'Band of Brothers' American World War 2 hero exposed as a fraud | Mail Online

Despicable!

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“The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't.” - General Jimmy Doolittle

That is truly awful, he should be ashamed of himself

Shameful.

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

very sad, but for some reason not totally a surprise. My own Dad hardly ever talked about his time in Transport Command as an enlisted pilot (Blue Pickle) flying C-47s out of Greenham Common. He and three of his high school friends all had their civilian pilots licenses before Pearl Harbor even happend.

They drove nearly a hundred and fifty miles, over dirt roads to get to the only "recruiting station" in Montana at the time by mid-week. When they got there they waited in line for another day to get through the system and with their pilot's licences in hand were sent into the then Army Air Corps as enlisted men. He was too tall for the fighters of the moment, but discovered he had an aptitude for multiple engines. That is how he ended up in Transport Command flying C-47s. But I digress.

One of the three guys who enlisted that day was killed in a training accident without ever going overseas. The other guy was found to be "color blind", and disqualified as a pilot in the USAAC (F). He later was transferred to the supply side, and became an expeditor (sp?) extrodinare of parts and other supplies, where he earned multiple awards, ribbons and increases in rank.

When Dad returned to the US, and Montana in specific he went to our hometown VFW club one time, and one time only. There sat his buddy who had been disqualified from flying, spent his entire service time in supply, sitting at the bar "bragging" about his combat missions.

Dad didn't "out" him, he just never went to the VFW in our home town again. He and Keith remained great friends for decades, they just never talked about WW2 and Army Air again (to my knowledge).

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Happy Trails,
Clint.

Hmmm.
I thought the 101st were the screaming eagles....

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'We march. The enemy is retreating in transport. We follow on foot.' Lt.Neil McCallum 5/7 Gordons 19th November 1942

There are bound to be more rotten apples. Always has been, always will be.

What is worse is the constant bickering we have, over who was best or rubbish.

A true veteran dosen't brag or tell tales, rarely tell own experiences at all. For those who have set foot on the field of battle have been changed forever. The smells and sights. The sheer brutal inhumanity of war is no bragging matter.

Anyone who sits with a pint and roars about his exploits should be attracting some flashing lights and ringing bells.

In december 2007 I was foretunate to sit down with the Linge Club. The men who foiled the Norsk Hydro heavy waterplant among other things. They would tell about the raids in a softspoken manner, but mostly about how young stupid and damn luck they had been. A memory I will allways treasure.

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'We march. The enemy is retreating in transport. We follow on foot.' Lt.Neil McCallum 5/7 Gordons 19th November 1942

As awful as it is, I think I can understand what drives men to do things like this. It is just that they were so close to doing the things they claim they did. They almost dropped into Normandy, they almost flew in combat missions. And seeing their peers talk about their experiences and knowing they were so close to having their own, they lie. They lie to a point where they almost trick themsleves into thinking they did the things they say they did.

I have actually done this. When I was about 8 I was given the choice of going to Paris for a week or staying with my grandparents for a week. At the time staying at my grandparents for a whole week was probably the funnest thing I could imagine, so I chose not to go to Paris. However, sometimes when people ask me if I have been to Paris is just say yes. I figure that I have been to Europe three other times, I had a layover in Paris once, and I at one point could have gone. Now I don't do this all the time, but sometimes if people just ask me if I have ever been to Europe I almost tell them I have been to Paris, I have almost tricked my mind into thinking I have.

Mabye I am just crazy.

But to be clear, what the man in this article did is dispicable

I agree, Jaeger. In the 45 years my father lived after the end of WW2, I never heard him talk about his combat experience with anyone other than the guys in his unit that came to reunions. He never bragged, nor did he share his time there with his family. It has only been in the last 10 years that I have been able to piece together his service.

Braggarts should always be approached with caution.

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"Faint heart never won fair maiden", so I say "Go for it!"

Lou

in a way i fell sorry for this guy.....i dont agree with what he did at all, it's just sad really

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All the Best,

Andy

There's this crazed Desert Storm veteran (corporal, combat engineer) that posted on a politics board a few years back..he couldn't make three posts about Iraq/Afghanistan without talking about his 3-week service there and posting images of his service medals for participation. That's somewhat OK, but he was pulling this stuff on officers (one with the Silver Star) and NCOs who had been in Iraq War II for two, three years or more. And he was attacking them..

