Stolen Valour - Red Deer.........Peter Toth

[Nester]

http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/...-day-services/


Veterans are crying foul after an alleged faker posed as a former U.S. Marine at two Red Deer schools during their Remembrance Day services.

The Legion typically provides the local school districts with veterans to be part of the ceremony. On Nov. 8, Peter Toth attended ceremonies at St. Francis of Assisi Middle School and G.W. Smith Elementary School dressed in a U.S. Marine Corps uniform.

Bev Hanes, president of the Red Deer Legion, said an investigation into the incident is ongoing and an update may come later as they verify his credentials.

“We do ask them for certain documentation,” said Hanes. “What we got, what looked to us, looked legitimate enough. If people are making forgeries, it’s very difficult for us to check them out.”

The credentials and claims of service are now being investigated.

Stolen Valour Canada, an organization that aims to expose unlawful use of military uniforms or certificates, posted a conversation they had with Toth about his service record.

They point out several inconsistencies between what he said, his service record, his medals and dates and timelines.

In an email, John Lilyea, a retired US Army Sgt. First Class and founder of the website This Ain’t Hell (which works to expose people posing as veterans), said there were a number of this wrong with Toth’s claim of serving with the U.S. Marine Corps.



In a posted Facebook conversation with Toth, he says he served in two tours of duty in Iraq and two tours of duty in Afghanistan. He said he was shot in Afghanistan in 2005 where he earned a Purple Heart, an American military decoration for anyone wounded or killed while serving.

On his uniform, he wears a sniper tab on his left sleeve, however Lilyea said there’s no such thing in the Marine Corps or any other branch of the U.S. Military.

He also said he served in Kandahar province and “Hazbollah.” Hezbollah is an Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon.

The discharge papers he provided say he retired from the Marine Corps in 1985, 20 years before he was allegedly shot. The discharge papers have a number of inconsistencies, including a serial number, which the U.S. Marine Corps did away with in 1972, replacing it with a social security number. The year on the paper is misspelled as “ninteen hundren and eighty five.” The signatory to the discharge papers is the Commandant of the Marine Corps appears at M.W. Hagee, which could be Michael Hagee who held the role from 2003 to 2006. However in 1985, the Commandant was Paul Kelly.

“Toth claims that he was recalled to active duty for the war against terror after a 20-year absence from the military,” Lilyea wrote. “That only happens in the movies.

“Who needs an overweight 50-year-old to do the job a 20-year-old can do much better. I volunteered to back on active duty after I’d been out 12 years and the only job they offered me was that of a recruiter.”

Wearing a military uniform without lawful authority to do so is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada.