Col John A Schramm USMC Scout/Sniper

[Hessian]

From what I just looked up the Combat Bubble was autherized for Marines in 2001, looks like shortly after it was created. Seems no such badge exsisted in 1971. Imagine that!

 

The "Combatant Diver Insignia" was created in 2001 after some hard lobbying by the Marine dive instructors at Panama City and senior folks in the Reconnaissance community. Prior to that, we all wore the Navy Scuba Diver insignia which is silver (you can see it in my signature tag, above the gold jump wings).

 

During Vietnam there were some 'local' SCUBA schools established by the Recon Battalions in country and the Philippines but the number of Marines trained there were paltry, or so Ive been told.

 

I always try and reserve judgement when I see a implausible ribbon rack or multiple awards. As a young SSgt I worked for a senior CWO4 who had been a grunt in Vietnam and had the craziest fruit salad you've ever seen. Even had Air Medals (as a ground pounder) for doing Sparrow Hawk (rescue missions) and numerous valor awards for recon ops in Laos, Cambodia, etc. The "classified" type of awards alluded to in this thread. Not to mention a silver star on his Purple Heart signifying five awards. On several occasions he had senior officers (including a General) come up to him at the Marine Corps ball and tell him that there was no way he could rate all those awards. It got to where he actually carried miniature copies of his awards certs laminated in his wallet! Craziest part... every award was legit!

 

While I"m sorry Steve got burned, the saddest part of this story (to me) is that this guy was actually a Marine and it just wasn't enough. It also seems sicker when it's an actual veteran who covers themselves in this type of stolen/false glory. It's just sad.

[Corpsmancollector]

This is absolutely astounding. I have never seen anything like this, nor was I aware (perhaps naively on my part) that people went to this extent in order to fake and forge a hoax story. I am lost for words.

 

Skio; hope you didn’t lose too much on this. But, thank you for bringing this to our attention. I for one had definitely learnt something.

 

Respectfully,

 

Will

[Javelin4life]

Here is the uniform in question that goes with the rest of Skio's grouping. The jacket was a 45R. When I inspected the inside pocket for a name, there was nothing but a makers label.

[Javelin4life]

And the DSDSM w/ silver OLC I saw named to him. No other medal on the rack was engraved.

[Dave]

Man, I bet your heart was pounding when you saw that!!!

 

Out of curiosity, what were they asking for it? It would be cool on a coat form...

[BagmanL6]

Good afternoon everyone. There was one thing with this group that caught my eye but I haven't seen mentioned. Its very minor but I thought it was worth pointing out. I found the identification card inside his cover frame to be somewhat odd. My experiences (and I'm sure there are others) have been that most officers put one of their Lt calling cards in the frame from the beginning. When they move to a field grade frame most just put inthe old card. It is for personal identification when you're trying to find your cover after a mess night or Birthday Ball. The fact that SOCOM was written in and the Lt portion of LtCol had been lined out just seemed staged to me.

[Javelin4life]

Man, I bet your heart was pounding when you saw that!!!

 

Out of curiosity, what were they asking for it? It would be cool on a coat form...

Dave,

 

I definitely felt my heart stop for a split second when I saw this laying on the table ? the seller was asking $300 for the jacket.

[bryang]

Wow - I'm in awe! This guy had some serious time and creativity on his hands!

 

I wonder where he got the templates for these certificates? As far as I know, there are no certificates for the National Defense Service Medal or Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. Unless, of course, I got jipped when I got mine... :pinch:

 

Dave

 

As a recipient of both the National Defense Service Medal (twice) and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (twice for Somalia) I never received certificates. Just a set of blanket orders for those of us who had deployed in support of these operations!

 

[bryang]

And the DSDSM w/ silver OLC I saw named to him. No other medal on the rack was engraved.

 

Interesting to see the date on the reverse of this Defense Superior Service Medal - 1969.

 

This award was created and authorized in 1976.

