In Ranks of Heroes, Finding the Fakes

I don't know if these people will ever understand how many other people they are hurting. Worse is that I don't even know if they care at all.

Because of these fakes and frauds, it makes it all the more harder on the real heroes. They not only had to prove themselves in combat, they had to prove themselves with claims to the VA, to veterans organizations and now, they have to prove it all over again. A data base would be very helpful with this however, that is, as long as what it put in is right and all paperwork errors have been found and fixed.

I don't want to bore you with the story of my husband all over again, so the short version is, his award for a Bronze Star had the wrong social security number typed in. This caused a cluster of accusations, his VA claim to be denied and a lot of doubt. We had a newspaper clipping his mother kept from a local paper announcing the award. We had all the paper work with all the official seals and signatures. What we didn't have was the right social security number. That was pretty hard on him to have to prove it all over again, but when I was put in contact with a general's office, all the paperwork supported the truth, it was corrected and his claim was finally approved. How many others did this happen to? How many others didn't keep all their paperwork after Vietnam? What if my husband tossed his paperwork in the trash the way he wanted to over 30 years ago? We'd have no proof of anything even though he was telling the truth. We have the fact his mother raised him to be a pack rat the way she was with saving papers.

Too many others are not so lucky.

The only way a massive data base could ever be a good thing is if they went through everyone's files to make sure all the pieces of paper in the file belonged to them and not someone else. I'm sure somewhere there is a veteran with papers that belong to someone else but because the social security number came up it was attached to someone else's name. Can they do that? Can they go through every piece of paper for every service man or woman before they even attempt to do it? I doubt it. No one has that kind of time.

We can't even trust some of the data bases we use. Most of them have a disclaimer saying their information is not complete. With the Medal of Honor, it is easy to have an accurate data base since so few really received the award. The lower the award, the more recipients of it and it gets harder to find all the information. It would be so much easier on the veterans if they didn't have to go through any of this unless there was a technicality but because of the frauds wanting to use what they did not earn, it makes it all the more difficult for them. It is a betrayal, a theft and should be treated like a crime, which it is but somehow I doubt all the frauds out there have been found. While they wanted publicity for what they stole, they should get publicity for it when they have been found to be lying. For the others with possible mistakes on their records, their claims should be treated as if it is possible and taken seriously. Knowing a fraud that got away with it for a time does not make up for a real veteran suffering for a mistake he did not make. What is justice in this case and how do we arrive at it as soon as possible?

This article points out that the Internet is very helpful in all of this but no site can have every single piece of information no matter how good they are at it. It takes diligence from the rest of us.

If you ever talk to someone claiming to be a veteran with awards, do some checking to see if they are telling the truth. You never know when you can help catch a fraud or help a veteran with no clue errors were made in their case.

In Ranks of Heroes, Finding the Fakes

By IAN URBINA
Published: August 1, 2009

Last August, the Texas Department of Transportation started asking applicants for more documentation after discovering that at least 11 of the 67 Legion of Merit license plates on the roads had been issued to people who never earned the medal.

Last September, the House of Representatives passed a bill naming a post office in Las Vegas after a World War II veteran who, it later turned out, had lied when he claimed he had been awarded a Silver Star. The legislation was rescinded.

In May, one of the most prominent veterans’ advocates in Colorado was detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after it was discovered that his story about heroic service in Iraq and severe injuries from a roadside bomb was an elaborate hoax.

Military imposters are nothing new. But the problem has grown or at least become more obvious as charlatans are easily able to find fake military documents, medals and uniforms on auction Web sites.

Last month, The Marine Corps Times found 40 erroneous profiles in this year’s Marine Corps Association Directory, including false claims of 16 Medals of Honor, 16 Navy Crosses and 8 Silver Stars.

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In Ranks of Heroes, Finding the Fakes