Veterans' Web Sites Expose Pseudo Heroes, Phony Honors

Wall Street Journal ^ | 5-6-2005 | AMY CHOZICK

[Cagey]

From the minute FBI Special Agent Thomas A. Cottone Jr. saw Walter K. Carlson, he suspected that something wasn't quite right about the decorated war hero. The two men met at a Washington Township, N.J., funeral service for Marine Second Lt. John Thomas Wroblewski, 25 years old, killed in Iraq in last spring.

"Thousands of people were there, but when that captain walked past me wearing the Navy Cross and a chest full of medals and ribbons," Mr. Cottone says, "I whispered to my friend, something is wrong with that guy."

Mr. Cottone, whose duties at the Federal Bureau of Investigation include investigating military imposters, subsequently followed his hunch, determining, he says, that Mr. Carlson, 59 years old and a local bus dispatcher, didn't earn the medals he was wearing; in fact, Mr. Cottone says, Mr. Carlson never even served in the military. Mr. Carlson declined to comment.

It is illegal under federal law to wear an unauthorized military uniform or unearned decorations. Mr. Carlson was arrested, released on $10,000 bond and ordered to surrender all military materials. A trial was averted when he agreed to a pretrial probation program, says Mr. Cottone.

With patriotism at a high plateau of late, the U.S. military currently receives a level of respect not seen since World War II. Unlike the Vietnam War era, today even those who oppose the war in Iraq profess to be staunch supporters of the men and women who serve there. The heightened admiration has given way to a growing number of military impostors, and in turn sparked an impassioned group of crusaders determined to expose the mock heros who festoon themselves with unearned medals.

[A Simple Soldier]

Well, Pierce has an ENORMOUS burden of proof now.

And if he pulls the "my records are classified" nonsense, he is even stupider than I thought.

On that, you will just have to trust me.

[John Lenin]

[StarCMC]

I AM trusting you guys - you know a lot more than I do about the ins and outs of this stuff. :o)

[Loud Mime]

The only Seal I have personally known was a quiet person whose eyes could melt titanium. He was a man of few words and had an aire of confidence about him that only the wise understood. At one semi-formal event I saw him wearing a very small Silver Star ribbon, you almost had to squint to make it out. Only then did our conversation turn to our time in the service; I didn't know he was a vet.

Once he told me that he greatly respected the British SAS; he "worked" with several of their members once and was quite impressed. Darn, when you impress a Seal, you've done something!

[elcid1970]

Please start with the original book “Stolen Valor” c. 1998. It’s not dated, believe me, and its author got the 2005 Stolen Valor Act enacted into law.