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 04/2012
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. 

S [4]

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

http://sc.caldwellschools.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=28759&pagecat=582 Hall of Honor Inductee, 2003 Major George L. Shade (USAF, Ret) November 9, 1923 -     A Lenoir native, Major George L. Shade graduated from Freedman High School in 1941.  After graduation, Shade entered the Tuskegee Institute where he received a BA in Industrial Education.  During World War II, Major Shade became the first African-American commissioned officer from Caldwell County serving in the Tuskegee 332nd Fighter Squadron and the 477th Bombardment Squadron.  Major Shade was stationed in the European Theater of Operation and was engaged in 37 combat fights.  The Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 15,000 sorties, destroyed over 1,000 German aircraft, received hundreds of Air Medals and more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, records that have never been broken to date.  After twenty years in the military, Major Shade returned to community service as an official in public housing and co-owner of Shade Pavillion Rest Home.  He served as chair of Headstart and Blue Ridge Community Action.  Major Shade also taught Auto Body Repair at Caldwell Community College.  Continuing to serve his community and country, Shade has become a renowned speaker and historian of the Tuskegee Airmen.         • Robert A. Gibbons  •   Capt. James C. Harper  •   Dr. Donald W. Lackey  • •  Major George L. Shade  •   Dr. Vaughn A. Starnes  •   Capt. John G. Witherspoon  •

Claims:

• NOT a vet
• USAF brat
• Bland, VA  --  he publicly announced on a P.A. to be former NAvy and yet wears a sah with Marine NCO stripes.

Claims to have a 501 3c organization   http://www.shadowwolf.org/memorialtable.html. Has set up with veterans of Rolling Thunder, uses the Maupin name, "accepts" donations for the Memorial Table service.

A few years back he did a 'Fund Raiser' for a Marine KIA in Iraq who left a baby at home. Shadow Wolf started a fundraiser for this Marine's orphaned baby by "selling" copies of his unit patch. Found out through the Marine's widow that she nor her baby EVER received a penny from Shadow Wolf and his Memorial. 

NOT A NATIVE AMERICAN.

BORN 1955

MORE INFO:
http://www.powwows.com/gathering/865356-post12.html

QUOTE:
.... Shadow is "as phony as a $3.00 bill". Also confirmed (and this is his actual quote): "He's never been in the service, and you can take that to the bank."
END QUOTE

THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE DONATING ANY ITEM OR CASH.

THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE HAVING THIS MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO OUR POW/MIAS AND KIAS HANDLED BY A FRAUD AT YOUR EVENT.

AKA JONATHAN THE IMPALER

.

States  "He grew up in San Diego, the son of a Navy man. He served as a Green Beret demolitions expert in the Army Special Forces and narrowly missed duty in Vietnam. He admits his three-year stint in the Army was partly due to his traditional upbringing and partly due to pressure he felt to be macho."

aka John Bea

12/2011

02/2012

PER NPRC:  NO MILITARY RECORD "FOUND AT THIS FACILITY NOR AT NAVY HEADQUARTERS."

"TUGGER"

Face book page is https://www.facebook.com/tugger.shetler 

NJ

.....  Betty Foster, who accepted an award in honor of her father, Navy Seal Jack Shoemaker, said she is proud of her father and all that he did for the country....

Shoemaker, who was awarded the Purple Heart for his participation in World War II, enlisted in the Navy at 17.....

Shoemaker was also given the Bronze Star and Navy Cross for his service......

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

RE: SEAL  
He is NOT listed in the database covering training graduates from the end of WWII to the present day.   SR

==========

I don't show a Jack Shoemaker as having received the Navy Cross. If he joined the Navy right after Pearl Harbor, and if he was 17 at the time, and if he remained on active duty until the SEALS were formed in 1962, he would have been about 38 at the time. If he got the Navy Cross as a SEAL, it would have to have been in Vietnam, and there is no record to support that. I suppose it's possible he could have received a Navy Cross for WW II service (even though I have no record of that being the case), I am bothered by the claim that he was a SEAL and got the Navy Cross. This does not have the ring of authenticity.  N

Reported to the FBI several years ago. Still there in 2009.
ACTUAL RECORDS

Name matches man with  prison record.

http://www.wvec.com/news/92422594.html

"Hello David...My name is Dusty..."

These words have touched the hearts of many veterans over the years. In particular, they have brought consolation and peace to many women veterans, especially all the "Dustys" who took care of the countless "Davids" during the Vietnam conflict. The poem was so moving, in fact, that it was read by then Vice-President Al Gore at the dedication of the Vietnam Women s Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., November 11, 1993.

