bobdina
10-03-2009, 11:00 AM
Memorial caretaker faces Stolen Valor charges
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Oct 2, 2009 13:36:10 EDT
Three years ago, Katie Valentino visited the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a granite and bronze monument in Sacramento dedicated to the 5,822 service members from the Golden State who died or disappeared during the war.
After shooting some photographs, she was stopped by Kenneth Nelson, who introduced himself as a retired gunnery sergeant and Vietnam veteran. He spent the next 45 minutes telling her stories about the war, she said, including how his own commanding officer died in his hands.
“You never forget seeing death,” she called him telling her.
Valentino, a mental health professional from Bloomingdale, Ill., is one of the many visitors with whom Nelson, 60, shared such stories during his 19-year run caring for the memorial. He polished it regularly, telling journalists who flocked to do stories about him that the volunteer work helped him cope with memories of the war’s bloodiest battles.
U.S. authorities now say none of his claims are true. He will be arraigned Oct. 2 in Sacramento on charges he allegedly wore three unauthorized Purple Hearts and a Silver Star, and that he lied to FBI agents investigating his claims, according to an affidavit filed Sept. 10.
In reality, Nelson never served in combat with the “Walking Dead” of 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, despite his claims of surviving a head wound and a napalm burn during service that included battles at Khe Sanh, Con Thien and Quang Tri, the indictment said. He enlisted in 1977 but lasted less than two months before being discharged as a private at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Marine officials said. He did not graduate from boot camp.
Other claims?
Although the indictment focuses on a single incident in which Nelson allegedly wore unauthorized medals, authorities believe “there were claims to other various medals,” said U.S. Attorney Camil Skipper, who is prosecuting the case. Nelson is listed as a recipient of valorous medals on Web sites such as americasveterans.org, which says he earned the Navy Cross — the nation’s second highest award for valor — the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with V and three Purple Hearts.
In a telephone interview, Nelson said he will face his charges “like a man,” but he denied ever wearing unauthorized medals. He declined to say whether he served in Vietnam, citing the open case.
“I don’t think I did anything wrong. I had too much respect for those guys on the wall,” he said, referring to names memorialized on the monument.
Pressed for details on his service, Nelson accused the media of distorting his service record in previously published reports, and he suggested the nonprofit organization Vietnam Veterans of America was out to get him.
“My main function was to protect that memorial and to protect a piece of history,” he said. “I’m just the little guy.”
Dick Southern, director of VVA’s California region, dismissed Nelson’s accusations.
“The fact that he watched over a memorial or helped maintain a memorial doesn’t give him the right to say he’s something that he’s not,” Southern said. “If all the things [he is accused of] are true, then he deserves the punishment he is going to get.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/10/Marine_fakercharges_nelson_100109w/
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Oct 2, 2009 13:36:10 EDT
Three years ago, Katie Valentino visited the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a granite and bronze monument in Sacramento dedicated to the 5,822 service members from the Golden State who died or disappeared during the war.
After shooting some photographs, she was stopped by Kenneth Nelson, who introduced himself as a retired gunnery sergeant and Vietnam veteran. He spent the next 45 minutes telling her stories about the war, she said, including how his own commanding officer died in his hands.
“You never forget seeing death,” she called him telling her.
Valentino, a mental health professional from Bloomingdale, Ill., is one of the many visitors with whom Nelson, 60, shared such stories during his 19-year run caring for the memorial. He polished it regularly, telling journalists who flocked to do stories about him that the volunteer work helped him cope with memories of the war’s bloodiest battles.
U.S. authorities now say none of his claims are true. He will be arraigned Oct. 2 in Sacramento on charges he allegedly wore three unauthorized Purple Hearts and a Silver Star, and that he lied to FBI agents investigating his claims, according to an affidavit filed Sept. 10.
In reality, Nelson never served in combat with the “Walking Dead” of 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, despite his claims of surviving a head wound and a napalm burn during service that included battles at Khe Sanh, Con Thien and Quang Tri, the indictment said. He enlisted in 1977 but lasted less than two months before being discharged as a private at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Marine officials said. He did not graduate from boot camp.
Other claims?
Although the indictment focuses on a single incident in which Nelson allegedly wore unauthorized medals, authorities believe “there were claims to other various medals,” said U.S. Attorney Camil Skipper, who is prosecuting the case. Nelson is listed as a recipient of valorous medals on Web sites such as americasveterans.org, which says he earned the Navy Cross — the nation’s second highest award for valor — the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with V and three Purple Hearts.
In a telephone interview, Nelson said he will face his charges “like a man,” but he denied ever wearing unauthorized medals. He declined to say whether he served in Vietnam, citing the open case.
“I don’t think I did anything wrong. I had too much respect for those guys on the wall,” he said, referring to names memorialized on the monument.
Pressed for details on his service, Nelson accused the media of distorting his service record in previously published reports, and he suggested the nonprofit organization Vietnam Veterans of America was out to get him.
“My main function was to protect that memorial and to protect a piece of history,” he said. “I’m just the little guy.”
Dick Southern, director of VVA’s California region, dismissed Nelson’s accusations.
“The fact that he watched over a memorial or helped maintain a memorial doesn’t give him the right to say he’s something that he’s not,” Southern said. “If all the things [he is accused of] are true, then he deserves the punishment he is going to get.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/10/Marine_fakercharges_nelson_100109w/