What do fake "heroes" hope to gain?

Calif. man admits lying about Vietnam service

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 9, 2008 7:04:39 EDT

SACRAMENTO — An Oroville man has pleaded guilty to falsely representing himself as a decorated military hero from the Vietnam War.

Michael Allan Fraser, 62, claimed in an interview with the Oroville Mercury-Register last year that he was awarded two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars for combat in Vietnam. He also traveled to Vietnam with war veterans on a mission to “bury the ghosts of the past.”

But a Colorado man who helped write the Stolen Valor Act, which was signed into law by President Bush in 2006, noticed problems with Fraser’s daring tale of valor.

He looked up Fraser’s record and found that he had served in the military as a veterinarian’s assistant in the Philippines.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan sentenced Fraser this week to 100 hours of community service helping veterans and issued a $500 fine.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_califvietnamfaker_050808/

He's not the only one.

SoCal man admits fake Medal of Honor claim


Published: May 6, 2008 at 3:07 PM
LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- A member of a Los Angeles-area water board pleaded guilty Monday to charges he lied about winning the Medal of Honor.

Xavier Alvarez, 50, was the first person in the United States to be charged under the Stolen Valor Act, which made it a crime to falsely claim to have been awarded military decorations.

"We have to guard the honor of our nation's military heroes, and this prosecution was a small attempt to do that," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Craig Missakian.

Alvarez, a Pomona resident, had parlayed tales of his supposed heroism as a U.S. Marine when he ran for his seat on the Three Valleys Municipal Water District. The Los Angeles Times said Alvarez once claimed he had dangled by rope from a helicopter to pluck the American flag from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Alvarez made his claim about winning the Medal of Honor after he was elected.

Sentencing was scheduled for July 21. The Times said he would likely get probation.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/05/06/socal_man_admits_fake_medal_of_honor_claim/2261/

More on Alvarez

Fake Medal Of Honor Winner


A member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board of Directors of Pomona, California pleaded guilty Monday to falsely claiming he had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Xavier Alvarez, 50, faces up to one year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine when he is sentenced July 21 by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner.
He admitted violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which makes it a misdemeanor to lie about receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, or any other military medal.

Alvarez had no comment for reporters afterward.

His plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office gives Alvarez the right to appeal the plea based on his First Amendment right to free speech.

According to prosecutors, Alvarez made the false claim at a July 2007 public meeting of the Water District board when he was introduced as a newly elected member of the Claremont-based panel.

When contacted shortly after being charged last September, Alvarez laughed off the charge and accused a political enemy of dragging his name through the mud.

"I don't know what they're talking about," he said. "They're making this up."

But Alvarez's tune changed when tape surfaced of the July 2007 meeting.

"I'm a retired Marine of 25 years. I retired in the year 2001.

Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy. I'm still around," Alvarez said on the tape.

In addition to never having won the Medal of Honor, Alvarez has never served in the U.S. Armed Forces, prosecutors said.

Alvarez's attorney, Deputy Federal Public Defender Brianna Fuller, argued that her client's speech, although false, was protected by the First Amendment.

Klausner rejected the argument.

Only about 100 men are alive who have won the Medal of Honor, then-acting U.S. Attorney George Cardona said last year.

http://www.wgem.com/News/index.php?ID=24390

But stunts like this are not new

Medal of Honor is fake, say officials
Man charged after telling groups of valor
By JOHN DIEDRICH
jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 21, 2007
Terry J. Powell has spoken to veterans' groups and public gatherings numerous times while wearing a Medal of Honor that he said he received for heroic actions during the Vietnam War - claims that federal investigators say are bogus, according to court documents made public Tuesday.

Powell, 56, of Milwaukee, has given different stories about how he came to earn the nation's highest award for valor.

He told veterans in May that he received it for combat in Vietnam and gave a similar story to a crowd of more than 200 gathered on Memorial Day at Cory Park in the Village of Dousman, according to a federal search warrant.

