Vernon Sperry; phony Korean War veteran
Someone was curious about this fellow, Vernon Sperry when he started telling tall tales about how he single-handedly drove the Chinese back above the 38th Parallel, or words to that affect. He even told his stories to the local news, back in 2009;
He calls himself “The Colonel” and claims that he was awarded five Purple Heart Medals and that he will be awarded the Medal of Honor some day. He shows folks this DD214;
He claims these awards;
Yeah, I don’t know what half of those things are either. Most of them aren’t even individual awards, the French Fourragère hasn’t been awarded to US Marines since the First World War.
Well, it turns out that Mr Sperry didn’t join the Marine Corps until a year after the Korean War ended, and it looks like he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California the whole time he was in the Marine Corps. He was an infantryman most of the time except when he had guard duties at the brig.
Sperry may have been blowed up a little on April 18, 1955 when an artillery round hit a messhall on Pendleton. His records show that he was in the hospital for a few weeks beginning April 19th – no Purple Hearts are awarded for action in the messhall in California, though;
Here’s a poem he wrote about his five Purple Hearts;
Big thanks to Bulldog at Guardian of Valor for putting a rush on this FOIA for us.
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
Nice fonts on the awards. And he assumes people can’t do math? He couldn’t have even joined until the end of 1951 at the earliest.
Or maybe it was that Super Secret Squirrel War they had where he flew secret missions over the DMZ in his SR-71 on weekends before reporting back to Pendleton every Monday morning.
I like how he claims he was on patrol on “Heartbreak Ridge”. I wonder if he was with Tom Highway?
WITH Tom Highway? He IS Tom Highway
“I wonder if he was with Tom Highway?”
We could always ask Stony Jackson, but we know what happened to him 17 years later.
But it would have been pretty hard for Stony, Choozu or Highway to know about Sperry (a 17 year old Marine Private) since they were all in the Army’s 23d Infantry of the 2nd ID./smile
See, that proves Stolen Valor right there. Everyone knows that only Stony Jackson, Choozu, and Highway survived that battle.
Maybe this dude was The previous Recon SNCO that went ROAD…
Well, I guess it’s time that I broke OPSEC and divulge G15 Classified information.
I was Adm Calavicci’s assistant during the first phase of the Quantum Leap project, and I was assigned the codename “Ziggy.”
Anyway, before Sam had his first leap, PFC Speery volunteered to try out the first leap. His leap took him to Korea….
That poem doesn’t even RHYME!
Those are some….impressive….’awards’ he claims to have.
Some fakers want money,
Some fakers want fame,
Some fakers want women
(Which is really quite lame.)
Some never served,
And served a bit,
Some served a lot,
And on their record doth shit.
But here is a fact
(And it’s certainly true)
The problem’s their lying
To me and to you
And to all who will listen
To their tales spun as true.
I spent my time as a POG
But I’ll shout nice and loud
That of the service I rendered,
I’m eminently proud.
So to the posers I’ll say
Guys, let military fibs be.
Find some other thing to embellish
And you’ll find no quarrel with me.
But if you go gabbin’
‘Bout your time in the ‘Nam
Or Iraq or the ‘Stan or the fight on the Somme,
Just know we’ll be watchin’
And be ready to pounce
On TAH and Mil’ Phonies
And you’ll get digitally trounced.
Todd O
7/28/17
I know it’s not going to make it in the Annals of Great Western Literature, but what the hell? It didn’t exist 25 minutes ago!!
Five PH’s? Must have broken his taint five times….
that will happen when you are a mess hall ranger…
LOL
Ha-Ha. Mess Hall Ranger. I like that
He wrote a poem about his mythical five purple hearts? That’s a first.
Didn’t bother- does it begin “Once Upon a Time…” or “Now this Ain’t No Shit…”?
“There we were, knee deep in grenade pins . . . .”
I’m just happy he wasn’t fighting for his “county” when he went to Korea and was wounded five times./smile
Having a hell of a time running down these county units to verify foreign service and Google-Fu just seems to draw a blank.
Dumbass.
Jeebus, this old punk didn’t even make it as far west as Hawaii, much less Okinawa or (gasp), Korea.
