in the census documents is a number for those falsely claiming Vietnam service. How many fake Vietnam veterans are there? (At other sites, the claim is the 1990 or 2000 CENSUS) I just posted a link with results to the 1995 Census Statistical Abstract of the United States, upon which Beaton claims the statistics resides, and as proven by the Census document itself, there is NO SUCH NUMBER, only the number of living active duty vets during Vietnam. I then told him what Id learned and asked, Did you lie to me?, In a voice that suddenly sounded creaky and 10 years older yet sort of childlike, as though fearing a reprimand he replied, slowly, Yes.. All you need to do is look at the numbers he supplies and his agenda is sort of like mine it annoys me that the fakers are out there spouting their nonsense. What I havent found Marshal Hanson, USNR (Ret.) "Pressure is Vietnam,". In short order, photographer Ken Lyons and I were sitting in the fellows sun-splashed back yard. Last year, he said, 12 Princeton seniors went into the service. "They give me a blank look.". Yandle said he was at the infamous 1968 siege at Khe Sanh, surrounded and attacked for 77 days. Before it was revealed, in 2001, that he spent the war teaching history at West Point, for example, Joseph Ellis was known to lecture his students at Mount Holyoke about his experiences in the vicinity of My Lai at the time of the massacre. Vietnam. In 1932 a German, Oscar Daubmann, turned up in his homeland claiming hed been a French prisoner of war for the previous 16 years after his capture at the 1916 Battle of the Somme. All this relentless research burbles up in Burkett's 692-page book, "Stolen Valor," which he wound up having to publish himself (Verity Press, at its Web site of www.stolenvalor.com) because, he says, all the mainstream publishers he approached were terrified of being sued. How many times do these real FACTS have to be repeated?BTW Kevin, you should do a Google search on The Vietnam Veterans Fund which was closed down only a few months ago by New York for charity fraud, raising $9 million a year, mostly from veterans, but distributing only 2% for charity purposes. There is no hard count of how many people have lied about their military service, but one of the best sources on the topic thinks the number is in the millions. It was endless," he says. The suspicion, however, is that it has probably been around as long as people have been on the planet. I personally believe there are as many American males claiming military service falsely as there are living veterans in America, said B.G. "Lots of people think I'm obsessed, but I'm not," he says, shortly before rushing off to the Xerox machine to make copies of a sheaf of military records. for the last few years I have started asking those wearing the hats where they served in Vietnam. How many Vietnam era veterans are there? In 2003, he addressed a rally in Bridgeport, where about 100 military. They werent. DURING THIS CENSUS COUNT, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. One said he was a doorgunner on a helicopter but didn't know the basic nomenclature, didn't seem to understand the tactics and was a little vague on the units to which he had been assigned. Kristofer Goldsmith, the former chief investigator for the Vietnam Veterans of America, spent years researching how disinformation - including Pro-Trump propaganda - has targeted veterans. Jack Smith, head of the VA's National Center for Stress Recovery in Cleveland, said of the 650 persons treated at his facility in the past two years, just six proved to be fakes. recorded by the census in 1990 and 2000. of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census Heres "It all started when I was shooting my mouth off in bars 35 years ago . much of this other than there were 2.7 million service members who were The number of personnel serving in Vietnam year by year (No. According to a January 1893 article about veterans pensions in Harpers New Monthly Magazine, during a three-year period ending in 1879, out of 4,397 affidavits filed for wartime pensions, 3,084 were false at a cost to the government of more than a half million dollars. with the Bronze Star Medal for actions during my tour in Iraq and I have the 576 (p. 15) has the number of Vietnam era vets as of 1994, listed as 8.246 million. pictures to prove it. And, oh by the way, a Purple Heart and a few other honors earned. SF tourists go in droves to In-N-Out. There is no more to be said. (I will note that this is also a politically driven The VA shows on their site https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf That only 3,403,000 served incountry in Vietnam, and that a total of 8,744,000 served in that era world wide. It starts off simple enough. In 2007 Xavier