Australia fake Vietnam "Hero" has no excuse

"I never went to Vietnam and I thought, 'maybe I can say I am a vet because I'm associating with them all the time'. Charles Gibbons said after being caught as a fake Vietnam veteran with medals.

Yes, he really said that. I associate with them all the time too, plus spent the last 25 years married to one of them. I can tell you that just being around them makes people admire them, respect them, value them enough that no one in their right mind would ever consider impersonating one of them. People who do such a despicable act can never come close to understanding them because these men and women, they thought about others when they risked their lives in Vietnam. Didn't matter if they found themselves in Vietnam by will to serve or draft number pulled, they all served side by side and risked their lives for each other.

Thirty years this man pulled off a huge lie, used the Vietnam veterans he "associated with" and managed to look them in the eyes when he was spinning his tall tales of glory and suffering. Now he's sorry? Did he admit it all by himself by a sudden awakening of his conscience? No. He was turned in and then he was sorry. Just like the rest of them they are always sorry when they are caught, offering all kinds of excuses for what they did, trying to be what they will never be and will never understand the kind of person it takes to really be a Vietnam veteran. How about all the veterans this man hurt? How about the real ones trapped because they didn't save their paperwork and frauds like this make is almost impossible to be believed? They just never cared enough about the men and women they pretended to be or they would have never, ever thought about trying to take what they did not earn from them, respect.

Service a lie: Charles Gibbons wore beret and medals he was not entitled to on Anzac Day

Man apologises for posing as war veteran for 30 years

Russell Robinson

August 27, 2009 12:00am


A "WANNABE" war hero apologised to Diggers for fraudulently passing himself off as a Vietnam veteran.

For years council parking inspector Charles Campbell Gibbons, 60, claimed he had completed two tours of duty as a military policeman in South Vietnam.

During that time, he claimed, he'd lost a lung.

He would proudly march on Anzac Day wearing the red beret and badge of the military police.

Pinned to his tunic would be seven medals, signifying Vietnam War service, and 15 years regular army service.

But it was all a lie.

"It was done very stupidly. I should never have done it, but I did it and I regret it," he told the Herald Sun.

"I know there are people out there who do this, and I did it.

"I have no excuse for what I did. If I could go back in time there's not a chance I would have done this.

"I am disgusted with myself."

His double life was exposed on the ANZMI military imposters website.
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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25986890-2862,00.html