Louis Eugene Godfrey; phony Green Beret

Our friends at Green Beret Poser Patrol send us their work on this fellow, Louis Eugene Godfrey of Rhome, Texas. I’ll let them tell the story;

We would like to present Louis Eugene Godfrey as one of our latest cases. We were sent a photo of Godfrey wearing a Special Forces baseball cap and a leather vest adorned with a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, a Purple Heart Medal, and the Army Basic Parachutist Badge. Godfrey resides in a small town, Rhome, Texas where he has been embroiled in local politics. He served on the City Council and was elected Mayor in May 2014 and resigned at the end of October 2014. His wife served as the City Secretary and resigned on October 28, 2014. In our research of Godfrey, we learned just how crazy politics in Rhome Texas can be. Whatever! We are not concerned with small town politics, we merely want to determine if Godfrey ever served in the US Army Special Forces.

So per our standard operating procedures, we put Godfrey’s name out to a group of fully verified Special Forces soldiers, who represent the breadth and width of the Regiment, from those warriors of the Vietnam Era right up to those serving today in the Active Duty and National Guard Special Forces Groups. The Special Forces community is quite small in comparison to the regular Army and pretty much, if you have served in the Regiment someone will remember you. You must realize that the basis of all Special Forces is the Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha, known as the “A Team” and consists of twelve individual SF soldiers who spend more time with each other than with their families. It s a true brotherhood. You will never forget the teams you served on or the men you served with, so we threw out Godfrey’s name and no one had ever heard of hm.

So our next step is to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for military records of the individual concerned to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). After about six weeks, we received Godfrey’s records. It seems as if Posers fall into two broad groups, those who never served and those who actually served in the military in some fashion who feel the need to embellish their military feats.

Well, Godfrey falls into the latter group. Unfortunately, his military record does not reflect that he ever attended and completed basic airborne training which is conducted at Fort Benning, GA nor the Special Forces Qualification Course at Fort Bragg, NC. There is no award of either the Purple Heart Medal, awarded for a combat wound, nor the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Mr. Godfrey did serve in both the United States Marine Corps April 26, 1981 – December 31, 1987 (Active Duty dates September 23, 1981 – December 31, 1987) and the United States Army May 23, 1989 – January 3, 1992 (Active Duty dates June 8, 1989 – January 3, 1992). His record reflects he was discharged January 3, 1992 at the rank of Sergeant.

His record indicates his military education included:
Defensive Driving Course, Machine Gun Course, Individual Protective Measures, Calling and Adjusting Supporting Arms Course, Infantry Small Unit Defensive Operations, Cold Weather Operations, Standard First Aid Training, Terrorism and Counteraction for Marines Course.

His decorations and awards included:
Meritorious Mast, Good Conduct Medal w/ star, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon 2d award, Expert Badge with pistol and rifle bar, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and the Southwest Asia Service Medal with 2 bronze stars.

Notable here is that there is no award of the Purple Heart for a combat wound, nor a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, no Special Forces Qualification Course, no Special Forces assignments, not even attendance at he basic airborne training.

His record does not reflect any overseas deployment in either the USMC or the US Army. It does not reflect any combat service.

His USMC chronological military records:

Assigned 2d RT BN RTR Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, Parris Island SC with primary duty as a Recruit 810924-811215

HQSVCCO INFTRNSCOL Marine Corps Base Camp LeJeune, NC as a student (0300) 820104-811216

2d BN 4th MAR 2d MARDIV FMF Camp LeJeune NC primary duty as a machine gunner (0331) 820128-841214

3d BN 2 MAR 2d MARDIV FMF Camp LeJeune NC primary duty as a machine gunner (0331) 841214-851019 with reenlistment 850831

MARBKS USNB NOR VA primary duty as a Guard (8151) 851019-871231 discharged 871231

His US Army Current and Previous Assignments:

