Elias “John” Mohler; “This may be the biggest fraud in the history of military frauds”
I was privileged to have a ringside seat the other day while some of the biggest names in the Stolen Valor arena discussed the records of John Mohler. Of course, I had nothing of substance to contribute, it was like being invited to sit on Yankees bench, I watched these folks toss around documents and facts that were so over my head, I could only nod and smile. But we all were sworn to secrecy while Mary spoonfed Military.com.
As the master of ceremonies introduced keynote speaker John Mohler — Vietnam combat vet, successful business consultant and official representative of the Defense Department’s Vietnam War Commemoration — Mary Schantag, chairwoman of POW Network, saw looks of concern and disbelief from many in the crowd.
Schantag, who also is an expert on phony war heroes, said the emcee read a portion of Mohler’s biography. “Three Silver Stars, seven Bronze Star Medals for Valor, five Army Commendation Medals for Valor, two Purple Hearts.”
“And that’s when everybody looked at me,”
Mary had reported Mohler to DoD back in 2006, and somehow he got back on their speaking circuit. Of course, Mary was upset because this phony was speaking at a gathering to honor real POWs, and here was a known phony among them.
Next morning, [Mary] confronted Mohler.
“I looked him right in the face and said “I’m going to be your worst nightmare.”
Of course, in the next few weeks, she was getting letters from Mohler’s lawyer asking her what she meant. In the interim, Mohler resigned from his position as a part-time employee of the DoD.
Mohler attributed false stories of a DSC and Green Beret experience to errors and rumors, and has tried to knock them down, [his lawyer, William B. Cummings of Alexandria, Va] said.
“He’s been telling people that he never had [a Distinguished Service Cross], and he’s been doing it for years,” Cummings said. “Sometimes, rumors are hard to get rid of.”
Yeah, it’s always someone else’s fault. Why don’t yo people stop making heroes out of these poor souls?
Basically, it all boils down to the fact that he tampered with his records before he left the active service back in the days when we hand-carried our paper records from station to station the results were this;
But you should read the whole article at Military.com and you’ll see why I was really out of my league in that crowd.
I added some documentation below the jump;
The second paragraph explains what happened to the DSC;
But here it is in his records;
And the orders;
And a Silver Star for good measure;
Category: Phony soldiers
This turd needs to jump right to the Fecal Four next year
Now I will say this about that–if he’s taking money from Unca Shuga for his lies, then they’ll hammer his dick flat for it. Seems da gub’mint is okay with ripping you off to pay for layabouts, but lying about your service to get set asides or preferential treatment, well…right, Phil Monkress? (Google hit!)
A lobbying firm? Really?
Turds.
Links don’t work. You need to remove “UebAgeQbGXw.facebook” from the URL address.
Fixed the links. Thanks.
“Mohler attributed false stories of a DSC and Green Beret experience to errors and rumors, and has tried to knock them down, [his lawyer, William B. Cummings of Alexandria, Va] said.”
Hey William B. Cummings, splain this to the public:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/18846
Scroll down until you hit the part where it says: 5th Special Forces
This is the The Library of Congress >> American Folklife Center, Elias John Mohler Collection
Want to bet the Elias John Mohler told the interviewer, Jennifer Jackson that he did in fact serve in the 5th Special Forces, or as an attorney, do you think that MS. Jackson just threw that in there cause it looked good?
Mohler is a lying scumbag and has now been exposed as such, and you William B. Cummings are an idiot, but a credit to your profession.
Holy Hannah! That’s quite a summary at military.com
“Personal” carrier, eh? The same mistake twice, a year apart, eh? Coincidence, I’m sure.
Yeah. diplomats get paid to lie for their country and lawyers get paid to do so for their clients. That’s the way it is.
When you start the fakers Hall of Fame, Mohler is surely one of the first ones inducted.
Remember James Ferris from the KWVA? DOD Korean War 6oth Anniversary took him around the country to speak at West Point, ride on the DOD Rose Bowl Float, and speak at Arlington Cemetery. Korea was on the DOD tour with Ferris.
DOD simply can’t figure out how to check out these folks before they send them off to represent the Department of Defense. This makes no sense since but it what it is.
Unreal.
You can’t make this stuff up, DAMN!!
But But I did not hurt anybody, and the DOD just would have wasted that money on a REAL Combat HERO. I was just taking a job that American Grunts would not do.
Interesting. Per his assignments, the only times he could possibly have been in Vietnam appears to have been Dec 1964 through Nov 1966 or between 7 Jun 1969 and 3 Jun 1970. He’s apparently claiming service in Vietnam during that first period as well, but doesn’t seem to have any personal decorations from that tour. Hmmm.
He must have been one helluva guy to do all of that (a minimum of 2 SSs, 1 PH, 4 BSMs, and a couple of ARCOMS) in a year – truly a legend.
A legend? Yeah. Looks like he was indeed a legend, all right – in his own mind.
Sheesh. The guy freaking served honorably in combat. Isn’t that enough? Did he really have to be the 2nd coming of Audie Murphy?
I really hate to say this. But now I’m starting to wonder how often crap like this really happened during the days when people hand-carried their MPRJ and Pay Records with them to their next duty station. I’d like to believe this was the only guy who pulled this stunt. I simply can’t.
http://www.1stbattalion9thmarinesfirebase.net/LarryGugle.htm Puts me in mind of this ass-clown. He doctored the dog-shit out of his records, even extending his service by 2 years to put him in the Vietnam era. Got busted from 1st Sgt to Gunnery Sergeant and shown the door at 20.
Less then 10 years later he shows up saying hes a retired Sgt Major, claiming the same awards and wheedling his way into a Veterans organization.