And well after the actual war was over…
His phony 214 is full of typos and mis-spellings, and an 0311 infantry PFC’s duties are “classified” (?).
This douch has really earned his “metals”…
It’s a speshul DD, the not-widely-know DD2114(F). Another type is the DD214(FNY).
They’re both very, very seekrit. Not many people have them, only a select few who can lie like a Persian rug.
COMMIDATION???????????? DAFUQ?
Look carefully- his HIGH SCHOOL education is ALSO classified. Must have been the CIA School for the Gifted. He claims he should have 27 Purple Hearts-one for each shrapnel wound received in Korea.
Also WTF is a “cantadate?” Is that like a hybrid between a cantaloupe and a date?
That’s valor thief short hand for can’t get a date.
Just be glad its not a watermelon with a hand hole drilled in….
Handy, dammit
Even if EVERYTHING else was in order, the fact that “HONORABLE” looks like it was typed by a different typewriter (no doubt after he used Liquid Paper on where it said “DISHONORABLE DOUCHE”) would make me highly suspicious of this document.
But he had 16 tours of KP on the Delta….lol
I like his “metals”
What a fucking tool
O-4E, are you, perchance, a graduate of Officer Cantadate School like Sperry?
I have heard that heavy “metal” poisoning can damage ones mental and cognitive abilities.
Mad. As. A. Hatter.
Man…earning a METAL must be hard work..even more than earning a medal……
The stoopid is strong I sense with this one…
“ribbons and metals”????
where do go to get me some of them “metals”?
I’ll be tin is his favorite
because tin holds his potted meat…mmmmmmmmhhhhhmmmmm
His rifle marksmanship badge is “sterling silver” …he has me beat!
I’ve seen a few that were gold-plated and one with colored enameling. But those were speshulstuffs.
“Back in the day”, qual badges were made of sterling; this may be the only true statement on his 214.
I don’t think they were fully sterling, but you are correct, they did have silver content.
I bet he earned the iron pyrite special gold metal of excellence.
he also has the “lead star” on his NDSM as well as the coveted “aluminum plate” for Mess Hall attendance.
But does he have a “mustard stain” on his “aluminum plate”.
As long as he is not claiming to have been awarded the rarely bestowed but highly coveted Precious Metals Recovery Expert Badge, he is okay with Hack.
BTW, was Heartbreak Ridge an Army operation? I recall at the time that the film was released, they had to alter the movie to include a line about them being in the Army after an uproar from Army Korean War veterans.
Was that “US Navy in Yellow Sea” metal signed by Captain I.P. Daily?
No, CPT IP only signed it on Thursdays.
LMBO…
Nah, that’s I. P. Freely that signs that stuff…
that’s a lot of I.P. types in the Yellow Sea…
I.P. Daily
I.P. Nightly
I.P. Freely
I.P. Thursday
No wonder this tool got 5 purple heart “metals”….
He had to carry the piss bucket all day.
“Oh piss boy”….”it’s good to be I.P.”
Can one of y’all explain Barman to me? I didn’t know that the Marines had an MOS for drinking…….
It’s a Secret Squirrel Specialty MOS that usually goes to BAMs.
Not a Marine, but I read that as BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) man without capitalizing or separating the name.
My Father toted a BAR around for four and a half years in WWII.
When I was aboard the Okinawa, the small arms consisted of the BAR, M-1 Garand, M-1 carbine, Thompson .45 sub gun and colt 1911. I never asked any of the guys who stayed with the ship when she went over to south east asia if they upgraded the small arms.
Other than the carbine, how could any of those other weapons possibly be upgraded from?
Browning
Automatic
Rifle
But I don’t think the official nomenclature would be BAR-man. Maybe Automatic Rifleman? But I do think that the old school Soldiers and Marines would use BAR man amongst themselves.
Well, I read it as going from a Rifleman to an A-BARMAN to an A-Barman down to just Barman as meaning the same thing all along, just different entries by a couple of different personnel clerks during the time.
Dunno, could be wrong entirely on the meaning of Barman in Marine speak./smile
Yeah, looks like honorable, if unremarkable, service. Then he had to go and shit all over it. I will never understand this.
Oh, the “A” probably stood for “assistant” meaning he lugged the magazines?
