Richard Ortega, real life soup sandwch

| July 5, 2011

Our own AverageNCO emails that he’s been working with our buddy Doug Sterner on outing Richard Ortega and the story appears in the Air Force Times today;

The 88-year-old retired chief master sergeant, in his dress uniform, regales crowds with his memories of fighting on D-Day, flying bombing missions over Korea and serving as a special operator during the Vietnam War. The awards on his coat include two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with ‘V’ devices and seven Purple Hearts.

His daughter, Rachael Ortega Bateman, wrote a book about her father’s service. The title reflects her admiration for him: “My Hero … My Dad: Echoes from the Battlefield.”

According to the National Archives and Records Administration he really did serve in many of the places he claims, but I guess he didn’t think the Army rewarded him properly for his service;

Ortega has six Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars, according to a 2003 article in the Orlando Sentinel. Several newspaper articles from this year put the number of Purple Hearts at seven.

His dress uniform tells another story.

He wears a Silver Star Medal ribbon with an oak leaf cluster, a Bronze Star Medal with valor ribbon with three oak leaf clusters and a Purple Heart ribbon with four oak leaf clusters.

The two Silver Stars do not appear on the personnel record provided by the National Archives and Records Administration.

The article goes on to list several other discrepancies.

Ortega’s service was indeed exemplary, and he didn’t need to embellish his career, but here he is stealing the valor of his fellow warriors. Not only that, but look at how his daughter found out.

Category: Phony soldiers

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Sporkmaster

I do not know why people like this do this. I have a list of people on POW.net that have claimed fake awards and training who have CARs, CIBs, CMBs and Purple Hearts. I am going to make a post on that as how can they not see what it is like to have people fake their awards then why would they do that to someone else.

I just do not get it. If you have these types of awards shouldn’t that be enough?

fm2176

Sporkmaster,

I don’t know why people who have “been there” feel a need to embellish. One would think that a person who has seen combat, and especially one who shed blood, would be satisfied with their respective combat award or Purple Heart. I guess part of it might be a need to somehow justify their contribution in their own head (doubtlessly some of those were given their CIBs, etc or received a PH for a minor scrape, a Silver Star sure does look great with a CIB and PH). In the case of this guy, though, it is obvious that he did contribute to the fight early in his career. Serving in a support role through Korea and Vietnam doesn’t lessen his service. Sadly, he doesn’t feel the same way.

John Curmudgeon

IMO, this is just one step up from telling stories and embellishing the details. People start thinking that people already believe their stories, why not plop a few ribbons on the old Class A.
A coworker of my wife is a complete fat ass and claimed he was a Ranger while he was in the Army. I didn’t really believe him until the company outing was held at the Ritz in Cancun and I saw him with his shirt off in the water. He had a huge Ranger tab tattooed on his shoulder and later that night his wife talked about all the crap he went through when he was a Ranger.

Anyways, too bad this guy decided to be a fucking douche. I’m glad that there are people out their calling people out on their shit. GJ!

Tman

I agree, I just don’t understand why guys like these, who are legitimate heroes in their own right, feel a need to hype up their background and falsify things. Ortega’s real service was plenty good enough, yet apparently not enough in his own mind.

I concur with John it’s probably a ‘progression’ with things building up one on top of the other.

Old Tanker

People like this are the ones that piss me off the most…..the last one you profiled was obviously mentally disturbed and we could laugh him off and have fun with it….this guy knows better and chooses to dishonor the men he served with…..fucking douche bag….

NSOM

This might be one of those siuations which calls for the benefit of the doubt. If I’m understanding this right the dude is the real deal, he just wore an oakleaf instead of two stars on his Silver Star and some other discrepencies. At 88 the dude might just be slipping and messing up his uniform. My grandfather couldn’t even remember his address by the time he was 80.

Anonymous

Sad… don’t have to lie, but he does.

Old Tanker

NSOM

The section, though, didn’t look the same as the section on Ortega’s service record from the National Archives and Records Administration. Bateman’s copy included many more medals and had the Silver Star listing out of the order of precedence and typed in a different font. The official copy lists no Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.

Several of the awards Ortega wears, he pointed out, weren’t issued until after his retirement 41 years ago.

This wasn’t just an extra oak leaf cluster….

Old Tanker

Dude was a legit hero and still felt the need to embelish..

NSOM

re #8

So he forged his paperwork and added Silver Star awards where there were none before? Am I reading that right?