Alvarez, a member of the Three Valleys Water Board in Claremont, California, was asked during a visit to a neighboring board if he wanted to introduce himself. There are no firm estimates on the number of fake combat vets. 1991: Established that, in Vietnam Veterans, there does not appear to be a causal relation between homelessness and military service, including exposure to combat; . I found out quickly IF I listed military service, early on for jobs, I did not get the job!Its only since 9/11, that I did start seeing 'Nam unit hats!When I see one or a bumper sticker & the vast majority seem to be genuine. I dont think its particularly modern., I cant prove that there were phonies among King Arthurs Knights of the Round Table, Burkett said. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. David -You said, "Kevin, the only reason I waded into this whole 'Stolen Valor' thing to begin with was because you used this Stolen Valor 'statistics' as justification for dismissing most Roswell witnesses, who you said you previously believed. I think you can find fakers very far back, said Bella DePaulo, a visiting professor of social psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who studies the communication of deception. Someone but then remembered that if you set foot in a combat zone even for an hour or Without I had decided that I would address this in a comment rather than a new post so not to annoy those of you Now I see one every six weeks,' said Larry Slessler, head counselor at the Southern Oregon Veterans Outreach Center in Medford, Ore. Burkett, author of the acclaimed 1998 expos Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History. Thats a big number approximately 23.6 million. connection to a census though the connection is not identified. A Department of Defense report suggested that the total number of service members serving during the war was 8,744,000 but this might have included Reserve and National Guard as well as active duty and it also includes the veterans who actually served in country.According to those same DoD figures, 3,403,000 were actually deployed into Southeast Asia, which includes some 700,000 who were not in Vietnam but stationed in Thailand, Guam and the deep water Navy. As a Massachusetts state representative, Royall Switzler portrayed himself as former member of the Army special forces in Vietnam. To date, he says (and a check of court records appears to confirm it), nobody has sued him over the book. In Atlanta, VVA chapter officer Ashe estimates that about 20 percent of the up to 200 men who contacted his group since December, saying they are combat vets and asking for help, were frauds. Foreign Wars (VFW) magazine and from the Reserve Officers Association magazine which But experts say the figure, whatever it might be, is small compared to the tens of thousands of ex-warriors who still suffer emotional wounds from Vietnam and who would rather not even talk about the war. It's not as widespread as it was the first 10-30 years immediately after the war,its still out there. Further, if you bothered to read Beatons statistics, as at this webite below, said to be written by Beaton and Cpt. Im not sure why this has become such an issue here but I Retired The Secrets and Lies of the Vietnam War, Exposed in One Epic Document. This is described as , Statistical Abstract of the United States. I did (it) when I was young and stupid - to impress people.". Nor has military fakery been limited to Americans. "I'd say, 'Well, I'm a Vietnam veteran,' and they'd say, 'but you seem so normal.' In 1983, as the Vietnam Veterans of America was gaining prominence, it was disclosed that one of its spokesman was a fake ex-POW. 5. Seven years later, Chuck and Mary Schantag, whose P.O.W. (Video) A Vietnam Vet. DURING THAT SAME CENSUS COUNT, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country was: 9,492,958. 'Vietnam veterans? Men in period uniforms scrambled across the beach between mock explosions, as the reporter interviewed D-Day veterans who came to watch. since 1980.But AGAIN no 13 to 14 million Vietnam vets based on alleged Census surveys. He was a stateside Marine. claiming Vietnam service who were not there and that there are many claiming Of those who said they were in-country most appear to be fake. I was a Army platoon leader. As were 45 claiming to have been prisoners of war. ALL STATISTICSHAVE NOT BEEN VERIFIEDOR FACT The project, it would turn out, had a profound effect on her. So it becomes The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. This is all based on his say-so with nothing to back it up. Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. that in the 2000 census the number had jumped to 14 million, but again, this Other careers, in a variety of fields, have been damaged by similar disclosures. So now I had a purpose and a system and I decided I was going to create a book, so I started researching the gaps.". Darrow 'Duke' Tully resigned as publisher of the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette newspapers 18 months ago after it was revealed that his claims of having been a combat pilot in Vietnam and Korean wars were false. Network Web site lists U.S. prisoners of war, reviewed all the history project records. census and then to the 2000 census but did not explain this problem. It was much easier to do before. They want to be around real vets,' said Martin. Case in point, and perhaps the one for which Burkett is best known: In the early 1990s, Joseph Yandle, a man serving life without parole in Massachusetts for his part in a murder-robbery, began a campaign, soon picked up by the Boston Globe, to have his sentence commuted. "I think Jug Burkett is doing something truly from the heart and something that is truly important," says Vietnam veteran James Webb, author of the Vietnam War novel "Fields of Fire" and a former secretary of the Navy. Projections also indicate that the veteran population will become slightly younger, with 33% of veterans being younger than 50 in 2046 compared with 27% in 2021, even as the overall U.S. population continues to age. All too often, these suffering "veterans" never set foot in Vietnam and yet, the images they offer have permanently shaped the way Americans view soldiers from this war: As slovenly,. The census count in 1995 apparently But they soon discovered that Maughn was a fake, one who had earlier flim-flammed other vet groups, employers and newspapers. It doesn't seem to exist. For further reading, William McMichael recommends: Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History, by B.G. OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE Vietnam vets are not. (Yes, this is somewhat That in no way suggests dismissing most Roswell witnesses. People are impressed. 'I'm not going to get into that. I called, telling this former Ranger that my guy had claimed to be the assistant platoon leader. But this site also has a political agenda, but since it seems to mirror yours, it is reliable and all the other sites are not.But you might want to look at:http://www.veteranstoday.com/2009/07/08/who-are-the-real-vietnam-vets/And while there is a title that says, THOUSANDS WEARING SERVICE RIBBONS NEVER EARNED IN VIETNAM which sort of reinforces my point of view, there are many things in the article that are wrong. What you see in these big lies and to some extent, in some little lies as well is a yearning, DePaulo said. Burkett's quest for that evidence started in 1986, when he was asked to help raise funds from private donors for the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Sources: "Stolen Valor" by B.G. He was driven out of the group. That launched the financial planner into a new career. He has a weekly caseload of about two dozen real vets. A total of 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam era, with over 2,709,000 Americans serving in Vietnam, about 9.7% of the generation.Vietnam Veterans by State 2022. Vietnam War veterans, and their families, are being invited to this event to be held at the National Mall on May 11, 12, and 13. Since you are so death on fraudulent Roswell witnesses, as you should be, I think you would be equally outraged by phony, clearly fabricated statistics, fraudulent references given in support (U.S. Census), and fraudulent veterans charities taking advantage of veterans. There are many sites devoted to Stolen Valor which had exposed thousands The event will include displays related to the Vietnam War, a jump by the Golden Knights (Army parachuting team . Oddly, his charitable endeavors included involvement with local Vietnam veterans groups, which ended in 1994 when he disappeared, only to resurface years later as a con man. In 2007 the effort snagged eight people who were receiving VA compensation for combat injuries, although none had served in combat and two had never served in the military. But, the former Ranger said, call this other former Ranger down in Pennsylvania; he was in that unit. They lost buddies in Vietnam and are still having difficulty coping with emotions. Did you get drafted, go in the military? Rather than say, No, I avoided the draft, the guy says, I dont like talking about it.Well, I was in the Army. You serve overseas? Yeah, I was in Vietnam. The next thing you know, the guys being asked to join the VFW., DePaulo more or less agreed: You say something, almost as a trial balloon. Khe Sanh was one of the war's bloodiest battles -- hundreds of Marines were killed -- but the only killing Yandle was intimately familiar with was the June 1972 slaying of 65-year-old shopkeeper Joseph Reppucci in a Boston liquor store. Aren't those the guys who are unemployed and on drugs? Some of the statistics being John Martin, a volunteer at at a make-shift POW information center in Washington, D.C., near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, figures he has seen a half-dozen pretenders in the past month alone. I must say I never ever thought anyone would falsely claim to have been in Vietnam. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1395584&mpage=1&key=�. 'Some are desperate. He is back in prison. combat air patrols over Vietnam but all he had done was fly repaired or new IF one was there & received the home coming I did, one would not bother. some study that ran parallel to the census. The Pentagon has no definitive list on who was a POW or even an estimate on how many Americans were in combat. Census is not something that I was able to do. The 2000 census site at www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/censusatlas/pdf/12_military-service.pdf shows the claims rose to 8.4 million Vietnam era Vets. One of the best-known examples was Walter Williams, who claimed to have served in the Confederate army under Gen. John Bell Hood. ", "This was real people dying real deaths. As I say again, the alleged 10+ million Vietnam vet fakers figure, promoted by various Vet organizations and publications, has absolutely no basis in fact, no actual documentation anywhere to support it, certainly not any ACTUAL Census report that has been cited repeatedly as a reference. These Any number of personality flaws might drive someone to fabricate a military background, no matter what their station in life. His story was detailed, yet he under played his role. Between March 1, 2008, and Feb. 25, 2009, the VA investigated 96 cases of stolen valor fraud, according to James ONeill, assistant inspector general for investigations. During the war, more than 58,000 servicemen and women lost their lives. So he found, in his own backyard, Glenna Whitley, a veteran journalist and senior editor at D, a monthly magazine about Dallas and Fort Worth. A military impostor is a person who makes false claims about their military service in civilian life. I'm busy with the 'Convoy to the Wall' that will hopefully help vets put the war in the past,' said Castagna, member of VVA chapter 179. He had seen the occasional stories about Yandle and, unlike others looking into the saga, he had obtained copies of Yandle's military records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. to 14 million number originated, how it was collected, or if it was part of However, veterans groups estimate that today approximately 9 to 12 million Americans fraudulently claim they served in Vietnam. 568 & 569 can be found some statistics on the number of soldiers serving in Vietnam year by year and total number of active duty personnel during the Vietnam era, just as found in other statistical surveys published by the Census Bureau. veterans of which according to other sources, about 2.7 actually served in In 2000, upon hearing that the Library of Congress had launched its Veterans History Project, Burkett asked administrators if they were verifying any of the vets records. Nor was his name actually Daubmann; it was Karl Hummel, and hed taken his new name from a passport retrieved from an old uniform hed bought. People younger than Whitley have, for the most part, only the faintest of clues when it comes to understanding the military, and they don't really care about it anyway. the wording is where everything slides off the rails. Robert Sorensen ended his re-election campaign as a state representative in Connecticut in 1982 when it was disclosed that he lied in a floor debate when he said he was a Vietnam vet. A long time ago, I had at least one case of a World War I guy, claiming a Medal of Honor that hed received.. 'I owe an apology to those who served in Vietnam,' he said. You have extrapolated meaning into somewhat innocuous sentences. Point prevalence of PTSD for Vietnam veterans was 9% in the 1980s and for OIF/OEF veterans was 8% (Richardson, Acierno, Frueh, 2010). this seems to be correct, I cant find anything in the census figures to copies of the VFW magazine or the ROA magazine so that we can see if they A raspy voice inquired: Are you all still collecting D-Day stories? Local community celebrities appear no less prone to telling such tales. Instead the standard Census question on the long form is whether somebody has ever been active duty military and lists multiple war and peace eras, including the Vietnam era from 1964-1975. "What he is trying to do, at considerable risk to himself, is to say that this service means something, and by letting just anyone stand up and claim these