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Best World War 2 Comics

Great discussion here... When I think of this topic, PRIDE comes to mind. Pride and the desire to be accepted by people. In no way shape or form what this man has done is right, but perhaps the reason for his actions goes much deeper that we can see. I mean... this man clearly has some wounds, emotional wounds. Maybe as a kid, or young adult. Jag - I can relate to your response... I feel I have done the same thing in the past, but cannot recall at this time. Clint - Your Father is a good man... many would have ripped him a new one.

Mark

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I approached everything, my job, my family, my romances, with intensity... Gene Tierney

It's one thing to stretch a tale or spin a yarn; but, this guy takes the cake.

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"Logos, Philos, Arete"

Its sad that he wasn't satisfied with his own service. Its sad that he felt that he had to make up this story in order to be accepted (I can only guess this is the reason)

He has insulted what every Airborne trooper did on D-Day and throughout the war. Not only the guys that are still here to talk about it and are even here to see this article but mostly he has insulted the guys that died over there. It's a terrible shame that a man of his age and with a military background and service felt like he had to live a lie like that. I don't know how he could stand with the other paratrooper vets and receive that award. I just don't understand that mentality. Its one thing to lie about it but its totally different when you stand right next to guys that did what you claimed you had done when you were in fact sitting back at a supply depot the whole war. Not to say that being at the supply depot was a bad thing, it takes all the gears to move a clock.

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That is a real shame. His service in any unit, combat or non-combat, was something to be proud of -- a shame he had to embellish it.

That's a sad little man. I feel sorry for him.

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Scott

This sort of thing is nothing new. There are alot of phoneys out there that pretend to be veterans, lie about their serivce, etc. The book Stolen Valor was one man's effort to expose the multitude of Vietnam era veterans and non-veterans lying about their service. His efforts took some unexpected twists and included exposing Shelby Stanton as a veteran who was lying about his service and who had likely stolen great amounts of primary documents from the National Archives. That's why you don't see any new works from him.

No man should ever have to or feel that what they did for their country in a time of war was meaningless that they would go about and create a fictional story to tell others, sure a lot have seen battle, but no mans job was unimportant.

Sad to hear that the newspaper company would go out of their way to research this mans military history, and i feel sorry that he spent part of his life lying, i would salute him if he was the militarys boot cleaner, or brass cleaner, he had a job to do and did it to the fullest and he should have been proud to say that.

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You were a rotten pilot when we flew in Russia you're flying a desk now but you're still a rotten pilot!

I saw the guy in a program on Discovery or the Military Channel. I am surprised that none of the other Veterans who were in the same program had anything to say about the phantom Paratrooper.
Good thing there are so many real heroes! Actually, I feel sorry for the old guy and only wonder what motivated him to do that. Every Veteran is always welcome in Normandy.

An amusing tidbit about this article is the fact that the top photograph was swapped this morning for a "sillier" picture of the man.

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Best World War 2 Comics

hearing that disgusts me

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at the end of the night i wont be reaching for the brass ring i'll be reaching for your wwe championship
jeff hardy

haha!! just saw that. Good observation wolfy

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I approached everything, my job, my family, my romances, with intensity... Gene Tierney

They've edited that out now, did you point out their error to them?

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I wont comment on this particular vet but it seems he may have had his own reasons and i wont condemn or try to ubderstand but i will comment on my own garndfather and original 39er. he never told war stories as such but just the funny side of his militery service and the mateship he had right up til his death in 98. like the fact he thought it was extremely funny that he was in the 2nd A.I.F(infantry) and was sunk twice by german U-boats

Hahahahaha

A supply dump...

xD

MastahCheef117 in the US Army a job is a job and no one should feel any other way but proud that they served their country even if its shoveling fecal matter, it may not be as "glorious" as a paratrooper jumping into holland, or fighting the enemy in france, but its something he shouldn't have felt that he had to make up some story for people to accept his years of service.

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You were a rotten pilot when we flew in Russia you're flying a desk now but you're still a rotten pilot!