AverageNCO

To NSOM
Sadly you do need to doubt a great deal of the record the Chief and his daughter have been building up over the years. There are news articles going back nearly 10 years with his claims, aside from the medals. Now a lot of these claims have come through reporters or biographies from his speaking engagements, but where did they get their information? Obviously not from official sources, the records don’t match. All the claims come ultimately lead back to the Chief and/or his daughter. Among them: He is the most-highly decorated enlisted Airman during WWII, or the hightest decorated enlsted man in Air Force history(depending on the article); He was part of the unit portrayed in Band of Brothers(even though he landed in a boat, not in a parachute); He held virtually every enlisted aircrew AFSC(MOS) on nearly every type of airframe before he even became a munitions NCO; He served as Chief Master Sergeant OF The Air Force-note that is CMSAF, not just a Chief in the Air Force-it was in an Air Show Biography; Only Audie Murphy was more decorated during World War II; He was hand picked to go on a secret mission to a Pacific Island to install the sights on the Enola Gay(which he has since recanted after reading his own book for a second time, even though he told that story at speeches for years). Folks it’s all out there on line, just google his name. It’s way more than too many devices on a ribbon. As stated earlier, unlike the guy at Fort Benning who obviously has issues, Chief Ortega was one of the top 1% of all enlisted airmen, he knew better. And as far as the getting old part, by all accounts he is still as sharp as tack. Which again means someone who retired in 1970 should know better than wearing a medal for service during Desert Storm…..among others.

Old Tanker

NSOM,

Yes, you’re reading it right…

NSOM

That’s a shame 🙁

Elric

In the Navy at least the guy would have done the honorable thing and off himself. Seriously, nobody deserves that, but he should be punished.

Probably no hope for this lying piece of crap. Stealing is stealing, and he of all people should have known better. They should take all the book money he ever made and make his estate and his daughter donate it to a worthy charity.

Then have him publicly stripped of his ill gotten awards and shuffle the gauntlet of soldiers beating him with their prosthetic limbs.

Andy FMF

Hey, if the man received the awards in the field, then who are we to question him? To borrow a Navy quote, “Damn the paperwork! Full speed ahead.”

AverageNCO

Oh I forgot one more tidbit. According to multiple articles Ortega was nominated by his commander for the Medal of Honor in France. Now depending on the article, either the paperwork was lost in France or, he’s still awaiting a congressional hearing on receiving the MOH. So let’s see: Mysteriously switching units just before D-Day invasion to explain why he’s not on the unit rosters, MOH paperwork goes missing, getting Silver Star mailed in a plain brown envelope with no letter or citation, and suddenly remembering that he wasn’t actually involved with the Enola Gay Bombing mission after giving speeches about it for years…..anyone seeing a pattern of convienient excuses? That’s why we question him Andy…To borrow somebody else’s quote, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Now I would take it a notch down from Elric’s choice of words to describe the Chief. Words like that are reserved for the likes of Mathis, Jessie MacBeth, & Ballduster McSoulpatch. Chief Ortega had a distinguished career that will forever have a big asterisk* by his bio, that he alone is responsible for putting there.

Elric

#16…I agree that’s extreme, but once you start living the lie it extends to all areas of your life. Especially in view of the fact (well my opinion) that there is a disproportionate number of awards given higher ranks. A senior NCO who came up through the ranks ought to be acutely aware of that and be even more sensitive to the damage he has done. He has not only stolen valor from everyone, but has devalued those awards properly earned. The extremely long period of deceit and premeditation sap whatever respect I may have for is actual achievements.

Andy FMF

Probably should have made a notation to insure that my sarcasm was detected.

Re #16. The man’s distinguished career ceased to be distinguished the moment he started lying. Screw him. The sooner he is forgotten, the better this nation will be. People like him are just as reprehensible as McSoulpatch, especially since Ortega served and knew fellow service members that died in the D-Day invasion. He barters for public accolades using their sacrifice as his chips. Again, screw him. I only wish that they would recall him to active duty and give him a big chicken dinner, stripping him of all of his benefits.

DaveO

I’m reminded of MacArthur’s words on old soldiers fading away. To allow succeeding generations their own glory; and to welcome them to the club – whether its the MOH or the NDSM – these are the good things about fading honorably into the mass of veterans.