Could be. The DD214 says he was 5’9″ and 165 pounds at discharge, so he may have started as an smurfy sized assistant and worked his way up to being a full sized BAR Man before going to be a Brig Guard and then returning to be a Rifleman.
The column titled “Primary Duty” explains what function you perform within the command. He is an 0311, but his primary duty was to operate the BAR. That’s why you also see “Guard”, “Rifleman”, “Messman”, etc. The difference in how those entries are made is because the clerks are inconsistent in their reporting.
He should have an Automatic Rifle Qualification bar somewhere in his record. That particular page (Weapons Firing Record) is not shown above. There were MANY qualification bars; “Machine gun”, TSMG (that’s the Thompson SMG). Even had one for a Howitzer.
Forgot to add; he’s a shit-bird (no qual bar for that).
Not sure when it happened but Marines stopped awarding Qualification badges for anything other than service rifle or pistol long ago. The only other marksmanship badges allowed are medals from competitive matches. A total of three badges my be worn, only two per weapon.
“Not sure when it happened”
Google-Fu/WIKI says 1958.
Some of you guys are just jealous you never got recommended for Officer Cantadate School…
That probably should be “cantgetadate.”
My personal favorite, from the bottom of his DD214(F): Officers Cantadate School.
Shouldn’t that be ‘cantgetadate’?
Just askin’. I thought PNs had to pass spelling tests.
Does ChipNASA have ‘turd-sucking feces factory’ on his list for the WOI?
Glad it’s Friday.
LOL, It’s on there. HAHAHAH
OMG – you and I had exactly the same thought!!! I didn’t see your comment until just now. Holy crap! We share a brain!
The stories I could tell, Nicki…
Oh, wait, I am telling them1
I got nothing.
It’s Friday, Graybeard. Try for firsties on the WOT.
I delayed leaving for lunch, and Jonn waited until my ip address was no longer active, just so I couldn’t get near first.
Story of my teen-aged life – couldn’t get to first.
His MOS was in MISspelling.
What exactly is a ‘Navy in the Yellow Sea’ “metal”? Army guy here don’t know all of the Navy’s crazy awards,,,lol
The “Colonel” is probably into certain “water sports” while getting “pegged” by a 350lbs mistress named “Flo”…
It’s Friday and I’ve had only a 1/2 cup of coffee…
Ah yes, I forgot about “The Colonel” thing. So is he a KFC Original Recipe Colonel or a Kernel from a corn on the cob ??
Looks like he’s “extra crispy” gristle…
his squad leader said he could be anything he wanted to be. That is why he chose to be Colonel of the Urinal rather than Corporal of the Guard.
I’m sure he got is “lead star metal” for that one.
Is that anything like, “Extra Heavy Flo?”
That’s when you are assigned to sea-duty and the heads overflow.
Hi I was in the navy and army -there is no such thing and over 75%of what he claims don’t exist or been awarded since ww1-this guy must have a mental disorder.
You mean “metal disorder”.
A whole bunch of medals, hung in a disorganized formation, underneath the ribbon rack, is like a big giant neon signs saying, “Phony Veteran/Embellisher.”
Also, this clown managed to earn the “Navy Unit Commidation” ribbon. Too bad it was just a ribbon, as if it were a “metal”, it would’ve been called the “Navy Unit ‘Accommodation’ Metal”. 🙄 He also has “French Fourageres“, this must have been that time he had to forage for French food, but can’t quite spell “forager”. 🙄 this guy is so “high-speed” that he was “recommended” for Officers Cantadate School, note the plural for officer.
I have the seven page narrative that he submitted for his MOH nomination, but I didn’t want him to look like a complete fool. And I didn’t want to kill off any of your sparse brain cells.
He’s going to nominate himself for the MOH because an errant artillery round from his own division landed on the messhall during an arty range shoot at Camp Pendleton ?
No, the MOH is based on his adventures with a CIA agent in North Korea.
And the agent’s name was Ho Lee Phuk?
no…Dun phukked up
More likely Sum Ting Wong.
That’s why block 11B on his phony 214 was stamped “CLASSIFIED”; I figure sooner or later we’re going to delve into the mysterious world of the Seekrit Squirrel…
No, Tin Ee Dick.
