Hunting For Fake Veterans Caught Real Disabled Marine Veteran

Pennsylvania police officer wrongly accuses veteran of being a fake Marine
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY ALIZA CHASAN
Thursday, June 4, 2015

A police officer and a soldier accused a man of being a fake Marine during a Pennsylvania art festival on Memorial Day.

Turns out they were wrong: Robert Ford, 75, served in the Marines from 1958 to 1964, Pennlive reported.

“It was the most humiliating experience of my whole life,” Ford told the site.

Ford’s day started off with a visit to the cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony. He played taps and then left for Harrisburg’s Artsfest to find a gift for his granddaughter.

But an Army soldier attending the festival thought Ford’s uniform looked fake. His hat was wrinkled and the belt buckle looked off, the soldier assessed.

He spoke to Detective John O’Conner, a Harrisburg officer and a Marine, and they accused Ford of being a fake.

He eventually pulled out his U.S. Veterans Affairs Card to show the officer and soldier. The soldier looked it over and said it was a fake, Pennlive reported. It wasn’t.

"He's as legit as you can get," said Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and archivist who does military fraud work, told the site.

“There's a lot of bullying going on in the community now,” Sterner said. “It's almost like hunting game, going out looking for phonies."
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