INTRODUCTION

CLAIMING VIETNAM PRISONER OF WAR:

V V A - Claims by members of  Vietnam Veterans of America

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More Reported Claims:
Medal of Honor, Other than Vietnam POWs, Son Tay Raiders, DSC, DFC, Purple Heart, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Navy Cross, SEALS, Rangers, Pilots, Special Forces, Green Berets, Combat, Vietnam Helicopter Pilots, Flying Tigers, DOUBT EVERYTHING, Don't Encourage 

APOLOGIES AND CLARIFICATIONS

Heroes or Villains?

Individuals reported as of  03/2008
CLAIMING VIETNAM POW STATUS  or as noted
#  =  on list over 11 years

Note: These individuals are IN ADDITION TO those investigated and named in the book STOLEN VALOR.

Those with a "LINK" have records, news articles, pictures or tales posted
Comments in GREEN are from information contained in military records (or lack of military records) obtained through FOIA when requested THROUGH the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.

THOSE CLAIMING MEDAL OF HONOR
NOTE: In 1996 HLI Lordship Industries (at the time, the OFFICIAL USG contractor for the Medal of Honor) admitted selling THREE HUNDRED unauthorized medals for $75.00 each from 1991-1994. They were fined $80,000. NOT ALL of those medals have been recovered. Offenders in possession of an unauthorized medal can be arrested, fined (up to $10,000) and jailed (up to a year). It is the only military medal that CANNOT be bought, sold, bartered, traded, collected, auctioned, exchanged.... EVERY Medal of Honor is awarded by act of Congress. Less than 150 REAL Medal of Honor recipients are alive today.

The names listed in the next pages have made VARIOUS or multiple claims that cannot be substantiated or have been proven FALSE. 

C [1]

CLAIMS

The Colonel at FOX that wasn't

aka Colonel Bruce W. Callahan

2006 claims former U.S. Air Force pilot Vietnam. Claims ownership of shooting range, large restaurant in Fremont, private plane, ownership of Humvee, claims being widowed and deceased wife a doctor, and much more.

10/2006 - He always bragged about his retirement pay, his Colonel's retirement pay. Bragged that he gave a kidney to his identical twin brother because his sister in-law begged him to do that. Claimed he was widowed and his wife was a doctor, and every year he would fly into the clouds and drop rose petals out the window of his plane on their anniversary. He claimed once that he had to fly his brother's wife through a storm to a hopital and in a life and death situation with a doctor and 2 nurses aboard and according to him "get medical help from a bigger hospital for an appendectomy." I cannot comprehend that any hospital would turn away an appendectomy claiming they "were not equipped to handle it".

Actual TSgt, December 1972 - retired April of 1993. 

No record of plane ownership. No records of pilot's license/certificate. DOB 1954.

CAMOESAS, A.J. 
aka Alfonso Camoesas

 FLORIDA 

• CLAIMING NAVY CROSS
• Claims Retired Command Sgt Major
• Claims Korean War: 7th Inf Div, 32nd INF Reg and 2nd Airborne Ranger Co jumping into Kimpo Airport, Claims Chosin.
• Claims Vietnam, 5th Special Forces SOG
• Claims Navy Cross, TWO Silver Stars, TRIPLE CIB, EIGHT Purple Hearts, FIVE Bronze Stars w/V, Soldiers Medal, Army Comm w/V, Croix de Guerre, South Vietnam Medal of Honor

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03/2006

MORE

last known Gastonia  NC 

QUESTION EVERYTHING !!!

12/08/2003
.....  Mr. Campbell has been seen on at least two separate occasions during the fall 2003 semester on the Clemson campus wearing the full uniform of an Army Major General, including numerous ribbons and medals. He is currently claiming openly to be involved in special ops and working as a liaison to the CIA, while he pursues a Ph.D. in Education at Clemson at night...... he makes no secret of his current fantasy life. He is completely submerged in his delusion.....

Campbell, Howard Fyfe Jr. - Gastonia, NC Claims doctorate at Clemson, Shaun Lin Master, Operation Phoenix assassin, MACVSOG, 5th Special Forces, Rangers, served in Cambodia. Command Sgt Major in Desert Storm - often showcases Sliver Star, DSC, Soldiers Medal. Has had various websites with claims of Vietnam service, Clemsom ties, or martial arts claims. 

Claiming SPECIAL FORCES and "GREEN BERET"...
Dob 11/1949 --- Claims SF [ skipped Q course] ; Ranger [cannot name class number]; Operation Phoenix assassin; Hamburger Hill movie was about HIM; Silver star, Soldiers Medal, DSC; Served Cambodia with MACVSOG, Vung Pao;  Command Sgt Major in Desert Storm. Claims Doctorate at Clemson. Claims sports great at Edison Ferarra High School (PA).  Claims Shao Lin Master. Has very visible tattoos - Dragon and Phoenix on arms. NC License plate JVB 7788 - Car has Ranger and SF decals.