 

[Gldank]

I am no expert by any means but there is just too much of the good stuff on those ribbons. It sure is pretty though!! James

[Jschramm17]

Hello everyone. This is a bit strange to be posting here – I’m neither vet nor involved in any way with the military (although I’m forever grateful for your commitment to our country). I’d like to write a quick post about the false vet in question, the man who happens to be my father.

 

I’m not here to defend him, I’ve only met the man 3 times in my life. This forum is how I actually came to find out that my father was dead. For some reason, one day I decided to “google” his name and this site came up. I just felt obligated to provide some potential insight why a man who served his country might have gone to these great lengths and defame the honor that comes with serving his country. From what I was told of my father is that he was a sick man. He suffered from either a neurological disorder or depression/trauma which might explain why he created these fake medals and identities. I feel in my heart that he actually believed he was the hero he was pretending to be and didn’t think they were even fake at all. In the end, John’s pain and suffering was unbearable and passed away. (I believe he took his own life.)

 

I understand what he did was disgusting and horrible but I’d like to suggest viewing these shinola actions through a lens of a man with deep depression and hopelessness. He was very sick and left this earth with nothing. John could have walked down the street and I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup but as a country under God, I pray for his soul and for all those who suffer.

 

I’m sorry for whoever got duped and hope that you didn’t lose a substantial amount of money.

[BagmanL6]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[lothrop]

I'm certainly sorry that this happened to be the case. Mental illness sounds like a very reasonable explanation for all of this; actually, it makes a lot of sense. l'm sorry for your loss.

[JMMimiaga]

Two things made me instantly question this quy's record. First, a Marine with a SEAL trident? He must have made quite the impression on a SEAL team to be given one of those. Second, that is a LOT of shiny on his salad bar, too much shiny. Even the saltiest, most grizzled of Sergeant Majors don't have THAT many stars on their ribbons - pretty much every award that could have multiple awards has the maximum number that can be displayed. It's almost comical, like a 10-year-old put it together. This guy must have just been simply the bestest at everything.

[JMMimiaga]

I've noticed a patern with these people. They always go for special forces, and are always highly decorated. Who would bat an eye at a sergeant with a CIB, a couple recent campaign medals, maybe a PH, and a GCM?

[bryang]

I know I'm coming into this thread pretty late, however I nearly got burned a couple months ago on a grouping which looked pretty awesome.

 

Seller had a lot full of some pretty good items - enlistment discharges, OCS commissioning, Bronze Star (Vietnam) certificate, write-up and orders, some Vietnam correspondence, orders for his time in Army National Guard (20th Special Forces Group), and later Army Reserve (11th Special Forces Group), green beret. A really nice personalized 101st Airborne Div cigarette lighter from Vietnam 1966-67.

 

Overall some really nice items for a outstanding grouping.

 

The one item of concern was his dress green uniform. At first it really caught my eye - complete and all awards in appropriate order and period correct. The awards on this uniform included the Silver Star, Bronze star with "V" valor device and oak leaf cluster, Air Medal, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, as well as two silver campaign stars - and Arrowhead - on his Southeast Asia Service Ribbon.

 

I was fixing to buy the grouping from the flea market vendor - I was going to give him a $500 gun for it all. However, after some reflection and a little online searching, I found nothing which indicated that he was an actual recipient of these valor awards and Purple Hearts, nor could I justify so many campaign stars for his year in Vietnam.

 

While it is certain that this Infantry Officer served as a Platoon Leader in Vietnam, and later in Special Forces - as a Guardsman and Reservist - I came to the conclusion that this uniform was embellished. However, I honestly don't believe that the vendor embellished it. He had no military experience, nor did he seem familiar with the bulk of the items. He knew that the cigarette lighter was valuable (while I was talking to him about the grouping, another vendor offered $150 for just the lighter - to the vendor's credit he wanted everything to stay together).