Recently, I learned the painful truth that the author who has called herself Dana Shuster is neither a nurse, nor a Vietnam Veteran, as she has publicly claimed for so many years. I share in the sense of betrayal and hurt of the many women veterans who have called her sister.

That said, on behalf of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation Board, I encourage a compassionate response. I hope for the author's own personal healing, as perhaps deep down, she had somehow hoped for ours. Read Laura Palmer's letter.

The Foundation has no further information and will not respond to queries or comments.

Diane Carlson Evans, RN
Vietnam, 1968-69
Army Nurse Corps, 1966-72

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

September 20, 2006

To:  Diane Evans, President of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation:

Several months ago I was asked a question I couldn't answer. Did I know for a fact that Dana Shuster, the nurse portrayed in my book, Shrapnel in the Heart, as "Dusty," had ever, in fact, served in Vietnam?

The question was a shocking one to me. "Dusty" is a woman I'd known for twenty years and considered as a friend. I never doubted that she was a nurse in Vietnam. But could I prove it?  I could not.

The seriousness of the question deserved an answer. I wrote to Dana Shuster, the woman known as "Dusty," and asked her if she could corroborate her service for me in specific ways. She could not.  I learned that she was never in the military and never a nurse. 

She was subsequently hospitalized for psychiatric care and continues to undergo therapeutic treatment and support.

It is with profound sadness that I convey this information but it is important that the truth be known.

Laura Palmer

Statements from Diane and Laura are on the VWMF website at:  http://www.vietnamwomensmemorial.org/pages/index2.html

Interview on NPR with Laura Palmer:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6173681

Another Day, Another Fake Writer:  http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/another_day_another_fake_writer_44229.asp

Sunday, October 4, 1998 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Daniel Shykind wore a United Airlines uniform, rode along in jet cockpits and bantered with pilots about company rules, the latest equipment and retirement investments.....

Shykind was popular in the tightknit community of airline pilots. He played piano at parties and told tales about combat as an Air Force fighter pilot during the Persian Gulf War, The (Baltimore) Sun reported.

But Shykind was not an Air Force pilot, and never advanced beyond classroom aviation lessons....

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

Shykind impersonated a pilot as CIA cover, he tells doctors; Mental health experts testify at a competency hearing
[FINAL Edition]
The Sun - Baltimore, Md.
Author:	Candus Thomson; Sun staff writer Timothy B. Wheeler contributed to this article.
Date:	Oct 27, 1998
Start Page:	2.B
Section:	LOCAL
Text Word Count:	304
Abstract (Document Summary)
Daniel Shykind told two mental health experts he impersonated a United Airlines pilot as a cover for his activities as a CIA spy, the doctors testified yesterday. Shykind, 30, is the subject of a three-day hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville that will determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial on charges he bilked 14 airline employees and friends of $30,700.

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

He'd show up in an army green jumpsuit and say he was flying important people to important places. Talked of combat, being involved with the govt operations catching drug dealers in south america. Flying all over the place. Machine guns. He implied military but never said what branch, going the whole "it's classified" route. I'm not good with my history, but he talked of being present at some incident where they used rock music played loudly as "mental torture" to get people to give up their position. 

He talked of actually flying the planes to relieve the pilot, being in the "jump seat". I don't know whether it's true or not that he ever actually fraudulently flied a commercial airplane, however he did make the claims to have done so.

He did, in fact, give people the impression that he was, in fact, in the military, involved in covert ops in south america busting drug dealers in the past, currently flying the president and vice-president. Sometimes he'd imply CIA, but mostly he'd be very vague.

If you google his name, "Daniel Shykind", you will see many references to his legal problems relating from his impersonation as a commercial airline pilot, however, as someone that knew him on a day-to-day basis, he presented himself as an employee of the US military and/or CIA. Living close to DC, military helicopters are seen traveling about quite often. He would imply that if he wasn't in the building that day and we saw those helicopters, it was him flying important politicians (implying via his tone that it was the president or vice president) between DC and Camp David.

He used his false identity to impress friends, women, and to take money from those he conned. He didn't go so far as to wear medals he didn't' earn, but he would imply he couldn't due his operations being covert. Yet he would go on and on with details about missions and trying to impress us with the stuff he was involved in.

SILVERMAN, BARRY “BEAR” 

07/2010

01/2011

02/2011

08/2011

KNOWN TO WEAR SEAL TRIDENT

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

http://shootinstructor.com/

08/2011 - Teaches a concealed Weapons Course. Still claims he was a Navy SEAL. Says " I was the Jewish Seal" ....

