Marine fakers and the Marine who took them down

Farewell, Chuck Shantag, true hero, Vietnam veteran and champion of the Stolen Valor cause. You will be missed!

From militarytimes

By the end of this week, this picture had circulated widely, and all I could think of was Chuck Schantag, a retired Marine infantryman whose mission was to expose people like this.

This  “Marine-SEAL-EOD master gunnery sergeant,” a man of fantasy who has not yet been identified by name, has been called plenty of names by those who’ve sen the picture. Troops, supporters of troops and probably even some hippies are incensed.

He’s wearing almost every ribbon in the inventory including World War II, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a Navy Cross, a SEAL trident, the EOD “crab,” an aiguillette, marksmanship badges, an aviator badge, etc., etc.

Thousands of impostors like this have been exposed by P.O.W. Network, a web site launched in 1989 by Chuck Schantag and the woman he would marry four years later, Mary.

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