honors, you're diminishing the real value of those who did serve. Their overall agenda makes their warning suspicious and Between March 1, 2008, and Feb. 25, 2009, the VA investigated 96 cases of "stolen valor" fraud, according to James O'Neill, assistant inspector general for investigations. Frank Kaufmann provided his discharged documents which we accepted as authentic but later learned that he had forged them. "Man, I was scared to death. "I said no such thing. DePaulo says its not surprising a person already held in high esteem would choose to fabricate a military background. The branch insignia: The branch insignias should match. Regardless of what they thought of you before, theres suddenly more substance to you., The lie often starts modestly, Burkett said. They said, All credit and research to: Capt. 'It tears you up inside to see this sort of thing.'. He said he was a decorated ex-Air Force fighter pilot and former prisoner of war in Vietnam who couldn't get a job. flights over Cuba but that wasnt true either. 01 The Vietnam War lasted almost 20 years. Fakery was reportedly widespread during the Civil War and its long aftermath. He had been a prisoner, but not in Vietnam. He talks too much.'. They range from the one time publisher of a Phoenix newspaper Robert Bateman, who teaches military history at West Point. According to the American War Library, as of February 28, 2019, it is estimated that approximately 610,000 Americans who served in land forces during the Vietnam War or in air missions over Vietnam between 1954 and 1975 are still alive to this day. He was driven out of the group. designed to serve as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a Members of chapter 239 of the Vietnam Veterans of America rushed to his aid. I would expect that number to apply to everything, including number of claimed Vietnam vets or Roswell witnesses. The universal attitude was, 'Why should we give money for these bums?' That came from everybody. guide to other statistical publications and sources both in print and on the Thats eight individuals in the Seattle area, in one bust, said Doug Sterner, a longtime private watchdog who now maintains the Military Times newspapers Hall of Valor database. That is the one common thread., In Burketts mind, most fakers do so because of low self-esteem. In this country, fakers did proliferate following the Vietnam War, according to Burkett. And rather than doing the hard work of actually trying to become that person, they just do a shortcut of claiming to be that person., DePaulo believes that most people who tell such lies probably are doing so consciously. Bob Fazio, chapter president, refuses to discuss if Castagna was a combat vet. That guy, the real Ranger told me, got killed on D-Day. You can find the figures here:https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf Using both the census and the DoD numbers, Navy Captain Scott Beaton conducted a survey for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Fazio, though, praised Castagna for organizing the convoy, which is expected to total thousands of vets when it reaches Washington on July 4. statement. An archive compiled by a national prisoner-of-war. I still get shaky today just thinking about it," Yandle told Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle. Yep, that was my outfit, he said. Prompted by the support of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Weld recommended Yandle's release, and in October 1995, after 23 years behind bars, Yandle walked free. Additionally, the American War Library approximated that around 164,000 Americans who served at . Marshal Hanson (and apparently quoted by every vet site as complete gospel), he provides the U.S. Census as the source, just like everybody else:www.veteranstoday.com/2009/02/26/vietnam-facts-vs-fiction/ Interesting CENSUS STATS and Been There Wanabees: a. Scam artists will try anything, sad to say. Joining is simple and . identified about 1.7 million Vietnam Veterans still alive at the time of the Burkett, Chronicle News Services, Associated Press photos, Unmasking Phony `Vietnam Vets' / Fakes big factor in negative image, Texas author finds, Dubs fans picking apart video of possible Poole-Draymond incident, Bay Area preschool teacher suspected of dumping body along road, Bay Area mom influencer found guilty of lying about kidnapping, More rain, 'unseasonably chilly' temperatures coming to Bay Area, 'Horrible': Oakland rapper dumps on Chase Center Warriors fans, Destructive landslide closes historic California institution, 49ers out in full force at Warriors-Kings Game 7, Sold-out Berkeley crowd gets rowdy at country star's concert, Shock, fear as 2 killings in 3 days rock quiet Davis.
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