Robert Lotzgesell; stolen valor, stolen gratitude
From our buddies Doug Sterner and Mary comes the tale of Robert Lotzgesell, who claimed that he served in World War II and Korea. As a result, he was taken on a boatride at an annual event sponsored by local businesses called Honor Our Military Patriotic Boat Parade. Lotzgesell was featured in the local paper.
A former U.S. Marine who was stationed in the Pacific during World War II, Robert Lotzgesell earned several medals, including the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Silver Star.
The Buffalo resident proudly clutched those medals Saturday morning as he rode aboard the Madam Carroll on Lake Freeman — part of the ninth annual Honor Our Military Patriotic Boat Parade.
Held to coincide with Independence Day weekend, this year’s parade recognized Purple Heart recipients and World War II veterans.
That’s all well and good except that Lotzgesell is neither. According to his records, Lotzgesell was born in 1930, so if he went off to World War II on the last day of that war, he was 15 years old. According to his FOIA, he joined the Marines in 1947, he was discharged in 1949 and enlisted again in Oct, 1950 and discharged 6 months later, clawing his way up the rank ladder to Private;
“It’s fabulous, them putting this together for us,” he said. “In October, I got to go on the Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial, and that was fabulous also. They do a fantastic job.”
So not only did Lotzgesell steal a seat on the boat ride from a real WWII veteran, he stole a seat on an Honor Flight to DC. He must’ve been really ate-the-Hell-up to be tossed out of the Corps in 1951 since the Marines were sending recruits to Korea without any basic training.
Doug and Mary have already notified the reporter.
Category: Phony soldiers
Apparently someone missed the core value, leadership and integrity classes.
Or someone just didn’t give a damn…
Wow. Sad case right there.
But he heard every WWII war story from the Marines that did go to war…That’s nearly the same thing as actually being there, right?
On the one hand, it sucks that you have to call out someone old enough to be my grandfather, but on the other hand, people like this are definitely old enough to know better.
Now I’m just waiting to hear him prattle on about “the records lost in the fire” crap.
I kinda wish one of my late uncles was still around to confront this ass.
That uncle actually was entitled to the three combat decorations this tool claims (dunno if he ever applied for his Bronze Star, but he was an infantryman in World War II and qualified for the CIB – so he technically rated it). He paid a pretty heavy price to get one of them, too. He was way too close to the impact point of a German shell in the Ardennes and damn near didn’t come home.
As for this lying bastard? Screw him.
Six months in his second hitch, discharged as an E-1 private. Yeah, I think ya’ll see me workin here.
In a warped sorta way I can understand the shame of almost serving while others died as you couldn’t hack it. That shame must be a horrible feeling. But 60 years is plenty of time to get over it without lying.
Same thought here, NHSparky. I’m thinking courts-martial and punitive discharge – or maybe one of the old “blue ticket” undesirable discharges. (Not all of those were for homosexuality).
At least the boat wasn’t hit by a train, and no body lost their leg.
Turd.
My father was born in 1921 and was a young guy during the war. This faker, born in 1930, needs to be publicly shamed, embarrassed and humiliated; all while the reporter that bought his story without fact checking it is standing beside him.
Is it so outrageous to expect someone to do the job that they’ve taken on? Hell, a ditch digger is expected to dig straight and at the needed depth. A painter is expected to paint the area required in the fashion suitable for the need. But expect a journalist to use basic journalism technique is asking too much. That makes them posers in their own right because a legitimate journalist would conduct him/her self properly.
Honor flights are pretty big here and cost a great deal of money that is raised by the community to allow the “Greatest Generation” a chance to see DC and the Memorial(s).
Fuck this sorry sack of shit.
I wonder how many other things he’s stolen from real vets…..dick….
OT–might explain the E-1 after 6 months in a time of war discharge.
Someone should speak to him about it. And then tell the reporter that fictitious stories are called NOVELS, not journalism.
At this rate, we’ll soon have to start doing an SV Tournament twice a year!!
What a TURD!!!
He must have been a real shit bird,my dad served in Korea,and he told me that they were taking anyone with a pulse.
“The Marines were sending recruits to Korea without any basic training.”
Amazing,,, and true. This happened frequently with reserve units. Someone would join and start drilling with the unit while waiting to go to boot camp. When the unit got activated for Korea, they were shipped out with it. One of the biggest ( and false rumors) that would go out among the Marines was that they were going to send the guys back to go to Boot Camp.
It’s about the only instance when someone earned the title without going to boot.
This shit-sack needs to be publicly outed in his home town.
Do you guys just run fioa against new articles?
@18 – Anon.. Say what?
@18 – you got something against running fioa?
@18, practically everyone exposed here has an FOIA posted on the thread that blasts them.
There are a few that don’t and those are usually people who there is no ID on, and get photographed wearing a uniform that is just completely jacked up.
Probably one of those Pansie growing Marines.
Anonymous (18): “run fioa”? Did you mean “Fiona” – the female character from “Burn Notice?” If I recall correctly, I’ve seen her running in some scenes in that show.
@Hondo. And what a beautiful sight that is. Gabrielle Anwar is certainly easy on the eye. Sad that this is the final season of Burn Notice. It’s one of the few TV shows I like.
Here is a picture of him wearing a Silver Star and a Purple Heart in another newspaper article where he claims to have joined the Marines at the age of 14 in 1944:
http://www.newsbug.info/content/tncms/assets/v3/eedition/d/4f/d4f5bfde-5507-5517-88b3-d0f3b6db7159/5077920b4e786.flash.swf
Shoddy journalism at its best.