HARKER HEIGHTS – About two dozen members and guests of the Armed Forces E9 Association, Inc. gathered at the association's national headquarters Saturday to hear Mary Schantag of the P.O.W. Network of Skidmore, Mo., talk about the 3,400 names they've confirmed as fraudulent claimants of high military medals or disabled or prisoner-of-war status, or all three.
"We've determined that 30 percent of the people listed as Medal of Honor winners never received the medal," she said. "In all, 20 to 40 percent of all military records showing honors or qualifications for special government assistance are fraudulent. It breaks the law to make fraudulent claims and breaks others to use them to gain benefits, but the FBI and federal courts are overloaded with drug and violent crimes, so most people get away with this."
....She lauded U.S. House Resolution 3769, introduced by Rep. John Salazar of Colorado and co-sponsors to mandate a searchable database of military decorations and promoted the use of the SF-180, which service personnel or veterans can sign to authorize investigations of claims about their service.
Schantag said, "We're not talking about guys just telling stories in a bar. We're talking about people cheating the government and the public out of millions of dollars and cheating legitimate veterans by using up money and time. They speak in our schools and churches, and if their names aren't removed from records, then historical documents are 0."