"Just back from Yemen." Claimed shot
 and  received black eye.

11/2011

.http://www.armywtfmoments.com/occupy-leader-lied-about-military-service

01/2011    NO MILITARY RECORDS COULD BE LOCATED.

.....If the name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the SEAL database of successful graduates for anyone named EARL SIMON. I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations. Please be aware that I do not have access to any records (official or unofficial) listing the names of individuals who reported for SEAL training, but who subsequently failed to complete the training program.

Unless he has undertaken the unlikely action of a legal name change (an action for which there would be court documentation) since his claimed attendance at BUD/S training, and based upon the information you have provided, I can state conclusively that EARL SIMON has NEVER COMPLETED SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a Navy SEAL. ....

Steve Robinson

------

Has NO Navy Cross.

QUESTION EVERYTHING !!!

LESS THAN 3 MONTHS service - discharged PRIOR to completing recruit training - and AWOL in the middle.

He has given his story to the Veterans History Project and been a noted speaker. 

Very respectfully,

Sirs,

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 TIMOTHY/TIM SISLER. I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations without finding any that appear to be applicable. In point of fact there are no entries in the entirety of the SEAL Database for anyone with the last name SISLER, or any variant thereof.

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 TIMOTHY/TIM SISLER 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. SISLER 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. SISLER 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. SISLER. 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 to more than 5,000 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. ...

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,

TX

AZ

He reportedly lies to cops saying he's on leave to get out of tickets and lies to others to rip them off.

He goes around trying to claim he has PTSD and that the VA is "fxxking him over". He  pretends he has TBI but can remember anything and then lies and says he is blind in one eye. 

He is claiming that he has TBI but never takes medication.  He talks in front of alot of people about  how he plans of ripping off the VA. He says he just needs to act like he is hurt to get paid.

He even ran over his own foot with a car in order to receive benefits. He is trying to claim he has PTSD. Even has tried selling the meds he gets from the VA - a report was filed with the Prescott VA PD.

He even states his eye sight is fine even tho he lied about vision loss to get a check from the VA.

He will ask other vets what's wrong with them in order to get details about what is wrong with them to use and lie in order to get more money from the VA.
 

08/2010 - Just to update you, Tommy Skellion has now been expelled from both the American Legion and the VFW based on his fraud.  The FBI has shut down the website for their "charity" and the investigation continues. Local merchants listed on their site ceased supporting their donation drives at their locations.

He received  $$$$$ from both the Legion and the VFW to help with rent and utility payments....  based on his presentation of a "veteran" in distress.

Confirmed that Tommy was administratively discharged in 1984, two weeks into Basic Training.

 

Is it not VA benefit fraud charges for the treatment he has been receiving at the VA hospital in Durham, NC??

01/2011 -   Wake Forest (NC) Police Department that they had finally arrested Skellion on state charges for defrauding the local American Legion and VFW Posts.  He had previously been expelled from membership in both organizations based upon the discovery of his documentation fraud.  The FBI is apparently still sitting on the federal charges of document forgery, public impersonation and VA benefit fraud.  He is currently in the Wake County Jail under a $5k secured bond.  The local newspaper, which ran the article on him in Nov 2009 wherein he recounted his alleged heroics, complete with photo of him in camouflaged uniform, Green Beret and 82d Abn Div combat patch, has been notified and will be running a retraction and correction in this week's edition.  It has been verified by the FBI that he did serve for a few weeks in the early 1980's but was discharged before completing Basic Training. 

 

ACTUAL RECORD

 

 

08/2011

While his State court conviction is now a matter of record, the federal charges are still pending.  We have determined that he has been treated regularly through the VA medical system as recently as a month ago, and they have now flagged his record to preclude future treatment as well as billed him for the services received.  He has recently relocated to the southern area of our county, and I have contacted his new Probation Officer to apprise him of Tommy's history.

12/2008

He is all of 5'6" and 140lbs, born in 1970.

01/2011

The radio interviews, the fairy tale, the exposé!

AKA ANDY SKIRNSKI

Ken Slade
President 
http://www.sarpc.us/about_us.htm

Ken is a NRA High Master Shooter with Small-bore Rifle, 3 Gun Pistol, and High Power Rifle.  He enlisted in U.S. Marine Corps in 1947 where he began formal training and competitive shooting with High Power Rifle.

