By EMMA SUN
WHEN a man decked out shoulder to waist in medals spoke at a hills Anzac Day service, there’s no surprise some alarm bells started ringing.
But the revelation that the man, who claimed to be a Major-General in the Australian Defence Force, was actually an impostor was the coup de grace.
The Mail has chosen to withhold the man’s name at this time.
He was seen wearing about 30 medals, but Sergeant Paul Phillips from Olinda Police Station has confirmed at least 25 of his medals were fake.
“He was purporting to be a retired Major-General in the Defence Force, which is a very high rank in the upper echelon of the service, but it turns out he was not,” he said.
“He gave a talk about war and the horrors of war but it’s been discovered by ex-servicemen who have seen him and heard him, so there’s a bit of outrage in the Defence community.
“It’s a very disappointing act.”
While police have yet to determine whether the man has served at all, the Australian and New Zealand Military Imposters (ANZMI) website last Friday claimed he was a corporal who served with the Australian Army between 1970 and 1975, but “was never deployed to any operational areas”.
Veteran Bill Hobson from ANZMI said they had been inundated with hundreds of emails reporting the man, the most in the group’s history.
He said it was “just ridiculous” the man chose to wear so many medals.
“It just went crazy – the first report I got was from New Zealand and then there were hundreds and hundreds throughout veteran forums in Australia,” he said.
“His medals were all over the place and there were just too many.
“I think that he is a bit unusual because no-one in their right mind would put so many medals on themselves – most of the wannabes that we get have maybe four fake medals to claim they’re Vietnam veterans.”
Retired army serviceman and Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne OAM is one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers and has served in five wars, including the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Now, aged 79, he holds the rank of Warrant Officer Class Two and has 25 medals, which include jubilee medals, gallantry medals and service medals.
However, most of the impostor’s medals have been identified as active service medals, the majority of which should not be doubled up.
A local Anzac Day organiser said he was saddened and disappointed by what had occurred. “(Our) desire was to run a service which gathered the local community together and honoured our servicemen,” he said.
“Our service was a great event, which has now been tainted. I am pleased that the Olinda police have acted so quickly.”
Dandenong Ranges RSL vice-president, Peter Rickard, said while he didn’t understand what motivated people to impersonate military personnel, there was no great harm done.
“Apart from the embarrassment, he gave a very entertaining address,” he said.
But Mr Hobson slammed such behaviour as unacceptable and warned that anybody impersonating a veteran would get caught.
“They’re stealing the honour of general veterans who had to do the hard yards,” he said.
“You have to consult a psychologist to understand why they’re doing it.
“I just want to catch these people and expose them – whether a guy is a senior officer or has been a private, we still proceed in the same way and expose them.”
The alleged impostor did not return numerous calls from the Mail.