In June, he told Waukesha County sheriff's detectives he was a cook on the destroyer USS O'Hara and nursed several sailors sickened by food poisoning back to health, the warrant said. He showed the detectives a Medal of Honor certificate he says he received from former President Nixon on July 15, 1972, and signed by Navy Secretary John Chaffee.

The warrant points out several reasons to doubt Powell's claim: the O'Hara was a transport ship decommissioned in 1961 and scrapped by 1968, years before Powell claimed to have saved the sailors. Chaffee wasn't secretary of the Navy in summer 1972; John Warner was. The certificate, along with others Powell had for other medals, appeared to have been altered. And Powell is not listed as a Medal of Honor recipient on any records.

Powell has been charged with unlawfully wearing the Medal of Honor, according to documents made public Tuesday. If convicted, he faces up to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison.

Powell responded angrily to a reporter's call for comment Tuesday.

"I am a Medal of Honor recipient!" Powell yelled, adding he would submit to a lie detector test.

Powell said he lost the original certificate when his basement flooded and said he now has a "third party certificate," and denied forging it.

He repeatedly used profanity when referring to the FBI, which investigated his case. He said he is displaying his American flag upside down in protest. He called a reporter a profanity and then hung up.

Authorities learned about Powell from veterans. Robert K. Schmitt and Gerry Gramins, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9496 in Menomonee Falls, said Powell wore the Medal of Honor to the post on May 1. Powell spoke at the VFW that day and described how he said he earned the medal during combat in Vietnam.

During the Memorial Day speech in Dousman, which was videotaped, Powell said he served three tours in Vietnam and one in Iraq.

Afterward, a Waukesha detective called Powell and said he wanted to write an article for a police newsletter about him, which was a lie, the warrant said. Powell posed wearing the Medal of Honor for photographs, the warrant said.

On Aug. 7, Powell again wore the Medal of Honor to the VFW post and tried to speak to the group but wasn't allowed, the warrant said.

The issue of illegally wearing medals will be discussed at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's annual convention, set for Green Bay beginning Sept. 3.

Kenneth Stumpf, 63, of Tomah earned the Medal of Honor for rescuing wounded soldiers under intense fire and organizing an assault on machine gun bunkers in April 1967 in Vietnam.

"We're very proud and privileged to wear the Medal of Honor and all that it stands for and for the men who came before us," he said. "To have someone (falsely) say they're a Medal of Honor recipient is just a disgrace."

Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=650451

There are a lot of stories like these. They go back for many years. Why do they do it? What is it they hope to gain? Is it feeding their egos? Do they think they will make money off of it? Get preferential treatment from businesses?

We've heard stories of real decorated heroes suffering, being ignored, being wounded and sent back to combat. We've even heard several stories of decorated veterans ending up among the homeless veterans population. So why would someone lie about heroism?

We have everyday heroes coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

34,000 medals given in first quarter of 2008
Nearly 34,000 combat decorations and badges were awarded during the first three months of 2008, according to the latest medal count for Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is just from the first three months of this year. There were many more. But then again they are still trying to make up for lost years some heroes of the wars of the past deserved.

Veteran gets Silver Star after 38 years
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine man who earned the Silver Star after he was injured during the Vietnam War 40 years ago finally has his medal.Posted Tuesday May 6, 2008 9:27:34 EDT

I don't know what a just penalty would be for the fakes. The real ones have a hard enough time proving their claims when medals earned are awards delayed. Too often the veterans come back from war and only want to get on with their lives. Most of them want nothing more than to do just that. It's when they are wounded and need to seek help to survive as a disabled veteran they need all the support they can get. Most are too proud to even ask. When they are suffering from the wounds of their minds, they are too ashamed, even today, to ask for help. We read their stories everyday. Frauds make it harder and people get suspicious of anyone claiming to be a hero because of the frauds in the spotlight.

Real heroes are not born on the field of battle. They were born that way. Real frauds were not created after war, they were also born that way. They think the world owes them something for what they do not deserve and the real heroes still feel the need to pay back for what they have been given. Frauds can never understand this. They may gain temporary attention but they have lost their soul.