He spent 3 ½ years in Korea with the USMC and was awarded one Silver Star and 5 Bronze Stars with V device and 4 Purple Heart medals (most of the targets shot back!) Ken also spent 5 short tours in Southeast Asia as a sniper.

In February 1980, Ken retired from military service, but continued to be active in competitive shooting.  He has been president of San Antonio Rifle and Pistol Club since 1987 with exception of 1998-99.

Ken has sacrificed many weekends maintaining the ranges and managing the high-power matches so that other shooters can practice and hone their skills. On “F” range, Ken is usually in the truck calling the commands and making sure the match is running smoothly and safely.

President@SARPC.US 

Claims

More Records

04/2009

04/2011

To Whom It May Concern:

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 (end of WWII to the Present Day) for anyone named CHARLES “CHUCK” SLAGHT. I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations without finding any that might be applicable. In point of fact there are no men listed in the entirety of the SEAL Database with the last name SLAGHT.

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 CHARLES “CHUCK” SLAGHT has NEVER COMPLETED SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a Navy SEAL or a Navy UDT “Frogman”. ...

No one gets to the SEAL Teams without first completing BUD/S Training. 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.

Thank you again for your concern in this matter, and for your assistance in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams. Feel free to share this email with any print or broadcast media representatives. If I can be of any further assistance to you in this matter, please contact me at your convenience.

Respectfully,

Steve Robinson RM2(SEAL)
USN 1970-1978
SEAL Team ONE
Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE
UDT-SEAL Association - Member
Special Operations Association - Member
POW Network Board of Directors
Naval Special Warfare Archives - SOF Analyst/Contributing Journalist
Disabled American Veterans - Life Member
FORMER Special Investigator - SEAL Authentication Team
CyberSEALs.org - Webmaster
Author - NO GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters
------------------------

Military.com:

Name :  CHARLES C SLAGHT 
Service :  Navy 

Service Component :  RESERVE 

Pay Grade :

Military Speciality : 1115 

Home of Record :  Unknown  

State of Residence :
 

A reserve officer would have an 1115 designator

UDT and SEAL operators shared the Navy Enlisted Code (NEC) designation 5326, Combat Swimmer.

ACTUAL RECORD

If the name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the SEAL Database (end of WWII to the Present Day) for anyone named LE ROY SLATER. 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 LE ROY SLATER has NEVER COMPLETED SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a Navy SEAL or a Navy UDT “Frogman”. ...

No one gets to the SEAL Teams without first completing BUD/S Training. 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.....

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,

Another Firefighter Accused Of Faking Military Leave

Slawinski Allegedly Met Masa At Westmont Fire Department

CHUCK SLOAN IS STILL RUNNING AROUND CLAIMING PURPLE HEART RECIPIENT X 3!!!

The worst thing is an article that Smith wrote about 5 years ago for one of the air show magazines in which he detailed his shoot-down over NVN and his escape to the coast and subsequent rescue. It was shameful.

========================
http://www.schultzairshows.com/millville-performers2007.htm

Allen H. Smith III L-39C Albatross

Allen is a native of Wynnewood, PA just west of Philadelphia and has been flying since he was 17 years old.  After graduation from Lower Merion High School he entered Penn State University at College Park, PA as part of the first Pre-Med class to graduate through the Hershey Medical Center.  During his freshman year he literally bumped into the Naval flight recruiters that were on campus and offered to take him for a ride.  The hop was in a T-34B,  just like the one Allen now owns, and after just 15 minutes of aerobatics, Allen’s life was changed forever.  He passed all of his testing and medical exams that same week and sworn into the Navy at the age of 17 as part of the AVROC Flight  program.   In very quick order Allen changed his major to Aerospace Engineering and started taking flying lesson at the local airport.  After 2 summers at Pensacola FL for INDOC and OCS he was commissioned an Ensign at his graduation from Penn State with his Aerospace degree.  Then he reported to Pensacola FL five days later to start flight training.

Today Allen is a retired Vice President of Engineering for Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals in St. David’s PA .  Along with his  son Chris they live in Glenside PA and own 2 immaculate museum quality aircraft.  The first,  a NAVY T-34B with a 285 hp engine that had 1650 hours TTSN in 1974 when the FAA zero timed the plane after Allen’s restoration.  Most T-34’s have between 7 to 11,000 hours on them.  Their second plane is a Soviet L-39C Albatross Jet Fighter that they imported directly from Estonia, Russia in late 1996.  Allen and Chris spent 1950 man-hours, and most of 1997 & ‘98 restoring the L-39 to better then new condition with all new US avionics and electrics.

We welcome Allen to this year's event with the Czech Jet L-39C Albatross.

