Posted on 05/24/2006 12:55:11 PM PDT by Graybeard58
No military service records can be found for him
DUNLAP - With only five other men in U.S. history being awarded the Purple Heart eight times over, Theodore C. Bantis of Dunlap would be the only Marine known to have earned such distinction.
He would be one of only 362 Marines to receive the rare and coveted Navy Cross during what he lists as three full combat tours in Vietnam before retiring after 30 years as a colonel.
Impressive and honorable as it may appear, the medals and the rank Bantis claims all appear to be lies. He never spent a day as a Marine in his life.
"It really denigrates the whole idea for the awards," said Tom Maher, a local Marine who served in Vietnam around the same time Bantis claims.
Maher said he first approached Bantis about three years ago during a Memorial Day event in Peoria.
"I told him, 'You do realize you're wearing your awards incorrectly?' He just turned and walked away," Maher said Monday. "I never could find out if he was telling the truth or not."
Others also now wonder.
The U.S. Marine Corps Records Branch in Quantico, Va., which has a database of more than 2.8 million men and women, lists no Theodore Bantis as ever serving in the Marine Corps, according to 1st Lt. Rob Dolan, a Marine spokesman.
Through it all, Bantis maintains his awards are genuine.
"I'm a very private man, and I'd prefer to keep it that way," Bantis said Monday from his rural home. "That was more than 30 years ago. I don't like to talk about it."
However, Doug Sterner, who is considered the foremost authority on military awards today and runs homeofheroes.com, a Web site that honors heroes, said Bantis never earned the awards he's pinned on himself.
"He's a fake. I can verify for you that Mr. Bantis is not a recipient of the Navy Cross," said Sterner, who was commissioned by the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and works closely with Marine Corps History Division, to generate what is the only existing database of Navy Cross recipients.
Sterner further notes Bantis wears the Navy Cross incorrectly. Photos of Bantis at various events show he has added a silver "V" pin on the ribbon, denoting "valor," but the Navy Cross is only awarded for valor and is never worn with the pin.
But Bantis, 59, has led his family, friends, veterans and others in the community to believe otherwise. For how long or why is unclear.
Over at least the last few years, he's made visits to local Marine Corps functions, military funerals, fund-raisers and Memorial Day events under the guise of being a retired colonel. Bantis helped the Kiwanis Club gather soccer balls to send to Iraqi children and is on the Peoria-based Marine reserve unit's e-mail list. He also spoke about 9-11 victims to an audience at Illinois Central College in Peoria on Sept. 11, 2004, in full military regalia.
"He might do great things for kids, but if he did what is being alleged - wearing the uniform and medals - that's a totally different ball game," said 1st Sgt. Casey Samborski, a member of Company C, 6th Engineering Battalion, who along with other Marines are disturbed and angered at the idea of Bantis posing as a hero.
Still, there's nothing that shows Bantis ever used his fictional rank for profit, and he's never filed for any veteran's benefits.
Regardless, there are federal laws against impersonating military officers and wearing medals that were never earned. In Illinois, a new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2007, making the act a petty offense.
While Maher and other Marines shared their suspicions among themselves, it wasn't until Bantis attended an annual Marine Corps birthday ball six months ago that the apparent lie started to catch up with him. There, a picture caught Bantis donning the medals.
A biography he provided for the event included a long list of military honors and claims that he held command in special operations and intelligence groups. It also said he graduated from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles with a master's degree in education. However, an official with the school's alumni association said Tuesday she has no record of Bantis attending the school.
The biography and picture were sent to Sterner, who has referred the case to FBI Special Agent Thomas Cottone Jr., who has investigated more than 100 cases of military fraud. He says incidents of military impersonation are on the rise.
A Pennsylvania man was charged this month by federal authorities for impersonating a lieutenant colonel who had been awarded the Navy Cross, and the Silver and Bronze stars. The man actually had served only three years in the Air Force as a plumbing specialist. In 1995, an Illinois judge, who later resigned his post, lied for years about receiving two Medals of Honor, the nation's highest military award. He could not be prosecuted, though, because he was never seen wearing the medals.
As far as Bantis' personal life, little is known. He moved to Peoria from Spokane, Wash., about six years ago and was married, according to Journal Star archives that listed a filed marriage certificate. He also claims to be the chief operating officer of a business called the Adeptus Corp., although no information could be found about the company.
Bantis claims his military records are sealed because of his work with naval intelligence.
But Cottone rebuts Bantis' statement saying his name would still appear in the Marine Corps' records.
Sterner adds that even the most classified who have earned honors such as the Navy Cross will receive recognition that is publicly available.
"They are desecrating everybody who ever served in the military, who ever was wounded or lost a limb in battle and certainly those who gave their lives," Cottone said. "They are stealing the respect and admiration that belongs to those who have actually served."
The moron tried to fake TWO!!@@
Anyone who's every been a wingman or pointman...can attest to the difficulty of service during a long protracted campaign in that AOR.
And you're "Old Man" is a sage.
I bet there is a damn good story in there somewhere.
There seemed to be a lot of that going on in the 1990's. My own personal experience had to do with a local paper obituary that stated the recently deceased was a career Navy man and Navy SEAL. They listed his awards, one of which was the Navy Cross. I e-mailed the curator of the Navy/Seal Museum in Fort Pierce, FL with the news, knowing, if they didn't already know, they would want to know they had just lost a Navy Cross recipient. There were very few of them in the Vietnam UDT/Navy SEAL units. A day later I get a phone call from the curator of the museum James Watson who informed me he knew all the Navy Cross people in the SEAL teams (from that era) and the guy in the obituary wasn't one of them, in fact hadn't served with the teams. Called the newspaper and spoke to the obituary writer, he was apologetic, told me he had been flummoxed by the family and wanted to know if perhaps he should contact them ... we decided to let it go and not embarrass the family.
Apparently this guy served in the same "sealed records" unit as Kerry.
Stolen Valor is a terrific book and should be read by anyone with an interest in the truth about Vietnam veterans and wannabes.
HAHAHAHAHAHA...good show.
U can pick up a lot of oversized SUUNTO's these days that will do the trick as far as the watch is concerned.
I was speaking metaphorically though, since there are lots of dog fights in bars...
It was Admiral Jeremy Boorda. Chief of Naval Operations. He was about to be `outed' for a single campaign star (or `V' device) on what must have been seven rows of ribbons, by David Hackworth. The day before Hackworth's scheduled TV appearance, Adm. Boorda committed suicide with a .357 magnum.
The paper in the jacket didn't call for the V, but a couple old Boorda lovers came out later saying that it was just a paperwork error. He was also being publicly flogged for the status of the Navy, the Tailhook witch hunt, and women's issues.
For some reason, I think wearing ribbons that have not been earned is a crime. It may be UCMJ though, and not applicable in civilian life.
I just don't know, nor is it a huge issue to me, although I understand why people get mad.
(My paltry few medals were, with much pomp and ceremony, long ago pinned to various beloved stuffed animals, when said stuffed animals were injured by hostile fire from the dog. Probably disrespectful, but they are/were my medals, and my daughters stopped crying.)
I've already admitted my ignorance of the military, does that make me a "winner"?
Honestly, I'm a 4F 62 year old that just doesn't get people faking something like this. It probably starts as a little white lie, trying to get laid. Then somebody introduces you as "Colonel" and you're stuck. Thirty years later you've built this elaborate facade and everybody knows you're an AH.
This is why I always tell the truth and never mention my secret landing on Mars.
Basically anything but "winner"
Earned
Awarded
Honored with
etc.
And if a Marine wants to give you "short gun" inspection, run like hell.
While no record existed of his enlisted record the citation was in a book of Navy Cross citations that the Bureau keeps. The Navy Cross was added to his jacket and BAM he made commander.
You may as well - I can confirm it. I was over on the west side behind some rocks and I saw you land.
Nope! Never!
'Course occasionally if a girl was particularly hot and stupid I might have worked "at an agency whose name I can not tell you".
Worked every time.
I loved that guy. He taught me to read when I was three and left me his library when he died.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.