It's becoming a growing and disturbing trend in our country.  People who fake military records and take credit where it's not deserved. The I-Team spent two months investigating the background of a well respected Martin County veteran after he told his heroic story to News 12.  We found his claims don't match his military records.

John Gaul, elected to the Martin County Veteran's Council by his military peers, first talked to News 12 back in March.  He recounted the torture he went through as a prisoner of war during Vietnam, with fellow veterans by his side for support.  "I was in a monkey cage for approximately two and a half months," said Gaul.

Gaul said he was captured in Cambodia serving with the Army's elite special forces.  He said he escaped and did "brutal things to get four other people out."

It's a heroic story, yet records uncovered by the News 12 I-Team don't back it up.  According to the Pentagon's POW-MIA Office, there's no one with the last name Gaul on its official Vietnam POW-MIA list.  The I-Team also obtained Gaul's military records which show he served in Vietnam, but there's no indication he served with special forces.

"It's a typical lie.  It's a typical wannabe," said retired Navy Captain Mike McGrath. 

McGrath spent five years and eight months as a Prisoner of War and is past president of a national Vietnam POW organization.  He can recite the names of fellow POW's by memory and even wrote a book about his ordeal.  "We were brutalized and tortured and yet we came home with our heads held high," said McGrath.

The News 12 I-Team found McGrath in Colorado, where he keeps files on phonies.  So far, he's helped track more than 700.  "To have a person like this claim that he was one of us, it insults us," said McGrath. "It insults our nation and it insults all in the Armed Forces who served with honor and dignity." 

We confronted Gaul during an interview about the War with Iraq.  Gaul said, "If POW's the wrong short title for it, MIA might be the proper." 

The official POW-MIA database includes military personnel, civilians, secret units, and even people held captive just one day.  In a statement released to News 12,  Larry Greer of the Pentagon's POW-MIA office said, "In the more than 30 years of the existence of this database, it has been challenged several times, but it has NEVER been proven inaccurate regarding the omission of a name." 

"You're saying I'm not what I say I am, and I'm saying I am what I say I am," said Gaul.

There are also questions about the rank Gaul says he acheived. 

During a Veteran's Day ceremony last November, Gaul wore a Lieutenent Colonel uniform and pinned a purple heart on a fellow veteran. Military records show Gaul was discharged as a First Lieutenant. "That shows my active duty and not my reserve status," said Gaul, who says he acheived the Lt. Colonel rank after going back into the Army Reserves.  The military's official record keeping office, the National Personnel Records Center, says it has no record of Gaul ever making Lt. Colonel on active duty or reserves.

Gaul left our second interview insisting he is a Lt. Colonel and was held behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War, although his story changed.  "Seven weeks was not necessarily a long term, but it's long enough.  What can I say?" said Gaul.  During our first interview, Gaul said he was held captive two and a half months.

The I-Team also showed our documents to the Hoyt Woods, the chairman of the Martin County Veteran's Council.  Woods says he has no problem keeping Gaul on the board regardless of his POW status.  "I'm not concerned about that. That's behind us, 30 years ago.  Let it go," said Woods.

"Mr. Gaul wasn't one of us and he doesn't deserve any of these honors and he dishonors himself, and lies, and insults every person he lies to," said Captain McGrath. 

Gaul agreed to show us paperwork backing up his claims, then said it was sealed.  According to a website that exposes imposters, there are now more fake POW's than real ones. 

Government's POW-MIA Statement Statement on POW's from the Pentagon's POW-MIA office: 

We have reviewed the official U.S. government database containing the names of all POWs and MIAs from the Vietnam War.  There is no one with the last name of Gaul listed on that database. 

The database is called the "PMSEA" (U.S. Personnel Missing SEA --and Selected Foreign Nationals).  This database includes all inputs made by field commanders during the war.  It contains the names of U.S. military personnel; some foreign national military personnel; some civilians (missionaries, aid workers, etc); civilians who were employed by other agencies of the U.S. government; personnel who were military but working for other agencies of the U.S. government; and several other categories. 

It includes personnel assigned to secret or "black" units; it includes personnel who were held captive for the duration of the war; it includes personnel who were held captive for one day; it includes personnel who were held in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  It includes personnel who were released during Operation Homecoming (Feb-April 1973); it includes personnel who were released from the other countries other than the Operation Homecoming releases; it includes personnel who escaped on their own. 

In the more than 30 years of the existence of this database, it has been challenged several times, but it has NEVER been proven inaccurate regarding the omission of a name. 

You and your viewers may see the entire database by visiting the official U.S. government web site for POW and MIA matters.  The URL is www.dtic.mil/dpmo.   Click on "databases/Vietnam War" and you can then select a list in many different formats, including last name, military service, state and hometown, etc.