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

TPS is sending an official letter to Allan Smith to cease wearing a TPS Instructor Patch.  The patch is shown in several of his photos.  He is also to permanently delete any and all references to such on his web site.  

ACTUAL RECORDS
============================================

Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:16:21 -0500
Subject: Apology from Allen H. Smith, III
From: Allen Smith <saamerican@gmail.com
To: info@POWnetwork.org

To; POWnetwork,

Dear Sirs,
         Please accept this letter as my formal and sincere apology and expression of deep regret for the misinformation and inaccurate statements in the A-6 aviation article that you have cited at your website in the file under my name. I specifically want to apologize to all men and woman who have served in the military past and present, and others who were offended by my actions, words, and deeds at the time the article was published and for the years that followed.
I have long since stopped all inappropriate actions and the peroliferation of misinformation contained in, and related to that artcile.

With deepest regrets,

Allen H. Smith, III

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

-----------------------------------------------------
I, as a former Marine Corps aviator, accept his apology.

Thank you for pursuing this fraud that was so obvious to those who have really served.

He also said when he was in Vietnam he was shot by a .50 cal

http://ke.linkedin.com/in/bromleysmith

He was a 98C   CRYPTONAYLTIC  TRAFFIC ANALYST .
He never saw combat, never went out of the country. He was enlisted - NOT an officer.

 Jesup, Georgia

actual records

The tale and the result

June 2008 newspaper pic and caption

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

MEN CLAIM MILITARY SERVICE THAT DOESN'T MATCH OFFICIAL RECORD
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/17950853/index.html  Part 1, Nov 10 - Keith Smith

http://www.wsbtv.com/video/17959240/index.html  Part 2, Nov 11 - Smitty & Joey Pierce

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

03/12/2010

21 Annual Cherokee County Indian Festival & Salute to the American Biker

RE: Smitty, Keith Smith and Joey Pierce. The three are not barred from the powwows, just from participating in them as flag bearers, Head man or Head Vet. They are welcome to come solely as a spectator, but nothing more.

"Thanks for sharing this information with any of your friends that may ride bikes, dance, sing, etc...

We will not be having the (people in question) serving as our flag bearers or Honor Guard from this moment on as they have failed to produce valid government documentation regarding their POW / Viet Nam status which has become problematic to the festivals intent."

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/showphoto.php?photo=38068&sort=1&cat=all&page=1

Is MED retired - NOT SF nor Ranger.

American Indian/Alaskan Native, 6 ft, 195 lbs Brown/Brown

Uses  THREE socials, and notes THREE countries (E. Germany, Mexico, W. Germany) as place of birth.

CLAIMS: U.S. Army Special Forces, Honorable discharge, E5, Bronze Star w/Y (yes Y), Purple Heart, Nat Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign, CIB, Parachute Badge, "Vietnam Special Forces Honorary Jump Wings", Sharpshooter Badge w/rifle.

 Sept 11, 1069 Indicted for larceny of auto...served 4 months.
11/11/81 -Arrested.  Convicted of burglary 1984, served 2 yrs in Wisconsin prison.
1989 Arrested for unlawful use of a weapon.
1994 Failed to give correct and accurate information about criminal background for IL PERC (Private Investigator) card.
1997 - Sued employer - then lied under oath.

DISCHARGED 31 Oct 1969, "Under Conditions other than Honorable". PVT. Decorations and awards: National Defense, Parachute Badge, Expert M-14, Expert M-60, Expert M-16. Total active service 1 yr 9 months 13 days. RE-3B, SPN 284 - "Misconduct/convicted or adjudged a juvenile offender by a civil court  during current term of active  military service."

Currently works as an (unlicensed)  Private Investigator for RBI Investigations.

Guess born in 1955-1956.

Combat troops were out of Vietnam before 1973.

He could NOT have been a helicopter pilot in Vietnam as he would not have been sent to combat before he turned 18. Then he would have needed to pilot training.

There is no historical evidence he was captured and held in Lebanon.

Huntsville man accused of carrying war medals he didn't earn

Thomas W. 'Pinky' Smith

2001

11/2010

COVERT WARRIOR: OVERT FANTASY!
by Capt. Larry Bailey

Several months ago I was chatting with a friend, an editor at Presidio Press, when he mentioned that the company was coming out with a real blockbuster of a wartime memoir. Naturally, I wanted to read it as soon as possible, so my Presidio pal sent me a copy of the galley proofs of Covert Warrior. I got all of two pages into this extraordinary account before realizing that I was looking at an account of the exploits of the most awesome warrior in the history of the Republic, a man named Warner Smith.