Lists some USMC Reserve time prior to his enlistment on 810924:
USMC 770508-810923 (3 yrs 11 months 8 days ADT) (5 months 7 days INACT) AD: 810923-871231 6 yrs 3 months 9 days E5 0331
USMC-11 881010-890522 (1 year 4 months 21 days NO AD
USA Delayed Entry Program 890523-890607 14 days SVC NO AD

890608 Enlistment at Albany MEPS
890609-890620 Casual duty enroute to Fort Campbell KY
890620-900717 Duty MOSC 11B10 INFANTRYMAN Co C and Co A 2/502d INF FT CAMPBELL KY
900717-920103 DUTY MOSC 11B20 AMMUNUTION SECTION LDR HHC 2/502 INF REGT FT CAMPBELL KY

We attempted to call Godfrey but were not able to make contact. However we did make contact through Facebook Messenger. The conversation went as follows:

John Miller: Louis, were you in Special Forces? I am a retired Special Forces soldier and we have a closed Special Forces Group on Facebook. We have over 4700 members. Just a place to renew contacts and swap stories. We try to reach out to all SF vets. Are you interested?

Louis Godfrey: Big thumbs up

John Miller: I have to get some info to get you in. What Group and ODA did you serve on?

Louis Godfrey: I appreciate the offer to join. But I prefer to stay to myself for now. I have put so much behind me and I prefer to keep it that way. Thank you for reaching out to me, and the consideration to join your group.

John Miller: sends picture in his SF swag. Ok. BTW I was sent this photo of you. That is why I asked you about being SF.

Louis Godfrey: Who sent you the photo?

John Miller: It was anonymous sent to our group Green Beret Posers Exposed. If that is you, you are sporting a lot of unearned hardware. We sent a FOIA request to NPRC and we got your military records. No combat. No Purple Heart. No CIB. No SF.

At this point Godfrey refused any further messages. His Facebook page is gone. Too bad as he had just updated his profile picture to one with a green background with the SF Crest centered withe the word Green above the Crest and Berets below the Crest.

His wife, Ramah Burns still has her Facebook up. [Actually, she took her FB account down, too]

It still has the photo of Godfrey in his SF swag on her photos.

We sent her the following message:

Mrs. Burns, my name is John Miller. I was talking to your husband earlier about his military service in Special Forces. I would really like to finish our discussion. Please ask him to call me on Friday. My number is (910)745-7312. Thank you.

Well so far only crickets from Rhome Texas.

We also sent the following email to the local newspaper, the Wise County Messanger:

I am a retired US Army Officer and I served in Special Forces, often referred to as the Green Berets. I now work with a group of about 4700 Special Forces veterans to identify those who falsely claim to have served in our Regiment.

About six weeks ago we were sent the name of Louis Eugene Godfrey as a person who had made claims of serving in the Army Special Forces.

After obtaining the required information on Mr. Godfrey, we requested his military records under the auspices of the Freedom of Information Act from the National Personnel Records Center. I received his military records today.

The only claim of Special Forces I have found are in this photograph of Mr. Godfrey.

In the photo he is wearing a Special Forces baseball hat. On the right side of his vest he is wearing the insignia of the 5th Special Forces Group. On the left side of his vest, he is wearing a Purple Heart Medal, a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, novice parachutist badge.

Unfortunately, his military record does not reflect that he ever attended and completed basic airborne training which is conducted at Fort Benning, GA nor the Special Forces Qualification Course at Fort Bragg, NC. There is no award of either the Purple Heart Medal, awarded for a combat wound, nor the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Mr. Godfrey did serve in both the United States Marine Corps April 26, 1981 – December 31, 1987 (Active Duty dates September 23, 1981 – December 31, 1987) and the United States Army May 23, 1989 – January 3, 1992 (Active Duty dates June 8, 1989 – January 3, 1992.).

His record does not reflect any overseas deployment in either the USMC or the US Army. It does not reflect any combat service.

I would add that it appears that Godfrey did serve in Desert Storm because he was awarded the Southwest Asia Service Medal with two bronze service stars, but it also appears that he didn’t engage in combat operations as an infantryman because he didn’t earn the CIB.

Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures