It’s easy to fool fools
The article started with a tear-jerking story about a soldier foresaken by his country…reporters love that shit;
“Sir, I served honorably for this country. I gave blood for this country. And I lived in a hell hole as a prisoner of war for this country,” he told me, fighting back emotions. “But my government doesn’t care about me, and I’m tired of getting crapped on and forgotten about.”
Pagell, who turns 69 next week, served four tours in Vietnam as a U.S. Army cardiovascular nurse, first arriving in 1961.
On June 6, 1964, he was captured by the Viet Cong and imprisoned in a cage that was 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet. There, for “26 months, 12 days, 14 hours and 23 minutes,” Pagell lived, cried, urinated, defecated, yelled, laughed and questioned God’s existence.
“I cried out to God for his angel of death to come take me home,” he recalled in vivid detail.
The angel of death should have taken him at that moment – and the reporter, Jerry Davich, for good measure. He was lying, Jerome Pagell, had never left the country during his service…but that wasn’t what the forged documents he gave Jerry Davich said. The reporter, in his follow-up mea culpa article quoted the local VFW commander;
“This man should be charged with the Stolen Valor Act and made to apologize to real veterans,” [Earl McDowell, District 1 commander for the state’s Veterans of Foreign Wars] told me afterward.
McDowell first met Pagell last year to discuss his issues with Veterans Affairs and the U.S. government.
“He told me he had attained the rank of major in the Army, but could only produce a DD-214 that showed he was a private first class,” McDowell said. “His records do not indicate any overseas time.”
So how is this the reporter’s fault? He probably didn’t recognize the forgeries as such and probably shouldn’t be expected to spot forgeries, but he checked the DoD’s POW database and couldn’t find Pagell’s name. Jerry Davich accepts responsibility for that, however, Davich was looking for a way to indict Veterans Affairs and the military for screwing this fraud, and no lack of proof was going to stop him.
Category: Media, Phony soldiers
WTF!?!?
On June 6, 1964, he was captured by the Viet Cong and imprisoned in a cage that was 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet. There, for “26 months, 12 days, 14 hours and 23 minutes,” Pagell lived, cried, urinated, defecated, yelled, laughed and questioned God’s existence.
“I cried out to God for his angel of death to come take me home,” he recalled in vivid detail.
But the angel of death never came. He finally was discovered and released by the Swiss in August 1966.”
cough”bullshit”cough The VC weren’t going to give up an Army officer to the Swiss. He would have been marched to Hanoi and put up in the Hilton.
This guy watched Deer Hunter one too many times.
“This man should be charged with the Stolen Valor Act and made to apologize to real veterans,”
This man should get monkey stomped! Its bad enough that we have a public that doesn’t understand what it means to be a Soldier, but then you have this jack ass reinforcing all the negative stereotypes about being an SM!
“His live-in adult grandson defended his claims, telling Utley that all the paperwork proving his grandfather’s POW status was burned long ago.”
“I have the records” – check
“Correct records were lost in a fire” – check
I believe the next stage is “I was specops and my records are classified”.
Another day, another douche.
And of course we see the meme of the MSM played out yet again, that of, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
Or just one that pushes their agenda.
Jerry Davich did a good thing and should be commended – not for his ignorance, but for manning up to being duped.
He should have been more skeptical of the claim of a 3x3x3 cell for a period of “26 months, 12 days, 14 hours and 23 minutes”: blood clots, and his exactitude of the amount of time. Usually valuables were taken from POW, or did he watch Christopher Walken’s scene from “Pulp Fiction” just a bit too much.
Questions:
1. What is a “U.S. Army cardiovascular nurse?” An RN, LPN, LVN, CNA?
2. Wouldn’t there be some record of professional education included in the individual’s record, which would also indicate rank/grade?
I love the line ” HOW IS IT THE REPORTERS FAULT?”.
He didnt know Sh*t from shinola and didnt do his job. Did he contact the army to see if the story was true? Was he a POW ? and as a side bar why is it that almost EVERY story I read about some j*rk-off being a fake soldier or fake hero they are almost always officers? Why doesn’t that crap ever happen to an EM ? ( insert joke here )
I just dont understand the need to make crap up about your military service or lack there of. I was in USAF I was just a mechanic, bent wrenches nothing more nothing less.
Vietnam…………….maybe
4 tours…………….eyebrows go up.
POW………………..red flag
tiger cage………….lotsa red flags
released to Swiss……Bullshit meter pegged.