Records indicate service June 66 - March 68 (USAF) AND Oct 81 thru Oct 91 (Army). Staff Sgt. 
 Received General Court Martial and Discharge - Personality Disorder.

Dear POW Network,

This guestbook entry was very obviously written by a total phony! I checked the 21 men with the last name CAMPBELL listed in the SEAL database. There is only one man whose first name begins with the letter “W”… and he joined the Teams just before the end of WWII and served with a UDT. There are two men listed with middle names beginning with the letter “W”, but neither one is listed as serving with a SEAL Team… both were UDT, and both joined the Teams approximately TEN (10) years before the date claimed by the author of this guestbook posting. There are only three men named CAMPBELL for whom we have no middle name listed… all three of them joined the Teams almost a decade AFTER the claimed service dates made by the guestbook author. NONE of the 21 SEALs with the last name CAMPBELL either entered SEAL training or received an assignment to the SEAL Teams in 1975.

The author of this guestbook entry opens his commentary by referring to a “team tattoo on our arms”. There was not then nor is there now any such thing as a “Team tattoo”. Many SEAL imposters offer tattoos as evidence that they are actually members of the US Navy’s SEAL Teams. They take advantage of the fact that most people would not begin to give serious consideration to obtaining such a tattoo without having legitimately earned the right to display or wear the symbol. Upon displaying their tattoos, SEAL imposters often claim to their listeners that “all of the men in my class got this same tattoo when we graduated from training”. Others have claimed that a particular tattoo was one that all the members of their individual SEAL platoon got after completing a particular deployment, operation, or “mission”.

Time and again investigators looking into the claims made by SEAL imposters have answered inquiries that report a man offering or displaying his SEAL Trident tattoo as “proof” that he was a member of the Navy’s SEAL Teams. The response has been the same in every case; a tattoo is nothing more than an indelible picture set into the wearer’s skin. The government does not issue and does not espouse tattoos of any sort or kind. Anyone can purchase a tattoo. Anyone can obtain ANY tattoo image (including any military insignia) if they are willing to spend the money, and to endure the discomfort of having it pierced into their skin.

It is perhaps appropriate to point out that the requirements of Operational Security (OPSEC) and Personal Security (PERSEC) are not well served if members of an elite military force like the SEALs are wearing the identifying emblem of their unit tattooed on their bodies. These are not the freewheeling days of wooden ships, canvas sails, and sailors wearing exotic tattoos from unheard-of ports in the primitive South Sea Islands . This is the 21st Century, and the modern Navy is a completely different entity.

When Navy SEALs go into combat they do not carry identifying documents of any kind; they don’t carry wallets, I.D. cards, drivers’ licenses, photographs of wives or girlfriends, notes from friends, letters from home, paycheck stubs… nothing! With such strict observance being given to OPSEC and PERSEC by these quiet professionals, the idea of wearing a SEAL Trident tattoo is completely ridiculous. Yet still the claims of tattoos as proof of being a SEAL are offered by countless imposters.

OPSEC and PERSEC are very real concerns, and tattoos – officially classed as “identifying marks and scars” – pose a real threat to both OPSEC and PERSEC. For that reason most real SEALs do not wear any tattoos, and particularly avoid having the SEAL Trident permanently engraved anywhere on their persons. There is no official ban on tattoos (Trident emblems of otherwise) in the SEAL Teams. To be sure, some former SEALs do obtain such a tattoo, small and discretely located, after leaving active military service, but this is far from “standard procedure”. It is never something which is offered by a real SEAL as proof of his Team membership.

I must also make comment on the obvious illiteracy of the author of this guestbook entry. More than half of what separates SEALs from other military men is what is between their ears. SEALs are highly intelligent. SEAL candidates must meet/exceed a higher threshold intelligence rating on their military classification exams than any other job in the Navy before they are even allowed to enter SEAL training.  SEAL training emphasizes a reliance on their intelligence and initiative to do their jobs, and that means a better than average ability to communicate thoughts and ideas with others. The errors evident in the guest book entry are not solely limited to typographical errors which might result from a lack of typing skills. The horrendous grammatical errors, misspellings, and jumbled thoughts/concepts that are expressed in the entry are not the result of a mind that successfully completed SEAL training and served with the SEAL Teams. Additionally, the errors made by that author are not limited to spelling, grammar, and punctuation. He has also made some significant errors in the way he refers to himself and to other SEALs; errors that are immediately obvious to any true member of the Naval Special Warfare community.

The last SEALs to serve in Vietnam left that country in November 1972. Following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, all US armed forces left Vietnam on or before 29 March 1973. The only US military personnel of any type that remained on Vietnamese soil were the very few USMC Security Force personnel who were attached to the US Embassy in Saigon . Those US Marines left that facility in April 1975 when the North Vietnamese took over Saigon (in direct violation of the agreements stated in the Paris Peace Accords). When the SEALs left Vietnam in November 1972, no man was left behind… no SEAL has EVER been left behind… EVER! There were a grand total of only 49 UDT/SEAL personnel KIA during the entire Vietnam War… we know them all by name and the details of when/where those deaths occurred. As I noted, the last SEALs to serve in Vietnam departed that country in November 1972; anyone claiming to be a SEAL with Vietnam combat experience who claims he served there in 1975 is not only la blatant liar, but he is also grossly unaware of the actual history of the US involvement in Vietnam.

