Man Charged as Medal of Honor Imposter

Headlines

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | By John Diedrich | August 23, 2007

Terry J. Powell has spoken to veterans' groups and public gatherings numerous times while wearing a Medal of Honor that he said he received for heroic actions during the Vietnam War - claims that federal investigators say are bogus, according to court documents made public Tuesday.

Powell, 56, of Milwaukee, has given different stories about how he came to earn the nation's highest award for valor.

He told veterans in May that he received it for combat in Vietnam and gave a similar story to a crowd of more than 200 gathered on Memorial Day at Cory Park in the Village of Dousman, according to a federal search warrant.

In June, he told Waukesha County sheriff's detectives he was a cook on the destroyer USS O'Hara and nursed several sailors with food poisoning back to health, the warrant said. He showed the detectives a Medal of Honor certificate that he says he received from President Nixon on July 15, 1972, and was signed by Navy Secretary John Chaffee.

The warrant points out several reasons to doubt Powell's claim: the O'Hara was a transport ship decommissioned in 1961 and scrapped by 1968, years before Powell claimed to have saved the sailors. Chaffee wasn't secretary of the Navy in the summer of 1972; John Warner was. The certificate, along with others Powell had for other medals, appeared to have been altered. And Powell is not listed as a Medal of Honor recipient on any records.

Powell has been charged with unlawfully wearing the Medal of Honor, according to documents made public Tuesday. If convicted, he faces up to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison.

Powell responded angrily to a reporter's call for comment Tuesday.

"I am a Medal of Honor recipient!" Powell yelled, adding he would submit to a lie detector test.

Powell said he lost the original certificate when his basement flooded and said he now has a "third party certificate," and denied forging it.

He repeatedly used profanity when referring to the FBI, which investigated his case. He said he is displaying his American flag upside down in protest. He called a reporter a profanity and then hung up.

Authorities learned about Powell from veterans. Robert K. Schmitt and Gerry Gramins, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9496 in Menomonee Falls, said Powell wore the Medal of Honor to the post on May 1. Powell spoke at the VFW that day and described how he said he earned the medal during combat in Vietnam.

During the Memorial Day speech in Dousman, which was videotaped, Powell said he served three tours in Vietnam and one in Iraq.

Afterward, a Waukesha detective called Powell and said he wanted to write an article for a police newsletter about him, which was a lie, the warrant said. Powell posed wearing the Medal of Honor for photographs, the warrant said.

On Aug. 7, Powell again wore the Medal of Honor to the VFW post and tried to speak to the group but wasn't allowed, the warrant said.

The issue of illegally wearing medals will be discussed at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's annual convention, set for Green Bay beginning Sept. 3.

Kenneth Stumpf, 63, of Tomah earned the Medal of Honor for rescuing wounded soldiers under intense fire and organizing an assault on machine gun bunkers in April 1967 in Vietnam.

"We're very proud and privileged to wear the Medal of Honor and all that it stands for and for the men who came before us," he said. "To have someone (falsely) say they're a Medal of Honor recipient is just a disgrace."

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Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

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