of satirically
"remixed" World War II propaganda posters was a minor success,
selling more than 20,000 copies. It carried endorsements from two WWII vets,
novelist Kurt Vonnegut and historian Howard Zinn.
Wright, Roderick C,
II
07/2006
Kansas
July
27, 2006
Man indicted
for allegedly pretending to be lieutenant
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
A man who was discharged from the Army after he allegedly stalked a female
officer has been indicted on a charge that he pretended to be an officer and
demanded pay that he was not entitled to.
When Roderick C.
Wright II, 32, was arrested last week at Fort Leavenworth, officers found
pictures of the female officer’s home in Kansas City, Kan., a loaded
pistol, a stun gun, two sets of handcuffs, a night-vision device, a machete
and a police emergency light, according to court documents.
Wright, whose
hometown is Amarillo, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Wichita
on Tuesday on one count of pretending to be a second lieutenant and
demanding pay for the position.
According to a
criminal complaint filed last week, Wright called the adjutant general’s
office at Fort Leavenworth on July 13, saying he needed help getting paid
after his graduation from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.
Wright claimed he had
several problems with the finance office and said he had decided to report
early to his next post in Oklahoma, where he was to attend Officer Basic
Course, according to a criminal complaint signed by Special Agent Michael
Parker with the Army’s Central Investigations Division.
Wright said when he
tried to straighten out matters in Oklahoma, he was escorted off the post
for impersonating an officer, according to the complaint.
Wright was told to go
to the adjutant general’s office at Fort Leavenworth to work out the
assumed problems with the military’s record-keeping system. When he went
to the post July 18, he was granted a second lieutenant identification card
after he presented paperwork and a check of an Army database showed he was
an officer, according to the complaint.
Wright then allegedly
went to the finance office and asked to be paid. A supervisor checked
another Army database and learned Wright had been discharged from the Army
on Feb. 10.
He was arrested, and
authorities said they found letters showing he had been expelled from
Officer Candidate School in January and discharged from the Army in February
for misconduct, including allegations he was stalking a female officer
candidate.
Wright gave
authorities an address in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa that turned out
t
Billy
Gene Wood, 79, a Fort Worth orthodontist, passed away Saturday,
March 5, 2005, after a long bout with cancer.
