At the Veterans memorial in Charlotte, some visitors said they
can't understand why someone would try to take what isn't theirs.
"I would say they are poor, wretched human beings, maybe not even
human beings," said Quincy Collins, a retired Air Force colonel who
now lives in Charlotte.
Collins spent seven and a half years as a Prisoner of War in
Hanoi. He earned two Purple Hearts, a POW medal and two Bronze Stars.
He said he's angry to hear about potential "fakes."
X-URL: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/17957870/detail.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/6kqt5t
Lenoir Veteran Accused Of Lying About His Service Record
But some veterans have a problem with the picture because they say
he=92s lying.
On the Web site pownetwork.org, there's a section called "Phonies and
Wannabees." Daniel Laws is on the list.
The site says: Laws claims he has a Congressional Medal of Honor, that
he was a Navy Seal, earned a Purple Heart and was a Prisoner of War.
But after obtaining Laws' military records, Eyewitness News found that
while Laws is a Vietnam veteran and earned a Purple Heart, he was
never a Navy Seal or a POW, and he didn't earn a Medal of Honor.
Anchor Natalie Pasquarella found Laws at his home in Lenoir.
"Did you ever claim to be a Prisoner of War, or to have earned a Medal
of Honor?=94 she asked.
=93I have not. No, I haven't," he said.
Laws said he's never lied about his service.
=93You're on the phony POW list, what do you have to say about that?=94
Pasquarella asked.
=93I think they're phony, you know. That's all I'm going to say," Laws
said.
Laws admitted that he attended veterans ceremonies, so Pasquarella
tracked down an audio tape from a 2005 event in Florida.
The emcee introduced him by saying, "Bringing in the eagle staff,
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Daniel Laws, U.S. Army
Vietnam veteran."
She contacted the emcee on tape, Ron Colombe.
"Never once did (Laws) come up to me and say, =91I never won that. I was
never awarded that. That's a mistake.=92"
At the Veterans memorial in Charlotte, some visitors said they can't
understand why someone would try to take what isn't theirs.
"I would say they are poor, wretched human beings, maybe not even
human beings," said Quincy Collins, a retired Air Force colonel who
now lives in Charlotte.
Collins spent seven and a half years as a Prisoner of War in Hanoi. He
earned two Purple Hearts, a POW medal and two Bronze Stars.
He said he's angry to hear about potential "fakes."
"I don't want some little nippy person who hasn't got the guts to do
something on his own to try to put himself in place!" he exclaimed.
As for Laws, he insists that the online allegations are not true, and
he said he's upset because he feels wrongly accused.
"I think it needs to be corrected, you know. People can write anything
they want, but the truth will stand on it's own,=94 he said.
Pasquarella spoke with the people who run the pownetwork.org site.
They said there is a lot of liability involved with people posting the
allegations. They said they check their sources and stand by their
firsthand accounts.
They've been sued before, but never successfully.
If you claim any Medal of Valor and you didn't earn it, it's a felony
under the Stolen Valor Act.
LINK: POW Network http://www.pownetwork.org/
LINK: Stolen Valor Act of 2005
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