Dennis Myers dupes Senator Harkin’s staff
The above picture is from a Marshalltown Times-Republican article last June about Dennis William Myers being awarded a long overdue Silver Star medal from the staff of Senator Tom Harkin (himself a Valor thief). Our buddy, Doug Sterner thought it was a little strange, mostly because Mr. Myers recounted for the newspaper the story of how he earned the Silver Star. This is from a cache copy of the article;
Mr. Sterner says that out of 23 Marines killed in February 1971, no one by that name, Mike Kelling, was among them. Mr. Sterner asked Senator Harkin’s office for the documentation that led to the award;
The US Navy questions the authenticity of the award and the certificate saying that they don’t recognize the form, nor do they have a record of awarding Mr. Myers a Silver Star;
The format of the citation is also questionable – I’ve never seen a Silver Star citation that read like an end-of-tour award. The award always cites the specific incident, in fact you can find the exact wording on that certificate in hundreds of places on the internet if you search on “Silver Star Criteria“.
He was on the USS Chicago off the coast of Vietnam in 1971 when they earned a Navy Unit Commendation;
He also earned a Navy Commendation Achievement Medal;
But, then, how hard is to to pull the wool over the eyes of another phony Vietnam War veteran like Tom Harkin?
Category: Phony soldiers
If not for the efforts of two junior Petty Officers in the US Navy stationed aboard ships, the war most certainly would have been lost!
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
The Minnow would be lost,
The Minnow would be lost!
🙂
I always thought Mary Ann was smoking hot.
She was. So was Ginger.
Mrs. Howell? Um, no. Nice lady, though.
Now that we’re on the subject…..I came up with a theory a few years back that explained how the Professor could make a radio out of coconuts, but couldn’t get them off of the island. Think about it, he’s a college professor and probably couldn’t make time with the ladies back in civilization. But now, he’s on an island with 3 women. The cute girl next door, the glamorous movie star, and the repressed older woman whose husband pays no attention to her. So for competition, he has the old rich guy who only cares about his money and he’s got the Skipper and Gilligan. So Thurston ignores his wife and the Skipper and Gilligan live in a hut together and Skipper calls Gilligan his “little buddy”. In essence, the Professor is stranded on a tropical island with 3 women and NO competition. Why would he want to get off the island, right?
Well, Mustang1LT: not ALL college professors are ivory-tower fools unable to deal with reality. (smile)
OMG! Exactly! The professor had it made! “Gilligan! I’ll go tell Mary Ann, you go tell the others.” I spend a lot of time walking and don’t use head phones. They are terrible for situational awareness. I read a pretty funny blog\faux thesis paper that the professor represents the intelligentsia, the skipper -the military, the Howes -the bourgeois, Ginger -the film industry and Mary Ann -the proletariat. Gilligan? He is the government personified. Why? Because time and time again he blows it and/or makes a horrible mess of things yet the others trust him time and time and time again. Think about it. Or maybe not….
Here’s a little bit of sitcom Trivia.
Roy Hinkle, the name of the professor on Gilligan’s island was Carol Brady’s first husband. She was originally supposed to have been divorced, however that did not site well with network Execs so instead they alluded to her being a widow.
In the very Brady sequel They said her first husbands name was Roy and he was lost at sea. The writers confirmed that it was a reference to Gilligan’s island.
The second citation is for a Navy Achievment medal, not a NCM.
He is not the only Dennis that duped people. I duped 7 women into marrying me, and I am working on my eighth.
Cheese,
Dennis “The Blobfish” Chevalier
Who were both SEALs
If I was an Iowan, I would be embarrassed to be presented with any military award from Tom Harkins, the Great Combat Hero of Olongapo
If I were an Iowan, I’d be ashamed to have that . . . untruthful individual as one of my Senators.
AHHHH HELL NO!
This embellishing cheesedick at one time served on my ship.
Why the hell did he have to go and screw up an honorable career?
Oh, now, this really makes my day. A duper got duped. Whatta cool idea!
After all, I did con Samson into getting a haircut, didn’t I?
Hah! I see what you did there.
I do not recall ever seeing such a phony baloney certificate before… and yes, that includes Visconi’s citation(s).
– The citation text WTF reads: “For Individual Gallantry in Action In The Republic of Vietnam Against an enemy of the United States. While Engaged in Military Operations Involving Conflict with An Opposing Foreign Force. Or While Serving with Friendly Foreign Forces Engaged in an Armed Conflict Against an Apposing Armend Force In Which the United State Is not a belligerent party” Yeah, legit…sentence fragments, random capitalization, font that wasn’t invented at the time, and I could go on. A forged signature would have been a nice touch.
My guess is that Harkin had to award the citation before he could find out what’s in it. THE FUCKING IDIOT. //and we wonder why our country is so fucked up.
Can we say “Copy and Paste”??
“The Silver Star is currently awarded by all branches of the armed forces to any person who, while serving in any capacity, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly forces against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.”
Here is a REAL citationfor a REAL hero (allons!)
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Silver Star Medal (Posthumously) to William Forman Abernethy (0-5317216), Captain (Armor), U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against a hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. Captain Abernethy distinguished himself by intrepid actions on while serving with Troop L, 3d Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. His unquestionable valor in close combat is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and the United States Army.
thanks for clarifying that, I couldn’t read what it said. I thought my brain damage was playing tricks on me, lol.
I can’t believe that citation was read out loud at a ceremony.
Three NAMs, three NUCs, a CAR, and it still isn’t enough for these shitbags.
