Former POWs reject Utah man’s claims of being one of them

Former POWs reject Utah man’s claims Stolen valor?
A nonprofit that investigates vets’ claims of service says the Utah man is not on a Department of Defense list of POWs.

By Kristen Moulton
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Apr 20 2012
POWs from the Vietnam War contend that Dave Groves, a West Jordan man honored last week by the Veterans Administration and years ago by the University of Utah, was never held captive in Vietnam.

(Al Hartmann The Salt Lake Tribune) Dave Groves, who claims he was captured and held as a POW in the Vietnam war, shakes the hands of POWs from World War II during a POW appreciation luncheon Friday, April 13, in Salt Lake City. Some now question Groves' account.

Groves does not appear on a database of Department of Defense Vietnam-era POWs, compiled from military records.

"He’s a typical liar," said Mike McGrath, historian of Nam-Pow, a nonprofit organization of Vietnam prisoners of war. "There are 540 of us still alive from Vietnam, and we have 3,000 wannabees who want to be us."

Groves, who has hired an attorney after a week of online challenges to his truthfulness, insists he was a POW who for unexplained reasons does not appear in the Pentagon’s database.
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