For the record, I spent twenty-seven years as a SEAL officer and know a number of Team heroes-Bob Gallagher, Frank Thornton, Tom Norris, Mike Thornton, Bob Peterson, Guy Stone, Gary Gallagher, and Charlie Bump, to name but a few--but not one of them can hold a candle to Smith, a former officer in the United States Naval Reserve. He is truly the embodiment of the warrior ethic: courageous, loyal, selfless, persevering, cunning, and strong. In another century he might have been a samurai warrior, a Teutonic knight, one of Alexander's "Immortals," or a Knight of the Round Table. Truly, this gentleman was forged at the anvil by Thor himself.

Smith, a 1964 graduate of Cornell University, has an honorable military pedigree--his father was a World War II naval officer, and Smith himself is a product of Cornell's Naval ROTC. However, nothing--NOTHING--could have led one to anticipate that Smith would become the super-hero depicted in Covert Warrior. The book is a truly remarkable account of how one man can influence the course of a conflict through the focused application of the principles of  unconventional warfare.

What's wrong with this picture? There's a minor problem--it's a major lie.



                                                       * * * * * *

It's common knowledge that there lurks within the soul of most, if not all, men the shade of Walter Mitty; why, I confess to having personally communed with Mr. Mitty in flights of my own fancy! However, in the cases of increasing numbers of grown men who ought to know better, Mitty the Meek has morphed into a devouring monster, and such is the case of Warner Smith.

Mr. Smith is authentic in several respects: (1) he graduated from Cornell University in 1964; (2) he was a naval officer; (3) his father served in the Navy in WWII; and (4) he actually did serve in Asia during the early part of
the Viet Nam War. The problem is that his experience in Asia consisted not of spewing lead from his Stoner rifle and playing mumbly-peg on enemy bodies with his KaBar knife in Viet Nam, Laos, China, and Cambodia, as Covert Warrior would indicate; rather, he spent 1964-66 at Sangley Point Naval Air Station, Philippines, where he performed duties as Mess Treasurer of the Officers Club. Walter Mitty--Warner Smitty; how the latter does indulge himself!

On the other hand, as blatant a misrepresentation of the truth as is Covert Warrior, it should win an award from somebody as the cleverest concoction ever put together by what is politely referred to as a "wannabe." It has all of the imagination and quite a bit of the historical accuracy of a Tom Clancy novel, and it most assuredly gets one's adrenaline pumping. Why, even though I knew it was pure fiction, I found myself on the edge of my seat more than a few times throughout my reading. For example, it was hard to remain calm when Smith gives his tension-filled account of how he and a handful of buddies rescued a dozen or more downed US pilots from a POW camp in Cambodia.

But I get ahead of myself. What, exactly, is it that Warner Smith claims to have done, and how did it all start? According to Smith, he and some fifty junior officers volunteered for "...a special operations team....I volunteered out of curiosity....[but] [a]s I volunteered, I never foresaw muddy jungles in my military future." Indeed.

What Mitty--er, Smitty ostensibly volunteered for was an elite CIA-sponsored group known as FRAM-16. (To this day, Smith says that he never learned what "FRAM" stood for. The "16" apparently indicated its membership--sixteen of the original fifty volunteers having survived an excruciating selection process.)
Anyway, after almost a year of intensive training in weapons, Ranger operations, POW techniques, parachuting, demolitions, Vietnamese language, communications, small-unit tactics, and the like, FRAM-16 found itself on a USAF C-135 en route to the Republic of Viet Nam (RVN) sometime in May, 1965--sixteen young patriots ready to close with the communist enemy.

It is in Smith's description of the trip to 'Nam that he first demonstrates his ignorance of "the way things were done and who did 'em" during the Viet Nam era. He tells, for example, of picking up two Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) men who had just completed Rest and Recreation (R&R) in Guam, having spent the
last three months in combat in the Mekong Delta. There are two things wrong with this scenario: (1) Guam was most definitely NOT an R&R location; and (2) the UDT's never participated in combat operations in the Mekong Delta. While they did conduct highly effective operations in other parts of the country, it was SEAL Teams ONE (ST-1) and TWO (ST-2) who were the first US land combat uni ts employed in the Delta. Technically, SEAL Team ONE at that time (1965) operated in the Rung Sat Special Zone, which is actually not part of the Delta. That said, SEAL Team TWO (ST-2) was the first US land combat unit deployed to the Delta, and it didn't arrive until some twenty months after Smith alleges the UDTs were operating there. He also mentions the frogmen's discussion
about their combat losses; funny, because the first SEAL casualties in RVN did not come until 1966.