Then again, it is fitting that a phony recognizes a phony.
NHSparky: 3 NAMs? Huh?
Sorry, reading off the phone sucks, and I read too fast.
Even so, getting a NAM as a first-termer E-4, especially back in the 60’s/70’s Navy, is no small achievement.
Heck, I didn’t get my first one until just after I made E-6. Again, that would be about average for the time and rate.
Looks like he was claiming to be a Silver Star recepient in Jan 2011 –
http://bwsvw.org/Library/PDFs/AO%20Act%20Proposal%20Letter%20from%20Dennis%20Meyers%20to%20Miller.pdf
I don’t get the claims of “boots on the ground Vietnam Veteran”. The only thing in his record that would lend support to this claim is his CAR.
As far as his exposure to Agent Orange, if you look at the chart on this page: http://www.agentorangerecord.com/agent_orange_history/
The time that he was in theater (NOV1971-JUL1972) there was no Agent Orange being sprayed… it was all “Agent Blue” (Cacodylic Acid), and very little at that.
The more of this I see, the more I want to blame Alzheimer’s and dementia.
I stand corrected. His NAM citation does appear legit and refers to his time with NAVSECGRU, Kami Seya, Japan. Per the NAM Citation issued by ADM. Clarey (a badass and a Silver Star recipient himself), there was probably more going on there than meets the eye.
Yeah, he was a direct support Comms supervisor while in Kami Seya; guys rode TAD on ships out of there from WW2 to the late 90’s. Thats why you see only month and year for the ships – he was never actually stationed on them. As NHSparky said, no small task for a CTO3 to get a NAM back then….
More shitbags.
Yeah, GT, you’re probably running out of warm cups of soup aren’t you?
I need to order some more.
Running out.
Go to Walmart. Maruchan soup cups are $.10 ea when purchased in bulk packs. You can stock up.
Oh, that reminds me! Chocolate, cheese and chicken Maruchan!
Ciao!
I’d just give them THE cheapest hotdog ramen noodle soup I could find!!
VFW District Commander and reporter who wrote the original story have each been notified of the information above.
Hondo…both Harkins office and the reporter who wrote the story were notified of my suspicions weeks ago, before Mary got records back on Myers. Neither seemed to be interested…but, I think we have a reporter in a nearby town who is going to work on this.
Doug: OK. But maybe now that the word is getting out that they’ve been “had”, they might change their tune.
As the little kid said in “Angels in the Outfield”: “Hey – it could happen!”
“Neither seemed to be interested”.
Therein lies the crux of the problem.
OK, now I’m starting to get a bit p!ssed.
Not positive this list is 100% comprehensive and accurate. But I’m not finding a name on it that Myers says should be there.
http://www.virtualwall.org/dk/0k.htm
Exactly Hondo. Not on any lists including Coffelt. I also did a search on all USMC casualties in February 1971 (In case Myers claims he might not remember the correct spelling) and no names even close.
Doug: Agreed.
The list I consulted purports to be comprehensive for the entire SEA period – it’s the “virtual wall”. So assuming that list is both accurate and comprehensive, Myers cannot now claim that his “friend” died at another time in SEA and the reporter “misunderstood” the when. Either that name is wrong, or the man didn’t die in SEA.
I’m also guessing he’d know how to spell the name of a “close friend” correctly, even after over 40 years.
Here’s the history of the USS Chicago for the period Myers served on the ship in Vietnam. He may have been awarded the CAR for the incident in the last paragraph;
After a weekend stop at Pearl Harbor, where the passengers were debarked, the ship stopped at Guam, and Subic Bay, before arriving in the Gulf of Tonkin on 6 December. Assigned to PIRAZ duty, except for a short port visit to Singapore, the cruiser supported Navy and Air Force aircraft missions into the new year. While on station four Talos missile launches were conducted, two each in February and March, but no hits were registered. Radar surveillance and air coordination continued until the end of March when, despite a dramatic rise in North Vietnamese trawler traffic, the cruiser began departure from the Gulf. On 3 April 1972 Chicago was recalled to her station in response to the North Vietnamese Army’s invasion of the south.
The scale of U.S. air operations increased dramatically as strike and interdiction missions, designed to restrict the movement of men and supplies, were conducted throughout North Vietnam. The cruiser monitored all aircraft flying over the gulf, directed friendly CAP, and, despite intense electronic jamming, coordinated fighter escorts during the mid-April B-52 raids against the North Vietnamese. By maintaining a complete air picture Chicago vectored damaged bombers around enemy missile sites, set up tanker rendezvous points for planes low on fuel, and directed helicopters on rescue operations.
The cruiser also directed friendly fighters against North Vietnamese aircraft. During April and May Chicago’s air intercept controllers directed Navy and Air Force aircraft on CAP missions that were credited with 14 MIG’s shot down. Another MIG was credited to Chicago’s score when the cruiser’s aft Talos battery scored a long-range kill on 9 May. Two days later, while supporting mining operations off Haiphong Harbor, the cruiser came under heavy fire from enemy shore batteries but was able to open the range without suffering any damage. On 21 June the ship, after a month of surveillance and directing air strikes against Haiphong harbor traffic, finally departed for San Diego.
I served aboard the Chicago 71-73 during the time John Lilyea posted what happened which was true. We did get the NUC, CAR but for him to get a silver star. Bogus.
The orginal citation was in Frank Visconis water-logged seabag in his mom’s basement.
Terds, a pair.