Hunt is on for Phony POWs

[unhappycamper]

Hunt is on for Phony POWs
December 30, 2008
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - The story that Richard Barr Cayton has told of his Vietnam War service features a torturous march through the jungle in January 1971, his arms tied to a branch across the back of his neck and shoulders. He was a prisoner of war, he said, until a bombing distracted his captors, and he and a fellow soldier escaped.

Cayton recounted the episode for a Texas newspaper in 2002, saying that he and the other Army Ranger, David Meyer, traveled by night and hid during the day until they were found.

For all its drama, Cayton's story of captivity and a flight to freedom is not supported by military records or interviews with his fellow soldiers. Records show that Cayton was a soldier but never a prisoner of war, and he admitted that in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

"I made a mistake," Cayton said. "I did something wrong and apologized for it."

Cayton's tale is perhaps one of the more dramatic examples of someone who falsely maintains that he was a prisoner of war. Such claims are so common that a cottage industry of sorts has emerged to expose phony POWs, Navy SEALs, Green Berets and others falsely claiming that they served in elite military units.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/hunt-is-on-for-phony-pows.html?wh=wh