Publish it as a comic book and get PAID!
Hopefully, whomever he submitted his “narrative” to had the common sense to file it in the round file…
My BHG thank you, Jonn, for not posting it.
It’s Friday Jonn, everyone’s brain is on cruise control anyway,,throw it up!
“throw it up” as a double entendre?
I don’t think anyone could make him look more like a complete fool than he’s done already, all by his lonesome.
From one viewpoint, it’s just stupid. From another, it’s sad that he’s coming to the end of his life looking like a clown.
More sad than anything, IMHO.
So, did he nominate himself? An 1890 reform states that a soldier cannot nominate himself for an MOH. So who on EARTH would believe this tall tale and endorse it as legitimate?
Hold it, hold it. wouldn’t his grade be a Navy Admiral?? If he worked the mess hall then that would make him “Admiral Of The Vessels” (large pots and pans).
Jesus, this guy is *SO* retarded, its guaranteed his parents dropped him on his head a few dozen times when he was a kid.
No wonder he made it into the Marines.
/LOL *runs* 😀
+1
One question I always wondered about these posers:
Is it really stolen valor when they claim to have been given an award that doesn’t even exist? Or is it just bad writing?
He doesn’t seem much with it, so is it or isn’t it SV if he makes up awards that don’t exist? It may be he just got the names wrong.
Yes, in a way, but it does make him look ridiculous, which is worse. The fact that he typed ‘classified’ in spaces that are NOT classified on that DD214 makes it SV.
Personally, I think anyone who had to burn shitters or deal with trash on deployment deserves a metal for having the mettle to stick it out. Nobody wants that kind of job, but some poor soul has to do it.
I hereby propose that the subject of this post be renamed “Vermin”!
Can I get a second?
SECOND.
This turd is in Oz.
That is because he is off the see the Wizard about getting a brain and his MOH.
Ain’t no Phony like an old Phony!!
Speaking of Korean War phonies…whatever happened with Kirjath Toney, the Phoney Baloney Toney Pony?
Fuck the Oddfellows!
I was shocked to see things like the Purple Heart and Good Conduct listed under metals. I was expecting to see copper, gold, and zinc.
So after three years in the Corps he made it all the way to Private. If that is true I’m doubting the GCM as well.
Wow. He sure got a lot of “Metals” that so few people got they never appear in any list of military awards I have ever researched. THAT has got to be rare.
I mean, Navy In The Yellow Sea Metal? Who can imagine that any Navy unit or individual Sailor or Marine would get a Metal for being in the sea that was off the west coast of South Korea? I mean, NOBODY was over there!
And being awarded Unit Citations for Individual Actions? WOW, he must have been a one man Battalion!!
He would have been authorized to wear the French Fourragère as a member of the 5th Marine Regiment, but it is a unit award only authorized to be worn while assigned to them (6th Marines as well).
It is never put in a Marines award section or DD214.
Also the PUC and other awards he mentioned are unit awards.
Damn, this former Marine is dumber than a bag of play sand…
What a fucktard.
The only thing missing from his list of “metals” is the one for the Battle of Macho Grande. The most esteemed of all combat metals.
This turd was at he “Battle of Taco Bell” as he engaged a bunch of other shitbags muscling for handouts on Veteran’s Day.
The hell you say. Look at SV AR670-1. Battle of Hoth Metal goes above Macho Grande.
Yes, over Macho Grande. Although I don’t think I’ll ever get over Macho Grande.
A true serial poser.
A relic, if you will.
He should be put in a collection case.
I love the longevity.
Anyone have a link to the story of the artillery round striking the chow hall? I tried looking on Al Gore’s Amazing Internet using Bing and Google but came up empty.
Yes, search April 18, 1955. Use Marines, Pendleton, mess hall, explosion as search terms. You will see it in the archives of several papers across the country. Access to the full article will cost you, but you can see parts of the article in your search free. Basically, an infantryman picked up a “souvenir” shell on the base, carried it with him to the chow line, and it exploded, injuring 33 Marines, including Mr. Sperry. That is one of the few truths in his story.
Only a Marine…
*Ducks*