Heroes or Villains?

INTRODUCTION

CLAIMING VIETNAM PRISONER OF WAR:

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

==================================
Reported Claims of:
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 and more.

APOLOGIES AND CLARIFICATIONS

Individuals reported as of 02/2012
CLAIMS AS NOTED 
#  =  on list over 15 years

Note: The names listed in the next pages have made VARIOUS or multiple claims
that cannot be substantiated or have been proven FALSE. 
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.
All names are first checked here  http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ if POW claims are made. 

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 ( The maximum fine for a criminal offense is $250,000, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 3571(b)(3) ) 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 84 REAL Medal of Honor recipients are alive today. 

C [1]

CLAIMS

AKA Jay Mosca 

AKA Gerry Blackwood

AKA  "Shipdude," 

IN

Claiming SPECIAL FORCES and "GREEN BERET"...

.

Vietnam Vet Accused of Stolen Valor | NBC Philadelphia
Terry Calandra was awarded nine medals for his bravery in the war, but when he made a case for the Congressional Medal of Honor -- some watchdogs cried 04/09/2010

=====================================================================================

Army alerts feds of possible Stolen Valor case

Discrepancies in the service record of a Vietnam veteran seeking a Medal of Honor have prompted the Army to alert the FBI of a potential violation of the Stolen Valor Act, sources close to the investigation said.

The case involves Terry Richard Calandra, 59, of Forks Township, Pa., who is commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 700 in Glen Gardner, N.J....

Photos courtesy of The Express-Times

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http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2008/12/vietnam_veteran_says_stolen_va.html

and 

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1229749536239300.xml&coll=3&thispage=1

Local hero seeking Medal of Honor comes under dark cloud of suspicion

FORKS TWP. | A Vietnam veteran who had high hopes of convincing the U.S. Army to upgrade his 1969 Silver Star to the Medal of Honor now finds himself at the center of a possible FBI "Stolen Valor" investigation.....

May 2, 2009 -pci  no longer avail online

On April 3, 2009, Calandra was speaker for a symposium on “Leadership” at…get this…WEST POINT: http://vincentbove.blogspot.com/2009/04/fairleigh-dickinson-university.html

---------------------------------------------

Subject: Calandra - GUILTY!!!
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:13:02 -0400

See: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2011/10/valley_man_lies_about_silver_s.html
 
And http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-calandra-medal-of-honor-fraud-20111011,0,4316236.story
 
Sincerely,
Doug

10/14/2011

Q-and-A about Terry Calandra's bogus military medals
Lehighvalleylive.com
By Express-Times staff View full sizePhoto Courtesy of Terry CalandraTerry Calandra is shown in Vietnam holding a Silver Star medal. Calandra didn't receive the award legitimately but obtained it from an Army clerk while in Vietnam, according to his ...

Calderone, Maj. Anthony Angelo 

I just spoke with the Lt at the public affairs office. She checked BUDS and there is no record of him. xxxxxx

aka Colonel Bruce W. Callahan

07/2006

10/2006

08/2009

08/2011

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".

08/2009 - His online name was "AMMO". He bragged and bragged about being an Air Force Colonel and pilot in Viet Nam.....owning 2 gun stores...a restaurant....his own plane in Nebraska and so on.

His stories got more bizarre each week...and to the point where his stories were laughable. He also claimed to have a PHD in "Metallurgy"....soon to take on a job at some laboratory because he was going to "sell the gun stores".

Claims broke  his back teaching his Karate class and was  in the "hospital for a week  but did not need Physical Therapy.

He also claimed at that time and around 2000...that he "invented the Linux software program". [If he did...then why is he now in the heating and air-conditioning business?]

Claim he owned a 9,000 square foot house and his driveway had a built in heater to melt ice in the winter. 

He sure has a big ego.

He also related  the "flight" to save his sister in law's life. She was supposed to have had Appendicitis. Well he flew her...2 nurses and one doctor in a snow storm to a hospital that could handle an "appendectomy". 

One more claim - was always his rank as Colonel....and retired even after they "offered him a promotion to General" but he "turned it down".

--------------------------------------

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

• CLAIMING 

ACTUAL RECORDS

======================

Commander

Naval Special Warfare Command

FOIA Coordinator

2000 Trident Way

San Diego, CA 92155

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,

08/2011

09/2011

04/2011

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=114359&page=3

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Here are the facts about David Michael Canterbury. He has had a couple of aliases, but we will use the name on his military records. .....

Claims by Mr. Canterbury, from his own words on this site, as well his biography on Discovery and his personal site (some of these items disappeared the last week of June 2010). His claims are in bold, followed by the facts as presented in his official military records.

1. Over 20 years of Combined Military and Civilian Survival: No survival training annotated in military records.
2. US Military Veteran 1981-1988: Dates of Service: 12/03/1981 to 11/25/1987. That is just under 6 years, not 7.
3. Airborne: FALSE
4. Sniper: Not US Army Sniper. He DID attend a local 4th ID Sniper/Counter-Sniper Class (2 wks - 1986).
5. Scout: FALSE. He only attended the Law Enforcement 95B Course. He was an MP ONLY, not a 19D Scout.
6. SRT Member: He did attend the local 4th ID Course (2 wks – 1986), but there is no record of him being on SRT, per his Assignment Record.
7. SRT Coordinator and Instructor: He could have been a coordinator, but until doctrine changed in 1993 (after he was out), you had to be an E-6 (SSG) in order to be an instructor. Canterbury never attained this rank.
8. Joint Service Operations in Central America 1986-87 (Honduras/Nicaragua): NO RECORD
9. Performed Security Escorts for Military Equipment in Korea for Specialized Equipment to Forward areas near the DMZ between North and South Korea 1983-85: According to his military record, while stationed in South Korea, he was an “ID Badge Clerk.”
10. Squad Leader 4th ID 1982-1983: Not unless they make Privates squad leaders.
11. Ranger: FALSE
12. Instructor in Close Quarters Combat in US, Central America and Korea: See #7 & #8.

Military Decorations and Awards:
1. Army Service Ribbon (For completing AIT) (x1)
2. Army Good Conduct Ribbon (x1)
3. Overseas Service Ribbon (x1)
4. Army Achievement Medal (x2)
5. Expert Badge with bars: auto rifle, pistol & hand grenade
6. Driver’s Badge

[CONTRIBUTOR NAME WITHHELD]

aka Dick Cantner

05/2009

12/2011

Part 3 http://activedaily.readingeagle.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=UkVHLzIwMDIvMDUvMTkjQXIwMDEwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

His resume

http://www.ircorvettes.com/Officers/Officers.htm

Attempted to re-new VHPA membership. Has now "voluntarily" terminated same rather than provide orders, logs, flight school data, or other eligibility for membership.

ACTUAL RECORDS

AKA Alphonse Gabriel Capone

06/2010

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

AKA  MULLER, Jeffrey Morgan 

aka mullen

09/2010

Estero Beach, Florida

NOT a SEAL.

Discharged from Navy as E4, Hosp Corpsman

07/2010

2009-  Claims served USMC LT COL -1949 to 1974, Marine Sgt Captured - Tandocson Korea - POW –Camp #5 – Tiger -Jan.1951 to 1953 - 26 months,  Served Vietnam as a Marine pilot, shot down, MIA - 5 days.

Historical records show ONLY an Everett Carpenter as a returned POW during the Korean War.

TN

The fairy tale and the truth

.

Dear POW Network,

Please pass this information along to in response to the inquiry regarding Mr. ROBERT H. CARR JR.

I greatly appreciate your interest in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams, and your search for the TRUTH. Before answering your questions I must make clear that I am a private individual, not affiliated with the US Dept. of Defense or any other government organization. My efforts to expose SEAL imposters are performed as a service to the public, and in honor of my SEAL Teammates who gave their lives in service to our nation… men who truly earned the right to the title “US NAVY SEAL” but who are no longer able to stand forward in defense of their honor, their reputations, and their TEAMs.

If the name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the SEAL Database (SEAL Teams and predecessor units from1943 to the Present Day) for anyone named ROBERT H. CARR JR. I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations without finding any that appear to be applicable.

Unless he has undertaken the unlikely action of a legal name change (an action for which there would be evidence in the form of court documentation) since his claimed attendance at BUD/S training, and based upon the information you have provided, I can state conclusively that ROBERT H. CARR JR has NEVER COMPLETED SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a Navy SEAL, a Navy UDT “Frogman”, a member of any Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU), or a member of the Naval Amphibious Scouts & Raiders (S&R).

When members of the Naval Special Warfare community meet others who claim similar service, but whom they do not recognize, there is a conversational exchange of information that establishes the bona fides of each to the other. There is no set formula for this exchange, nor for the information that is exchanged, but it ALWAYS takes place, and the REAL Naval Special Warfare members can ALWAYS spot a phony as a result of this exchange. If Mr. CARR persists in insisting that his SEAL claims are legitimate, I might suggest that you ask him these questions:

(1) Since there is no listing in the SEAL Database for the name you are currently using, WHAT NAME DID YOU USE during SEAL training?

(2) What was his BUD/S Class Number? (NB: No SEAL ever forgets the class number he shouted all day long, every day, for 6 months)?

(3) Where did his training take place? (NB: Training has been conducted at several locations over the years; different portions in different places)?

(4) When did he graduate from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training? (i.e. a specific graduation DATE)?

(5) When did he enter the US Navy (a specific month and year)?

(6) When did he leave the US Navy (a specific month and year)?

(7) What were his Primary and Secondary Naval Enlisted Classification codes –NEC– or his Naval Officer Billet Code – NOBC?

There are many other questions which could be asked to further establish the level of veracity or untruth regarding his claims, such as asking for the names of other members of his graduating class, but those basic questions are absolutes. The answers to those questions are totally UNCLASSIFIED, and every real SEAL will gladly provide that substantiating information upon request.

I might suggest that you also ask Mr. CARR to specifically identify WHICH SEAL Team(s) he served on, and when. I am in direct contact with several hundred of my SEAL Teammates whose collective experience covers virtually all time periods from the Korean War to the present; I can quickly contact those individuals to verify any specific names, events, or other claims offered by Mr. CARR. If he feels that his name has somehow been mistakenly omitted from the SEAL records, I’d be pleased to speak with him and hear details of his service which would serve to validate his claims. The Director of the Naval Special Warfare Archives – a close personal friend and SEAL Teammate – is only a phone call away and standing by to amend the records if this is ever found to be true. However, I estimate that I’ve made the same offer many thousands of SEAL imposters in the past decade, and none of them ever turned out to be a valid SEAL.

Before any classified operations may be undertaken as a SEAL Operator, a man must first successfully complete the totally unclassified BUD/S Training program and the follow-on secondary training program; the names of all those who successfully graduate from that training program are compiled in the SEAL database. Later participation in classified operations has no impact on whether or not a person is listed as a graduate of the training program. There are records of every man who has qualified for the title of “SEAL”; there have been and will continue to be secret missions, but there are NO secret SEALs… we know them all.

If it becomes absolutely clear that Mr. CARR has not undergone a legal name change, then the important point to consider in this matter is that he has presented you and possibly others you know with false information. Whether his motivation is for employment purposes, monetary gain, increased social status, “dating” opportunities, or personal notoriety, it is clear that his personal ethics have not prevented him making false statements about his background.  If the man’s personal ethics do not prevent him from offering such a false statement about his background, you and your daughter must then ask yourselves what other false statements he might have made, or might be willing to make.

Thank you again for your concern in this matter, and for your assistance in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams. ... If I can be of any further assistance to you in this matter, please contact me at your convenience.

Respectfully,

10/2010

NOT A MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT

Actual  Record

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. 

02/2012

http://www.news-journalonline.com/special/veterans/genecarroll.htm

He also runs the http://walkwithheroes.org/ organization.
02/2012 - May no longer be active organization!

QUESTION EVERYTHING !!!

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Albany stands tall for its annual salute to veterans

By Cara Pallone • Statesman Journal • November 12, 2009

Hanoi Jane Fonda