8 September 2023
SUPERIOR A lie that left shock and sadness at the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center has resulted in a new policy requiring proof of military service for every program, donation, display and volunteer.
It started with good intentions.
The community turned out to remember naval veteran Dan Knight at a Flag of Remembrance ceremony July 7 at the center. Members of the Richard I. Bong American Legion Post 435 also held a Missing Man ceremony for him.
“That’s special. We don’t do that for everybody. That’s usually just for members of our honor guard,” said Post Commander Butch Liebaert.
Knight reportedly saved the life of a Marine in the Vietnam War and earned the Silver Star, the third-highest military combat decoration, for his bravery. His heroic oral history was recorded at the center in 2011 under a previous director and sent to the National Archives.
He was also a former commander of the American Legion post and a longtime volunteer with the center who even got married there. Center staff said they wanted to honor the veteran, who had no one to provide end-of-life services.
“Why wouldn’t you step up and do the right thing?” asked Katie Marturano, the Bong Center’s marketing and events coordinator.
Over the next two months, an email, an expert, and a crucial piece of paper unraveled Knight’s story of heroism, revealing instead a tale of stolen valor.
“This was a person who was never in Vietnam saying he was there,” said Briana Fiandt, curator of collections and exhibits with the center.
“A lot of people have had to take a moment and kind of swallow the hard pill,” Marturano said.
Trail of clues
Shortly after the ceremony, Bob Barnett, chairman of the Swift Boat Sailors Association, emailed the center asking for a copy of Knight’s DD214, or military discharge paperwork. When Fiandt looked in the oral history file where a copy should be it wasn’t there. That opened a back-and-forth dialog.
“And they started telling me all of the reasons why they thought he was lying,” Fiandt said, based on inaccuracies veterans who had been in Vietnam could point out.
I felt really, really, really sad when I finally realized that, that Dan was lying to all of us.
Center staff and volunteers were shocked.
“I figured there’s no way that he could not have been in Vietnam,” said Bob Hoyt, a Vietnam veteran who volunteered at the center with Knight for four years.
Hoyt, of Duluth, has taken many oral histories at the center. He studies up before the interview to make sure it’s accurate.
“Civilians don’t normally have this type of information in your head, whereas those that served in the military do, right, and it’s just a couple of quick questions you can ask, and then you know if the guy’s lying,” Hoyt said.
He listened to Knight’s oral history and found inconsistencies between the recording and the stories Knight told him when they sat at the volunteer desk. A Navy payroll dispersing clerk who was stationed in Saigon, Hoyt had experience with Swift Boats, river patrol boats (PBRs) and military procedures to catch additional red flags and some “absolute baloney” in Knight’s oral history.
“I felt really, really, really sad when I finally realized that, that Dan was lying to all of us,” Hoyt said.
Knight’s DD214, received from the Douglas County Veterans Service Office, confirmed that Knight served in the Navy in the Mediterranean from 1965 to 1969, Fiandt said. He served on the USS Fremont, according to the paperwork.
I don’t want a little retraction in the corner. I want to make it up to them and show them that we honor their sacrifice.
“For us veterans, faking serious wartime injuries to gain undeserved benefits and claiming valor is kind of a disservice to our brave veterans and service members who risk their lives every day protecting this country,” Barnett said.
It is also a federal crime if a person’s false claims allow them to receive money, property or other tangible benefit, according to the Stolen Valor Act of 2013.
When Barnett sent a letter Aug. 9 asking for Knight’s oral history to be removed and that news outlets who ran the story to retract it, Fiandt said she could feel the pain behind the words.
“This is the story Dan stole, their story is the one he stole, and I want to make it up to them. I guess that’s why I don’t want a little retraction in the corner. I want to make it up to them and show them that we honor their sacrifice,” Fiandt said.
Aftermath
The incident led to a new written policy at the Bong Center requiring proof of veteran status (a DD214) for participation in every program, from donated items and event speakers to volunteers and tile applications. The policy was approved by the nonprofit’s board of directors in late August.
“Now we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Marturano said.
They also want to share their experience, to prevent it from happening elsewhere.
“Maybe we need to shed some light on this … it is unfathomable, so you don’t think about it until it happens,” Marturano said.
Fiandt said she reached out to other organizations, including the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum, to look at other policies before drafting one for the center.
“I never found one,” she said.
Doug Thompson, curator of the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum at Camp Ripley in Little Falls, Minnesota, said they don’t deal with stolen valor instances often. They always ask for documentation of awards and discharge certificates, he said, and red flags come up when veterans get evasive.
“I think doing due diligence can weed out a lot of people,” he said.
It’s “institutionally ingrained” in the current staff to get that information and there are safeguards in place, he said, but the museum doesn’t have a formal policy codified in its collections manual.
“It’s actually probably a pretty good idea to put something like that in writing,” Thompson said. “I think it’s something that we might probably entertain the idea of creating for ourselves.”
Reaching out
Roughly $500 was raised during the July 7 tribute to assist in future cases of honoring veterans who don’t have end-of-life services. Fiandt said they plan to contact people who sent checks to see if they would like the funds returned. The rest will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.
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