![]() ![]() prisoners of war, reviewed all the history project records. Seven years later, Chuck and Mary Schantag, whose P.O.W. Burkett predicted that half would be frauds. In 2000, upon hearing that the Library of Congress had launched its Veterans History Project, Burkett asked administrators if they were verifying any of the vets’ records. Type “falsify military service” into an online search engine window, and one yields tens of thousands of hits relating case after case in which someone has either exaggerated or completely fabricated their military service. The work led to 48 arrests, the VA recovered $562,888, and authorities levied $1.23 million in fines. 25, 2009, the VA investigated 96 cases of “stolen valor” fraud, according to James O’Neill, assistant inspector general for investigations. ![]() “Now, extrapolate that across the nation, and imagine the millions of dollars that this runs into.”īetween March 1, 2008, and Feb. “That’s eight individuals in the Seattle area, in one bust,” said Doug Sterner, a longtime private watchdog who now maintains the Military Times newspapers’ Hall of Valor database. Their lies collectively cost the VA $1.4 million. They got in the door with computer-generated or -altered discharge papers known as DD 214 forms. In 2007 the effort snagged eight people who were receiving VA compensation for combat injuries, although none had served in combat and two had never served in the military. For the past three years, Burkett has worked “behind the scenes” with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General on Operation Stolen Valor, aimed at uncovering people in the Pacific Northwest who’ve fabricated military service in order to obtain VA benefits. Burkett, author of the acclaimed 1998 exposé “Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History.” That’s a big number- approximately 23.6 million.īurkett might be accused of hyperbole had he not spent the past 25 years uncovering military fakers, often working with authorities who’ve come to view him as the real authority. “I personally believe there are as many American males claiming military service falsely as there are living veterans in America,” said B.G. There is no hard count of how many people have lied about their military service, but one of the best sources on the topic thinks the number is in the millions. But as I soon learned, this fellow was hardly the only person who has fabricated or exaggerated wartime exploits. ![]() Lucky me, I’d exposed the lie before the story went to press. In a voice that suddenly sounded creaky and 10 years older - yet sort of childlike, as though fearing a reprimand - he replied, slowly, “Yes.” I then told him what I’d learned and asked, “Did you lie to me?” I called my alleged Ranger back, said I wanted to clear up the unit name and asked him twice to repeat it. ![]() That guy, the real Ranger told me, got killed on D-Day. I called, telling this former Ranger that my guy had claimed to be the assistant platoon leader. But, the former Ranger said, call this other former Ranger down in Pennsylvania he was in that unit. As it turned out, my guy wasn’t on the list. No, he said, but a former Ranger up in New York did. I asked the spokesman if he had a unit roster of some sort. I don’t know what stopped me, but I heard myself saying the words, “Too good to be true,” and decided to call the Ranger headquarters at Fort Benning, Georgia. He brought out a shadow box filled with decorations and a folded flag his kids had made it for him, he said.īack at the office, I started typing up my notes, shaking my head at times. His story was detailed, yet he under played his role. Too good to be true! In short order, photographer Ken Lyons and I were sitting in the fellow’s sun-splashed back yard. ![]()
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