Thomas Stanley Carr; phony POW
This fellow, Thomas Stanley Carr, Junior, told his local reporter from the Muskogee Phoenix about his time in captivity of Korean forces near the beginning of the Korean War. He says he was captured during the North Korean siege of Pusan;
In the article, he claims that he was in the Army, but the National Personnel Records Center says that he was in the Navy;
Thomas says that he lied about his age and joined the service when he was 16, but the FOIA says that he joined in 1951, when he was 17 years old. He was a “Boiler Technician” according to his assignments. He did 21 years in the Navy from 1951 to 1972, not in the Army like he claims in his little story. I see a Korean Service Medal and a Vietnam Service Medal, but no awards for service in campaigns in Korea. I see lots of sea service, but nothing on shore in any war.
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
In before
1. Dementia
2. Alzheimer’s
3. He’s old and just plain forgetful
4. Maybe he mis-remembered it.
5. He’s a lying sack of shit.
/fudge him and fudge the non fact checking reporter.
Actually, I have to correct myself, after reviewing the article a second time, I found a true factual item in it…… 3rd paragraph….
“Carr, 81, lied….”
/well at least they got *something* right.
Finally, a BT phony!
About damn time!
I started out in 1979 as a BT and was force converted in 1996 to MM.
I was not a POW, never, not even once!
That’s not what the ladies in FL were saying about this past weekends “activities”… something about playing “bad cop” with them????
snort….
Maybe he was just trying to be humble by not bragging about being a Snipe. A BT nonetheless.
Hole Snipes are kinda treated like POW’s.
Engineers were considered second hand to the deck crew, they could be flogged & harassed at will by the Ship’s Master.
That was until a feller by the name of John Snipes. This quick witted son-of-a-bitch was a different cut from all the others. He demanded sleeping accommodations, and food equal to the Deck crew. He also declared no more harassment for his gang. When the Skipper laughed, Snipes simply had his men put out the fires in the boiler. To make a long story short, Snipes brought about changes in the system. In time these changes extended to all that are haze grey and underway! The Engineers became ‘hands off’ to the Deck hands. They became known as Snipe’s men and over the years just ‘Snipes.’
Good read: http://danthenavyman.blogspot.com/2011/07/stinkn-snipes.html
Having the keys to the boat does have its advantages.
The story at that link is awesome, just for the comments alone. Thanks DH
Thanks Dave. Did my entire 6 years as an MM snipe but never heard that tale before.
A perfectly good service record to be proud of and he shits all over it, himself and his name by making something up, what goes through their minds when they do shit like this?
How can these guy’s be such dumb ass’s to not know that there is a detailed list of who has ever been caught or captured by enemy. It’s in log book’s after action reports and all summarized in a big report and list. So why do they try to lie and think some one will not check up on it.
Am I the only one that thinks the admins should consider blurring out the image of the venerable F4U. I do not think it needs to suffer guilt by association.
So true that bird didn’t do any thing but rain hell and save lives.
“Whistling Death”
Except that this version (F4U-1) never saw action in Korea. The F4U-4 was in use and later the F4U-5. The F4U-1 had a three blade prop while the F4U-5 and later models have a four blade prop. Also the later models used for ground attack were using 20 mm Guns rather then 12.7 mm guns.
Also on a side note, ever wonder what happens when you let a Ensign take out your personal aircraft out?
12.7mm? What kind of commie crap is that? We call them .50 Calibers!!
John Moses Browning is rolling over in his grave right now! 😀
At least he doesn’t claim to be a CPO. He has that going for him.
That’s about the only thing that the shitbird has going for him… but I wouldn’t be surprised if the felcher did make that claim in the past.
Looking at his record of assignments, I wonder what put him in the hospital on 2 separate occasions for several months each?
GD, I’m reading it as three separate hospital stays. Ten months first time, then two weeks each for the other two.
My bet is prolonged FTS the first go-around, then penile roto-rooter treatments after duty station changes for the other two.
Sounds like he might have had some quality time with a catheter as well.
Dude must be day dreaming in the pic… of the days as a POW, getting the “Rambutt” treatment by the Nork Guards, eating his daily bowl of rice, fishheads and Cream of Sum Yung Guy soup, while planning his next “escape”
Yeeeeeeeeeegads!
This all sounds like too much blending of The Sand Pebbles meets The Manchurian Candidate meets Pork Chop Hill.
And just where and how does a 16 year old learn to speak Japanese? I know that Latin used to be a language class offered in American high schools, but Japanese? Come on, get real.
Yeah.
Borrowing other people’s stories (and movies) and making them into his own tale of adversity and triumph.
And then hiding behind the “I’m old” card.
Just another old, gnarly shitbag who really must hate the Navy.
Not to mention the whopper “I spoke Japanese, which the North Koreans understand“. (my emphasis)
That’s like saying “I spoke French, which the British understand.”
Actually, at the time a fair number of Koreans probably did have some knowledge of Japanese.
Korea had been ruled by Japan for decades prior to 1945 and had been annexed by Japan in 1910. Koreans who had to deal with Japanese officials on a routine basis almost certainly had to learn Japanese to do so. That remained the case through 1945.
Of course, the Koreans alive in 1950 for the most part hated the Japanese (the Japanese still weren’t well-liked in Korea in the mid-1980s, and I’d guess probably aren’t today either). So anyone speaking Japanese to a North Korean guard during the Korean War probably risked at a minimum getting his ass kicked if not worse.