I have queried numerous SEAL Teammates who served with me during the Vietnam years (as well as men who were in the Teams during the 15 years following that war) regarding the nickname “Flash”. To the best of their recollection there was NO SEAL who was ever known by that nickname. The Naval Special Warfare community is a very (VERY) small one, and everyone knows everyone. The total number of SEALs who served in Vietnam does not exceed 250! The person who penned this guestbook entry was NEVER a SEAL… NEVER! His claim of being a SEAL is ludicrous, and would be laughable were it not such a horrendous insult to those of us who ARE SEALs, and to the memories of our fallen comrades.

I have sent a copy of this letter to the email address left by the author. I can only hope that he dares to reply to me personally, and to repeat his false SEAL claims. I now have TWO (2) contacts with US government officials who are eager and anxious to assist in rooting out imposters of this sort; one Special Agent with the FBI and one Special Agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). The Special Agent with DCIS contacted me by telephone yesterday to inform me that he’d obtained a confession from the former Sheriff (Williams) who was falsely claiming to be a SEAL. Charges are pending. I will keep you posted on any additional information I might learn about W. “FLASH” Campbell .

Cordially,

Steve Robinson

Caprella is quarter master of a V.F.W.

E5 CAPRELLA ANDREW JOSEPH entered the Navy 10 September 1964 and got out 31 July 1986 during which he served in Vietnam with an MOS of RM 2318 which was Radioman

• In the US Army date of service, missions, locations, and military records are top secret and sealed.
• Was a mechanic in the Army with MOS and rank unknown.
• Has attended US Army Ranger and Sniper school.
• Was assigned to work with or for the DEA on special missions during his service with the US Army.
• Was required as matter of military policy to wipe out villages killing all men, women, children and "babies" in order to completely shut down drug manufacturing and smuggling operations.
• As a sniper he was instructed by his superiors to kill his fellow 
  snipers if they were wounded and unable to complete there mission. This was necessary so as not to jeopardize classified information which could fall into the enemy hands.
• He was wounded in the leg from a bullet that first passed through a tree. 
• He kept and still has his issued .45 cal sidearm.
• He claimed to work for the CIA on other special top secret 
  missions.

• He had to leave the army after two years because he was tired of all the killing.

Army denies any records exist. 12/2001

NOT a SEAL.

Discharged from Navy as E4, Hosp Corpsman

TN

The fairy tale and the truth

end quote

Mary,

Yep… he’s a FLEET SAILOR who spent time aboard Destroyers and other vessels, including the Cruiser BLUE RIDGE (a communications vessel). He’s got credentials in DAMAGE CONTROL but not as a SEAL, and his list of authorized awards is nowhere near what he claimed.

actual records

He was in American Legion Post 260 and participated in the building a memorial in Keysville, VA . It was going to cost $100 to buy a brick with veteran's name and a "book" was going to be written. He has his name listed as Craig Carroll with the initials "FLMP" behind his name. 

He moved to Appomattox,VA and  his name was in the local newspaper. He was again soliciting $50 to buy bricks to build a memorial. 

QUESTION EVERYTHING !!!

QUESTION EVERYTHING !!!

Claimed SEAL, secret missions. Held without bond Oct 2001 Monroe County Jail. "Bizarre behavior" reported by police.

DECEASED 2005

Died October 28, 2005, Berrien County, MI. (confirmed) 

Claims Navy Cross, several Purple Hearts, SEAL.

Deceased

Douglas P. Chambers
Sept. 25, 1944 — Jan. 7, 2003

Douglas P. Chambers, 58, of Valley Springs died Tuesday at a Sacramento veteran's hospital after a long illness. .....

He served in the Army during the Vietnam War and received many medals and honors while stationed in Vietnam, including a medal of honor and four Bronze Stars.

After the war, he worked as an auto parts dismantler for Bohag Parts, was a security guard at the Standard sawmill and other places and worked other jobs for Pickering Lumber Company in Standard.

He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Sonora for many years.....

A military burial will be held at Gustine National Cemetery. A memorial service will be held in Sonora at a later date. Veterans Administration in Sacramento is handling arrangements.

He is a teacher and tells the students of his exploits in the Gulf War .... fear this will misinform a student who does enter the military service.  He is in a trusted position working with kids!  He works for Spokane School District 81 as a teaching Asst.

Tells students of his exploits of being in the U.S. Army and fighting in the Gulf War. He claimed he was a medic and that he had a form of cancer due to being exposed to toxic chemicals while in Iraq.

05/2007 -  ..... on the computer and I look up your site and by God there's his name on the list. God do you know how good it is to see this.'

Loma Linda man helping veterans lied about military service

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http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_H_pow03.34b34b3.html

American Legion pledges support for POW/MIA walk to Sacramento, cancels membership of fake veteran