 

Its my belief that the uniform's owner may have added the additional awards to look more awesome. This uniform was dated the late 1970's, and the Special Forces tab would place it more properly at early 1980's. This was a time before the internet, therefore no online searching. Also, with the military records fire in 1973 I imagine it wouldn't have been overly difficult at that time to come up with a few extra awards and simply attribute the lack of verification to this fire.

 

The vendor wanted $500 for this grouping - and had this officer been actually decorated with the Silver Star, Bronze Star for valor and Purple Hearts I would have been OK with it. Setting aside the 'jazzed up' dress uniform, I believe the documents and Bronze Star certificate (for meritorious service in Vietnam) would have made a very nice grouping for a Soldier who served his country. However, not $500 nice. I believe in the end I dodged a bullet with this one.

 

 

[manayunkman]

In a way Schramm is a genious.

 

Even with all the mistakes he must have put some time and thought into this.

 

And then to live this persona, everyday he was The Colonel.

 

Incredible really.

 

Sad but incredible.

[Kadet]

I know I'm coming into this thread pretty late, however I nearly got burned a couple months ago on a grouping which looked pretty awesome.

 

Seller had a lot full of some pretty good items - enlistment discharges, OCS commissioning, Bronze Star (Vietnam) certificate, write-up and orders, some Vietnam correspondence, orders for his time in Army National Guard (20th Special Forces Group), and later Army Reserve (11th Special Forces Group), green beret. A really nice personalized 101st Airborne Div cigarette lighter from Vietnam 1966-67.

 

Overall some really nice items for a outstanding grouping.

 

The one item of concern was his dress green uniform. At first it really caught my eye - complete and all awards in appropriate order and period correct. The awards on this uniform included the Silver Star, Bronze star with "V" valor device and oak leaf cluster, Air Medal, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, as well as two silver campaign stars - and Arrowhead - on his Southeast Asia Service Ribbon.

 

I was fixing to buy the grouping from the flea market vendor - I was going to give him a $500 gun for it all. However, after some reflection and a little online searching, I found nothing which indicated that he was an actual recipient of these valor awards and Purple Hearts, nor could I justify so many campaign stars for his year in Vietnam.

 

While it is certain that this Infantry Officer served as a Platoon Leader in Vietnam, and later in Special Forces - as a Guardsman and Reservist - I came to the conclusion that this uniform was embellished. However, I honestly don't believe that the vendor embellished it. He had no military experience, nor did he seem familiar with the bulk of the items. He knew that the cigarette lighter was valuable (while I was talking to him about the grouping, another vendor offered $150 for just the lighter - to the vendor's credit he wanted everything to stay together).

 

Its my belief that the uniform's owner may have added the additional awards to look more awesome. This uniform was dated the late 1970's, and the Special Forces tab would place it more properly at early 1980's. This was a time before the internet, therefore no online searching. Also, with the military records fire in 1973 I imagine it wouldn't have been overly difficult at that time to come up with a few extra awards and simply attribute the lack of verification to this fire.

 

The vendor wanted $500 for this grouping - and had this officer been actually decorated with the Silver Star, Bronze Star for valor and Purple Hearts I would have been OK with it. Setting aside the 'jazzed up' dress uniform, I believe the documents and Bronze Star certificate (for meritorious service in Vietnam) would have made a very nice grouping for a Soldier who served his country. However, not $500 nice. I believe in the end I dodged a bullet with this one.

 

 

I honestly think you might have passed up a nice group here. The Meritorious BSM was for a year long tour, but that doesn't rule out previous or subsequent tours. VN 101st vet that late went in to SF and remained in the NG and reserve after the war. Nothing unusual to me about a 70s dated uniform used in the 80s either....

[dg0223]

Just a few more red flags on the dress uniform. That's not how medals are mounted on a Marine dress uniform. The uniform regulations specifically talk about the number of medals per row. Also, the unit citations aren't displayed four across over the right breast — when wearing the unit citations and other ribbons that do not have medals associated with them, they are worn three across. Also, the colonel insignia is too far inward.