History repeating itself.
So what’s the deal with the DSC? Was it actually awarded (erroneously) and then rescinded or did he make up the whole thing? It looks like he had a 13 series MOS in Vietnam, so it’s not impossible for him to have been in serious combat.
I served with John Mohler in June 1969 with Co C 4/23.
It’s sad … According to his sergeant in Vietnam, it sure sounds like the guy was once a good soldier with a record anyone would be proud of. How many Soldiers earn ONE Silver Star? Why the hell did he have to have THREE?
Sad, sick, sucktastic.
68W58: Dunno for sure. However, the Military.Com article says that none of the still-living folks from F/75th Inf who were in Vietnam at the time can recall him serving with them or find any record of his being assigned to the unit. Plus, there’s the matter of the errors in the citation. (An armored “Personal carrier”? Really? Nobody caught that on a citation for the DSC, for crying out loud? And would solders in a freaking Ranger unit in Vietnam even have APCs?)
I can’t say for sure, but I think I know the “smart money” bet on whether or not the citation is a fake.
Hondo: 4-23 Inf was a mech battalion and was equipped with M-113s. It sounds like Mohler was actually assigned to 4-23, and NOT to F/75. I think he made up the whole shit about F/75 to make himself to be an ever bigger war hero.
My military career was less than stellar, but it was honest and I never screwed any one over. I tried to see that those under my responsibility were treated fairly.
That’s good enough for me.
Combat Historian: that would be my guess as well.
I swear, guys like this nearly make me “lose my religion” – in the old, Southern sense of the phrase. He obviously served in combat, and served there admirably. Hell, one of his Silver Stars could well be legit; ditto one or both PHs and some of his other decorations. (Ain’t buying the Silver Star citation in the second orders without proof, though. C’mon – “casualties in personal and equipment” and “burms“? In a citation for the Silver Star? Really?)
But it appears reality wasn’t good enough, and he had to fake things.
“Karma, she can be a beyoch.”
@18, 4-23 deployed with us to Iraq in 2005 as part of the 172nd SBCT. The Soldiers I knew from that unit would feel ashamed that this guy once served in their unit.
@ 65W58,
We’re certain DSC was forged by Mohler along with a few other awards and then “found it’s way” into his military file while he was in between assignments. Riddle me this, if you were the commander that wrote up a guy for a DSC, and you made a mistake would you not fix that mistake and do another one? And for one second if it was real don’t you think Mohler would be all over the DoD to make it right?
Fraud Rule # 1
Never Never Never tell military award lies while Mary Scahntag is in the same room……
Did they not have the spelling/grammar Nazis working in S-1 back in the day?
I really hate to say this. But now I’m starting to wonder how often crap like this really happened during the days when people hand-carried their MPRJ and Pay Records with them to their next duty station. I’d like to believe this was the only guy who pulled this stunt. I simply can’t.
I do believe a duplicate master file was kept separately and was shipped to the next duty station ahead of a troops movement, Hondo. Big Army was real huge on triplicates of everything back then. Since he had fairly easy access to his 201 and I agree, he could beef it up or slim it down when questioned about a specific item as long as the paperwork didn’t make it to the master file. When I see copies of those posted here and there is white out and handwriting in any of the blocks, I am suspect of the information on it immediately.
Pay records? Um, only a real fool would tamper with pay records. Otherwise, your butt would be sitting in front of an IG & CID and whomever else answering questions. Signs and wonders, huh?
Jeff Hinton-thanks. It wasn’t clear to me because the letter from NPRC said it was rescinded due to division not having approval authority for that award, which is probably true in and of itself (an award that high would have to be approved by higher headquarters), but unclear as to whether he actually did the stuff in the citation and it was some sort of admin error. Everything else you said makes sense though, thanks for clearing that up.
@ Jeff Hinton. The commander would had to have made note of it in his daily reports and those were forwarded to BHQ then division. Not an expert on it but NARA would or should have copies of those records too.
Lilyea? Quit being Mr. Modest, you wouldn’t have been invited to the party if you weren’t someone worthy of invitation. They could have invited Bill “ASSASSIN” Perry ya know. 😉
Usually, the guys that fake the funk during hand-carry get caught by the dates…then it all comes unravelled. We caught one when I was the S-1, and he dropped his packet for the E-6 board. My PSNCO was a prior infantryman, wounded in Grenada and forced to reclass to get to 20 years; he noticed, first, that the guy’s Ranger course dates conflicted with his tank-turret repair course. Then, his academic eval from Ranger school had the leadership block checked as “not evaluated.” Then the rest all came apart when we called airborne school, the university he supposedly attended, etc.
Field Grade article 15, chaptered.
If he did this while on active duty – does UCMJ now come into play? And he seems to have DoD connections? Fraud on contracts if he used the bogus military records to get the contracts? And DoD didn’t see anything wrong with the record when they saw it in 2006? WTF!
Scratching my head on the master file point during hand carry days. I hand carried in 78, don’t know if there was a master, but I didn’t dare try any monkey business. Beyond ethical considerations and not wanting to get booted out, too many things needed to align; 2-1 entry, orders, citation, etc.
I think Finance records were backed up, and at that point direct deposit wasn’t mandatory and there weren’t nationwide banks, so paychecks would take forever to catch up and get to the correct address after a PCS.
#28 Justwondering,
They would have to recall him to active duty, i think, for the UCMJ to work. Not likely.
More likely would be him popping on the list of contractors never to be hired again.
And, of course, forever Google fame on the internet for this.
This guy is a royal douchebag.
Clown.
turd
Douchetard.
Asstornado!
Phildo’s brother from another mother.