Stolen Valor clown
Bill Wenzel, once a post commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8036, pleaded guilty to altering his DD214 and got off with 50 hours of community service;
On Wenzel’s military discharge papers, known as DD-214, additional merits and awards were typed onto the form with a different typewriter than had been used for the rest of the form, according to the anonymous whistleblowers.
According to his DD-214, Wenzel was stationed in Okinawa, Japan in 1972 and worked in a warehouse, where he supposedly earned two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and, one of the most coveted military medals, a Silver Star.
That must’ve been one tough warehouse.
Our friends at GlockTalk wrote last year that the controversy pretty much destroyed Wenzel’s VFW Post;
Wenzel was asked by one of his detractors to bring his medals into the post and Wenzel reportedly has not shown his face since.
These allegations have resulted in some VFW members being physically assaulted and some members quitting the post, citing a desire not to be a part of a “dishonest organization.”
Wenzel’s detractors claim his DD-214 is an obvious forgery: different type fonts, with his training as a warehouseman stationed in Okinawa, Japan in 1972 not consistent with his decorations. And the form is signed by the same lieutenant colonel who signed another DD-214 form from another Post 8036 member. However, the two men were discharged years and miles apart.
When a whistle-blower at Post 8036 showed what he called the obvious forgery to the post commander, the person was demoted and kicked out of the post while Wenzel was promoted, again.
But there are no victims of Stolen Valor and Shame on those guys who were suppressing his right to be a bald-faced liar.
Category: Phony soldiers
Aw, cut the guy some slack. He probably fought on Iwo during that time. I’m guessing here.
I’d like to point out for our Stolen Valor researchers that many DD-214s are being signed by GS-level workers now not O5’s or Brigadier Generals. That should be a big red flag if you see one that is dated from the last maybe 7-10 years.
My 19801 DD-214 was signed by a 1LT, the “AGC ASST. ADJUTANT,” whomever that might have been. I had to pull the original, all the copies I have make the signature line darn near unreadable.
I’ve had Specialists sign both of mine the two times I left active duty for the reserves.
I’ve got a GS that signed mine. I SUPPOSE with computers and such it would be mighty easy to fake awards, and DD-214’s, that’s why I kept my “I love me” book, with ALL my orders and awards since the day I swore in at MEPS.
That’s a good idea, Doc, I should put all that stuff in a book, too, for my kids if nothing else. Except for the DD-214 and NG discharge papers, all that stuff is just dumped in a box, and all my old insignia in another small box. Somewhere. A thought occurred to me about some of these fakers, you know how you see so many of them wearing the full size medals, a la Soviet WWII vets? All my “gongs” are still in the original boxes, and I don’t think I ever once took them out of them. I never had a set of dress blues to wear them on, and the only guys I remember ever wearing them was the 3rd Infantry at Arlington.
Did I miss it? What branch of the service was this lying POS in?
John the Baptist,
I’ve only known one married couple who wear full-size medals on their blues. I’ve only worn them once since leaving the 3rd Infantry Regiment and even there the medals are only worn for ceremonies and funerals (Ceremonial Blues) while ribbons are worn for the TOG ball and usher/door opener details (Personal Blues).
The “I Love Me” book is a great thing to have. I spent the first few years of my career with papers strewn about in various places. In the past few years I’ve created a couple of books. One has enlistment and reenlistment contracts as well as other paperwork. The other has my ERB in it: awards, orders, training, etc.
Hey Fm2176, as a former member of the 3rd infantry regiment, out of curiousity let me ask you something. I remember reading(I think) awhile back, about individual battalions doing deployments. Since the entire regiment didn’t deploy, what did they do, opcon to another brigade or task force? Do they still deploy?
Having investigated frauds/forgeries for several years now it is common to see names replaced on DD-214’s that have been stolen, the whiting out of type and typing in of new type in a different size font as discussed here and then both being photo copied in attempts to cover up the evidence but never successfully achieving matching fonts on line with the rest of the type. But the most frustrating thing of all is getting agencies like the VA, Department of Motor Vehicles and others to prosecute an individual even when you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the individual has foraged/altered their DD-214 for personal gain such as medical services or a military license plate like the Purple Heart or POW Plate. This makes us researchers feel powerless especially so after the 6th Supreme Court deemed the Stolen Valor Act illegal!