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[…] Jonn Lilyea says as well these people that are either outright frauds or inflate their service records do more than […]

johnnyonthespot

FYI, to the person who mentioned it before, his book money goes to his church. He does not take anything personally from the profits. There are a lot of things in this article that are incorrect. It’s too bad everyone has jumped on the bandwagon.

Glenn M. Stein

Specifically, what in the Air Force Times article is not correct?

Cadet.

Hey, I know Chief Ortega from first hand experiance and he is as legit as they come. He does so much for the Air Force and especially ROTC cadets even to this day. He drops by the Detachment at least once a week and delivers cookies and treats for the cadets. Other than that I can only say that he is a shining example of USAF core values.

Trust me. If you knew him you wouldn’t be so quick to crucify him. If there were mistakes, then they were unintentional I am sure.

He is an old man who still gives 100% to the Air Force. He IS a hero.

True Blue

GET A CLUE, CADET! Look at the evidence and THINK for yourself.

Hondo

A military professional knows whether or not one has been awarded a particular decoration, Cadet. And someone with Ortega’s seniority (Chief Master Sergeant) knows damn well you just don’t put it on your uniform without proper authority.

The Air Force Times has published its doubts about Ortega, in far more detail than the article above. And those doubts include far more than the issue of his Silver Stars. They start with his accounts of his service at D-Day – which may well be somewhat embellished.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/07/air-force-service-record-doesnt-match-medals-070411w/

Note particularly the little blurb in the AF Times article about Ortega’s daughter submitting an “awards section of his service record” with the Silver Star appearing “out of the order of precedence and typed in a different font.”

The Silver Star isn’t listed his official records at NPRC. From those two pieces of evidence, it sure sounds to me like someone typed it in manually later. And I’m not talking about a clerk at AFPC or NPRC.

The only explanation that IMO excuses this type of behavior is dementia/senility. And from published accounts, that doesn’t exactly seem to be the case with Ortega.

True Blue is correct. Cadet, here you need to disregard your personal feelings; use your own eyes and brain to evaluate the evidence; and make a logical conclusion from same.

Even if it leads to a conclusion that hurts.

johnnyonthespot

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Chief Ortega since 1998. It’s funny to me that you’re willing to judge the guy based on the AIR FORCE TIMES! The guy does more in a week to educate kids about military history than most would in a lifetime. All I can say is that he truly believes what he’s saying and what decorations he received. Take that for what its worth…he’s 88, sleeps 2-3 hours per night. He’s an upstanding member of the central Florida community. Try not to be so judgmental based on some illegitimate “newspaper.” Cheers.

johnnyonthespot

He did, by the way, receive the French version on the Medal of Honor. I was at the presentation.

NHSparky

Johnny–apparently you didn’t read the fucking thread. His awards were quite substantial, but didn’t include a Silver Star. That’s from the National Archives. He’s told stories for decades, only to recant them when he gets caught.

What pisses me off more than the average phony is that he knows better, yet still tries pulling shit like this.

Now go fetch your fucking shine box.

OWB

Assuming the cadet’s hero worship is real – just another example of the true cost of stolen valor.

There are few enough real heroes out there. When one’s hero is shown to be a fraud, it IS tough to swallow. And in this case, so apparently needless.

The man apparently was a real hero. We can only speculate as to why that was not sufficient in his mind. It certainly is in mine.

True Blue

Look johnnyonthespot, I checked into it, and the AIR FORCE TIMES article is based on solid research by several knowledgeable people. In fact, Ortega got off light, as there is a lot more to be said about him.

True Blue

Oh Johnny, what is the “French version on the Medal of Honor”? I’ve never heard of it. And when and where did Ortega receive it?

True Blue

Just found this image of Ortega wearing a ton of miniature medals – several of which he’s not entitled to:
http://www.catinamack.com/dedication.html This website was last updated in June 2011.

Jack

@32 I believe he is referring to France awarding American vets the Legion of Honor a few years ago. They awarded hundreds at the time, maybe thousands, to American vets who served in Europe during World War II.

Do not read too much into that however since France made ALL american vets who served in France, above it or in its territorial waters eligible for the award. It comes in five classes and is an award for civillians as well as military and is nothing like the Medal of Honor. Something like 95,000 have been awarded.

By comparison, the Acheivement Medal with valor V is a loftier award.

This guy is a fake and he knows he is.

True Blue

Thanks Jack. I thought Johnny was indeed referring to the Legion of Honor…further evidence of just how clueless Johnny is about Ortega and his (real and imagined) awards.