Continuing his commentary on the discussions with the UDT members, Smith makes three (actually, four) factual errors in the same sentence: (1) "The SEALs, which [sic] had not yet been deployed to Vietnam, (2) had similar poor experiences with the M16 and (3) its grenade-launcher attachment, (4) especially in the wet and muddy combat practice conditions of Panama. One at a time: (1) The first SEALs deployed to Viet Nam in 1963; (2) SEALs had not been issued either M16's or the [XM-203] grenade launcher attachment in 1965 (they still used the original AR-15's and the M-79 grenade launcher); and (3) the only time SEALs had anything to do with Panama was when they attended the Special Forces Jungle Warfare School at Ft. Gulick (with one exception--in 1965 I organized ST-2 participation in a joint/combined guerrilla warfare exercise in the El Valle area of Panama.) It would appear that Smith is striking for some sort of world record in same-sentence errors.

Then in the very next sentence he makes three more boners. He has a UDT-er saying that he had been issued the Stoner rifle. That's a remarkable assertion, especially since the UDTs were never issued Stoners, either in rifle- or Light Machine Gun (LMG) configuration. Then Smith observes that the 5.56mm bullet fired by the Stoner is "...comparable to the .223-caliber cartridge." Technically, I guess he's right, but the truth is that the Stoner .223 round is nothing more or less than the 5.56mm round--they are one and the same. Let's see, now--that's six--no, seven, errors in two sentences.

Enough of technical incompetence--let's move on now to how Smith describes the mission of FRAM-16. He has a CIA representative briefing them on the team's mission as follows: "Ultimately you will become a study and  observation group (SOG), also referred to by some as a special operations group." Here again Smith shows the ignorance of the wannabe. There was a single Studies and Observations Group (SOG), and its charter was to provide policy, command, and control for all special operations conducted in Southeast Asia outside South Viet Nam. It most assuredly did not consist of numerous SOGETTES!

The group's initiation into Viet Nam combat was a planned "body snatch" of a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) officer in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separated North- and South Viet Nam. It is here that Smith's lack of knowledge about the "real world" of combat becomes evident. When a FRAM 16 friend, Larry, was killed in a firefight with superior North Vietnamese Army forces, Smith was ordered by a Special Forces (SF) sergeant to leave Larry's body behind when the combined SF/FRAM-16 team was forced to retreat. Of course, Smith ignored the orders and carried his buddy out anyway, but he was read the riot act by an SF major upon return to base camp.

There is no way that any American military man, SF or otherwise, would order any other American in combat to leave a buddy's body behind. In fact, there are dozens of cases in which additional casualties were taken because combat troops refused to leave a dead friend behind. There are other aspects of this tale that don't ring true, as well. For example, SF soldiers rarely, if ever, went out on Americans-only patrols, since their primary mission was to instruct Vietnamese in the arts of war. Smith treats the situation as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

The next combat op involved simultaneous missions by the three "teams" (A, B, and C) into which FRAM-16 had been divided. At this time the unit was operating out of Soc Trang , correctly located by Smith as being 35 miles southwest of Can Tho. There's a problem here, though: I have a personal friend who was a Naval Intelligence operative in Soc Trang during the period Smith writes about, and he roared when I read him  Smith's account. He assured me that he would have known of any special unit operating out of Soc Trang.

According to Smith, A-team was "...assigned to join a UDT Team [sic] (wrong terminology--the "T" in "UDT" already stands for "Team")...for a search-and-destroy mission on "Dung" Island, at the mouth of the Mekong." Whoa! Let's look at this again! First of all, as mentioned earlier, the UDTs were not operating in the Delta then or ever. Next, Dung Island (or "Cu Lao Dung" in the Vietnamese language) is in the mouth of the Bassac River, not the Mekong, and my own SEAL platoon was the first US land combat unit to set foot on that lovely isle.

B-team was to go with "...some Army Special Forces" into southeastern Cambodia to destroy a radio tower which "...directed small boat traffic in the various rivers of the area." Neither I nor any other military people  ever assigned to the Delta region ever heard of a need to direct small boat traffic by radio! It's not like traffic jams on the rivers were a major problem for the Viet Cong (VC)!

