Carl John Pequignot; unmasked at last

| April 22, 2012

We wrote about Carl John Pequignot earlier this month here and here. Thanks to Hondo, we’ve been in contact with Vivian Sade at the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, where she has spent weeks researching Pequignot’s records as well as the history of the Second World War Pacific campaign – she did a yeoman’s job of correcting Pequignot’s story after all of these decades in her article entitled “Navy shoots down veteran’s war stories“;

[A]ccording to Navy records, Pequignot was never in battle and never left the U.S. during his military service. There is no official documentation that would indicate he was a POW, and archivists at Truman’s presidential library said they have no record of a meeting. In fact, the name Pequignot does not appear at all.

A convicted thief and bank robber after the war, Pequignot has insisted for years that the Navy lost all of his overseas records. But military records obtained by The Journal Gazette from the National Archives and Records Administration in St. Louis seem to account for almost every day Pequignot was in the service. Nothing in the records corroborates any of his military stories.

Of course, Pequignot complains that the stories he’s told are all true and he’s disappointed that the Navy has turned against him.

Probably not as disappointed as the state senator who pinned a Silver Star on him, a Silver Star for which there seems to be no paperwork anywhere on the planet. Or as disappointed as the veterans’ group that had tried to get Senator Dick Luger’s office to get Pequignot awarded a Medal of Honor. Or as disappointed as all of the folks who believed all of his tales all of these decades to include at least two journalists in the Fort Wayne press who had to walk back their articles about his daring-do. The other reporter was Kevin Leininger of The News-Sentinel.

ADDED: Vivian writes to point out that Pequignot also fooled the Library of Congress, but that they’ve removed the video that we included in the first post we wrote about Pequignot. She also wrote about that this morning in her companion article “Navy vet caught on tape, yet denies the interview“;

In the recording, Pequignot talks about being in a boat when the group hit a mine in November or December 1943. Ten of 14 men were killed. Pequignot and three others survived at sea and were taken as prisoners four days later by a Japanese submarine, he said on tape.

Pequignot does not appear in any of the POW lists for that period which are quite complete, said Jonn Lilyea, a retired infantry platoon sergeant who served in Desert Storm and has a popular military blog, “This ain’t hell, but you can see it from here.”

The 6th Army Ranger Battalion performed a POW rescue in January 1945 at Cabanatuan in the incident made famous in the movie “The Great Raid,” Lilyea said. But in early 1944, the group was being formed to lead an invasion of the Philippine Islands that would not occur for six more months.

Category: Phony soldiers

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NHSparky

And he STILL sticks to the story. Nah, no reason a thief or bank robber wouldn’t be a trustworthy individual.

Uh, Carl? The reason the Navy won’t tell YOUR side is because it’s bullshit. You never left the states. You need to have that Silver Star ripped from your hand as publicly as it was awarded to you. You obviously didn’t learn from your last several stints in jail.

PintoNag

“You can put a grown man on his knees with a whip.” (my grandfather’s saying.)

That is exactly what this scum needs.

Bullnuke

Actually, I’d kinda like to have this guy regale us with stories about his exploits in car theft and bank robbery. His memories about these should be more clear as they occurred much more recently than WWII. And there are probably many records available, signed and witnessed no doubt, to support his Clyde Barrow days. Perhaps even some 8 x 10 glossies with lines,arrows and descriptions on the backs for good visuals.

Marine_7002

Vivian deserves an “attaboy” for following up as thoroughly as she did. I’ll be dropping her a few lines to say so.

Pam

OK, pure civilian here, but didn’t this guy’s credibility disappear somewhere after “a convicted thief and bank robber”?

Just sayin’

Hondo

Ms. Sade: many thanks for helping out here.

Hondo

Addendum: the timeline in the article is exceptionally well done, and lays out the case at a glance.

http://www.jg.net/assets/pdf/JG116097422.PDF

I’d guess Pequignot will have a few things to discuss with his Maker soon enough. Perpetrating this like for decades will IMO be among them.

Hondo

Yeah, that should be “Perpetrating this lie . . . ” in #7 above. Short night’s sleep last night.

Marine_7002

I wrote Ms. Sade, and got a quick reply. I think I’m in love!!!!

She’s the mother of a Marine, she has an old friend who is a Marine Vietnam veteran, and she gets really pissed off at people like Pequignot. And…she plays poker on Sundays with her brothers and her Marine friend!

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[…] Carl John “Hero of Every Pacific Battle of WWII” Pequignot […]

Jeff

#5…Pam…No his credibility went out the window when he claimed to play “hot potato” with a hand grenade and went downhill from there

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[…] “Effects Linger” Dahan v. 11 Robert “72 medals and a dump truck to carry them” Vaughn 7 Carl John “Hero of Every Pacific Battle of WWII” Pequignot v. 10 Joe T. “the T is for Theft by Deception” Joseph 2 Jake “I rethunk whether I was in […]

Green Thumb

Old clown.

C. John Pequignot's Grandchild

My grandfather is a total embarrassment to our entire family. His son, my father, grew up without a father and often had the displeasure of visiting him in the state pen. He and his siblings were total blacksheep of our community. He ruined their childhood and adolescence. The robberies and imprisonment are merely just a thin layer of the trauma he has caused my family. Then, two years ago…this. I would like to tell you all that his descendants are good people. Educated, hard-working individuals with families and much joy. Please remember that if you ever happen upon his children and grandchildren. We have NOTHING to do with this joke of a man who has disgraced our name, and we have chosen to do well and give the Pequignot name something of which to be proud.

OWB

That is the best possible outcome. Thank you for sharing that you are all doing well. Congratulations, and thank you for making the effort to do it.

NHSparky

We are truly sorry for the pain and anguish he has caused for you and your family. You have our heartfelt sympathies and hope you can move on past what he has inflicted upon you.