No personal awards for this guy, either. Not that it was highly unheard of back then, but not even a GTFO award?
NEXT ! ! !
It may just be an oversight or I missed it but none of his records show he was retired do they?
I wouldn’t read too much into that, GB. The Navy and USMC handle enlisted retirements between 20 and 30 years of service differently than do the Army and USAF.
I’m working from memory, but if I recall correctly the USN and USMC do not officially “retire” someone prior to 30 years of total military service. Rather, if someone “punches out” with between 20 and 30 years, they transition to something called the “fleet reserve” and receive what’s called “retainer pay” – and technically continue serving to 30 years. At 30 years, they then transition to retired status and the pay technically becomes “retired pay”.
I’m guessing this guy punched at about 21 years and that either (a) his records weren’t updated at 30 years to show his final retirement, or (b) the NPRC tech goofed on that line on his FOIA reply form.
About the only way I can see that he’d have not retired with 20+ active duty would be if he’d been court-martialed and received a punitive discharge. I believe one of our JAG commenters has indicated elsewhere that any form of punitive discharge (BCD, DD) also includes a reduction to E1 when executed (my memory could be wrong about that; it might be confinement of longer than a certain duration that triggers the reduction to E1). If that’s the case a punitive discharge couldn’t have happened, since the NPRC FOIA reply above shows he ended his career as a PO1.
Very Good, Hondo! I transferred to the Fleet Reserve after 26 years on active duty and officially retired 4 years later – got a certificate in the mail from NPC shortly after that.
You could do 21 as an E-6 and still not hit HYT?
IIRC, it’s 20 now, 23 for CPO, 26 for SCPO, unless they give you a readiness board and boot you sooner.
Yes, I was transferred to fleet reserve 31 May 2013 and will be officially off the paper in 2019.As I understand it is meant as a form of IRR. It is on block 23 and states Transferred to the Fleet Reserve.
Yep, Fleet Reserve in 2004, retired in 2014.
Anybody else care to pitch in here? The reporter’s name, email address and phone number are shown on his story.
No need to mention your name, but you beat me to it when you contacted the news reporter. Thanks for taking the time to hopefully right a wrong. Jonn will definitely be hearing from reporter Mark Hughes, who BTW is also a Marine. S/F
Yep. Just got a call from him.
Cool that. He’s got another story–and a retraction to write.
I am a JAG and can clear up the issue regarding punitive discharges. Under the UCMJ, any enlisted service member discharged with a punitive discharge is automatically reduced to the grade of E-1. The only punitive discharges is the Bad Conduct Discharge (“BCD” or “Big Chicken Dinner”) and the Dishonorable Discharge (“DD” or “Duck Dinner”). A BCD and DD can only be adjudged at a court-martial. An Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharge is an administrative discharge that has the same basic effect of a BCD and DD. An OTH is given in two instances – an administrative discharge board (unless the service member waives his right to appear before the board) or a discharge in lieu of court-martial. When the final approval is signed for an OTH discharge, the service member is busted to E-1 also. A service member with a punitive discharge or an OTH would not be in a retired status.
I find it somewhat of a twist when a real veteran is lying about being a POW, airborne, Ranger, SF, or receiving medals that were never earned. Everyone (well, most everyone) should be proud of their service record regardless of what rank or capacity served. A veteran who lies about their service record tarnishes their real accomplishments and all anyone will remember is that they are not the POW, SF, or Medal of Honor recipient. They become the same fake, phony, slacker, beatnik, or draft dodger. While most anyone holds these special statuses in higher admiration, we all should pay tribute to and respect anyone’s honorable service. For those who seek fake glory and admiration, lie and say you are a doctor, lawyer, engineer, wealthy, have other enhanced attributes. Real veterans or current service members should know better than to present themselves as something they are not and in many cases can be a violation of the UCMJ, which is subject to punitive and/or administrative action.
Well said Sir…
What NECCSEABEECPO said, ditto that Sir! I remember when I was deployed in A-stan and GEN Pace, then the JCOS made his Christmas tour of that country visiting the larger facilities there, accompanying him were some entertainers and speakers, one of which was a MOH Recipient, he told us in his speech that we had NO reason to embellish or lie about what we did there whether we were door kickers, Docs, Clerks or Mechanics keeping the equipment running, only a small section of the U.S. Population was able to even join the Military, and we were among those who did and went into ha’s way. He also said that once someone lies, they have to make up another lie to cover that, then they don’t know what they’ve said to whom, and they’re living under a swimming pool full of lies. The same was said by someone in one of Don Shipley’s videos, and yeah, it’s true! This guy had an honorable career and decided to lie about it, defecating on himself and his name while he did, I’ll never be able to understand why critters like him feel like they have to do things like that.
I imagine that the reporter will now pore over documents obtained by TAH and maybe acquire his own to determine the truth regarding Carr’s claims. He will no doubt reach out to Carr again and ask some very basic questions of him that went unasked previously. It is said that the reporter was a Marine. If that’s true, how did his antenna not go up and his mind flash “Alert! Alert!” when Carr said he was a POW who escaped four times and who, astoundingly, spoke Japanese, which he presumably learned before entering the service at age 16? Much of the fact checking could have been done by merely googling certain things. But, hell, that would have ruined a good story. Funny how that works. A guy can tell a reporter anything and it’s worthy of print. Why? Because there is no fear of a lawsuit for that and, besides, reporters believe they properly distance themselves from the stink of their stories if they repeatedly said “X said.” We’ll see what happens.