Finally, Smith's own C-team "...was assigned to a US Navy river patrol operation near the South Vietnam-Cambodia border on the Bassac River." Smith's lack of knowledge of the facts is once again his undoing. For starters, C-team is helo-landed at "...a small outpost, a mini-firebase" on an estuary feeding the
Bassac River. This outpost, manned (according to Smith) by both US Navy   personnel and RVN soldiers, is a US Patrol Boat--River (PBR) facility. One thing wrong with this scenario--the only PBR base on the Bassac (or any of its estuaries) was at Can Tho. While there were USN advisors assigned to such outposts, they were part of the Vietnamese Navy Riverine Assault Group (RAG) organization. While PBRs occasionally visited these "Beau Geste"-type mud forts, they were never assigned there.

Now to C-team's combat story. According to Smith, his PBR intercepted a large VC craft and shot it to pieces, killing at least thirty-five communist troops. All I can say about that is that I was on the Bassac with my platoon within a few months of this alleged operation, and if a single PBR had accounted for that many dead VC in one engagement, we would have heard about it. It was very seldom that more than four or five VC were even aboard a single vessel, much less killed. This story is clearly a total concoction.

Covert Warrior's pi de resistance, however, is the account of a fantastic POW rescue in Cambodia. For starters, I can't imagine why the NVA or the VC would take US pilot prisoners into Cambodia, because there simply weren't that many planes being shot down in the part of Viet Nam closest to Cambodia during the
1965-66 period. Next, and most importantly, NOT A SINGLE US POW WAS EVER RESCUED DURING THE ENTIRE INDOCHINA CONFLICT! And Warner Smith claims to have  participated in the rescue of more than a dozen of them! Smith's account of this event is truly exciting, but it's all a part of one continuous lie.

Then there is the story of Smith's solo mission into China (that's communist China, now) to determine whether the SAM-2 missiles being brought into North Viet Nam were of Russian or Chinese origin, as if it made any difference. Smith was parachuted into the southern part of the country, evaded capture for several days, killed a couple of bad guys, and--eureka!--confirmed that the SAMs were of Russian manufacture. The story of his extraction by a Caribou aircraft using a system of rubber bands and paper clips (not really, but close) is a real
hummer, but it's so complicated that I'll refrain from telling it.

Another tall tale is that concerning a limpeteering attack on merchant shipping in Haiphong harbor. This mission was to be undertaken by twelve UDT personnel and five FRAMMERS operating from a submarine. Fortunately for Smith, however, the mission was canceled; otherwise, I'd be generating snickers galore about his account of how he sank a dozen Russian merchantmen and swam twenty miles out to sea, where he was  rescued by a Taiwanese water-skiing boat. Oh! and he'd probably have saved the lives of at least a half-dozen frogmen in the process!

It's pretty clear that, as history, this book is a total strikeout. As autobiography, it's a self-serving collection of lies. As an adventure story, however (and I'm serious!), it truly is an exciting read. If Warner Smith had peddled Covert Warrior as a novel of the thriller genre, I believe it could have been a best-seller. (I'm serious about that, too!)

At the end of it all, I have to give ex-Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Smith a lot of credit for writing an account that is as genuinely exciting (and credible to those uninitiated in the world of special operations) as Covert Warrior.
Ironically, I think that he would have made a lot more money and may have been able to market movie rights, if he had kept his Mitty instincts under control. He certainly would have saved himself a lot of aggro from people like me!

It is clear that Smith is one sharp cookie; for example, he knows his SE Asia geography, he knows a phenomenal amount about the Viet Nam War, and he knows enough details about real-world operations in Viet Nam to write with a high degree of credibility. It's what he makes up that ultimately shoots him down in flames.

Finally, I feel obligated to apologize to, and sympathize with, Presidio Press for slamming its latest release, but Covert Warrior is so far out in left field as to obligate someone to tell the truth about it. Coming on the heels of
my recent debunking of Presidio's Swimmers among the Trees, another wannabe account (SOF, Nov. 96), its  editors are probably going to put a contract out on me! All I can say is that it's a shame Presidio and a disgusting number of other publishing houses don't submit their drafts to special operations veterans for their  comments before getting slam-dunked by folks like me.

Having said that, I must doff my specops hat to the master of wannabe slam-dunking, a gent down in Texas by the name of B.G. (Jug) Burkett who provided me with evidence that Warner Smith wasn't the warrior he claimed to be. SOF readers are going to hear a lot more about Jug in the near future, because he is in the final stages of writing the definitive expos n phony warriors, a book called Stolen Valor. Suffice it to say that I'd hate to have Jug on my case if I were a wannabe; heck, I'd hate to have him on my case for any reason--he's a pit bull!
 

Hanoi Jane Fonda