Convicted Felon Pretending to Be Disabled Marine Officer Uncovered as a Fake After 22 Years
A convicted felon with a long history of arrests was recently exposed by FOX6 News of Milwaukee, Wisconsin for posing as a disabled Marine Corps officer for the last 22 years.
John Hemphill, who has officially gone by the name ���Lieutenant John Hemphill��� for as long as anyone around him can remember, found himself on the receiving end of what were some rather benign questions from members of the FOX6 Investigators team while he was a volunteer working the concession stand at a local high school football game.
When ���Lieutenant��� Hemphill was asked by FOX6���s Stephen Davis if he was a Marine, Hemphill answered affirmatively, but when Davis went on to ask him where he had served, Hemphill reportedly doubled over and covered his mouth, claiming later that he was choking on a fly. As it turns out, he never got around to answering that question.
Hemphill is 46 years old and unemployed. He also has a prosthetic leg, which he has claimed was lost in Afghanistan. That, however, is not the case.
When FOX6 contacted Mary Schantag, a founder of The Fake Warrior Project, which is a group of volunteers dedicated to ���outing��� military imposters, about Hemphill, she made a request for his service record under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. According to what she learned, the Marine Corps had no evidence that Hemphill was ever among their ranks.
As Schantag put it, ���I don't know how he lost his leg. But I can guarantee it wasn't in the bombing in Afghanistan and it certainly wasn't in an ambush in Vietnam.��� Hemphill has also claimed he served in Vietnam, which, as it happens, would have been impressive, if true; the United States exited Vietnam in 1975, when Hemphill was 5 years old, which means he would have unquestionably been the youngest combat veteran in the history of the American military if what he said about service in Southeast Asia was real.
Schantag told FOX6 that the matter of people pretending to be veterans is ���an epidemic,��� presently.
As for the fallout Hemphill will face, beyond the bad publicity, well, first and foremost, his wife is divorcing him over this. As Sheila Hemphill puts it, ���The whole marriage was based on a fraud.���
Hemphill may face legal troubles, as well, if it is determined that he benefitted financially from his false claims of military service, something that could put him at odds with the Stolen Valor Act federal statute.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
