Military News, News From Iraq & Afghanistan - Military Times

Two-star faker fooled friends, Marines

RAMONA, Calif. — Among the small crowd of military veterans and Marines, the two-star general stood out.

At the Ramona VFW’s annual Marine Corps birthday celebration Nov. 7, David Weber was treated as the honored guest, receiving the first piece of the birthday cake in accordance with tradition.

Intrigued by the two stars on Weber’s shoulder boards — and the combat air crewman insignia above all his medals — Lt. Col. Todd Oneto struck up a conversation with the retired officer. A photographer from the local newspaper captured the moment.

Weber told Oneto about enlisting in the Marine Corps at age 17 and about his “promotion” to first lieutenant.

Less than a week later, Oneto learned that Weber’s stories had stretched the truth.

Weber was never a major general. He was never even commissioned as an officer.

Weber, who did serve in the Corps during the late 1950s and early 1960s, was exposed after the photograph of him and Oneto appeared in Ramona’s community newspaper, The Ramona Sentinel, along with a story about his purported exploits while on active duty. He had regaled the reporter with tales of secret undercover work, covert missions and operations that stretched from submarines to the CIA and to the embassy rooftop in Saigon in 1975.

At first, the article sparked curiosity. Then it shot across the Internet, reaching officials at Marine Corps headquarters. Soon, an officer with the Marine Corps Inspector General’s office contacted Weber.

“He told me to cease and desist, and I did,” Weber told Marine Corps Times. “I said, ‘Sir, that’s exactly what I will do.’ ”

Days later, the Ramona Sentinel ran another story about Weber. Its headline read “The two-star general who wasn’t.”

Weber has offered no explanation for why he portrayed himself as a retired general officer, saying only, “I, mentally, was in bad shape.”

He claims to suffer from Parkinson’s disease and nightmares associated with post-traumatic stress.

He said, “I just don’t know why I did such a dumb-ass thing. … I’m ashamed of this.”

Coming clean

Ramona is a rural area northeast of San Diego. Until his story appeared in the newspaper, few people in the community — if anyone — knew Weber’s supposed pedigree. He lived in the area, but he wasn’t a member of the VFW post or active in local veterans’ activities, and apart from a few outings to the golf course, he kept a low profile.

Those who’d seen him around described Weber as charming, always with lots of stories to tell — and he seemed convincing.

Former Staff Sgt. Ken Dower first met Weber last summer at a local picnic, when Weber helped push Dower’s wheelchair-bound wife from the couple’s car up a steep hill.

“He saw my decals [on the vehicle] … and said, ‘I was a general,’ ” said Dower, an intelligence specialist who saw combat during the Korean War. “He said, ‘I was in intelligence.’ ”

A few months later, Dower saw Weber at a local barbeque. At the time, he was helping to organize the VFW’s annual Marine Corps birthday celebration, so he extended an invite to Weber.

Weber donned the dress uniform and arrived at the VFW before noon. If anyone realized that Weber’s uniform wasn’t proper — he wore a red cummerbund instead of the red vest that general officers wear — nobody spoke up.

“I think it’s the first time anybody saw him in uniform. … Thinking back, I have some regrets,” Dower said. But “I had no reason to doubt it.”

A few days after Weber was outed, he called Dower to apologize. “Ken,” he said, “I led you on.”

Weber may have to explain a few other things also. He is listed as a retired major general in the annual directory published by the Marine Corps Association, a professional organization for active-duty and retired Marines. In the midst of his escapade, Weber said, he took the directory to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and received a new Defense Department identification card that says he’s a retired O-8. He also had a vehicle decal for Camp Pendleton.

He said he has removed that decal and turned in the bogus ID card.

“It’s just a mess,” he said. “I put myself in a bad situation.”

It’s unclear if he will face criminal charges, though his appearance at the VFW event violated two federal laws: impersonating a military officer and wearing military awards, including the Purple Heart, that he did not earn. The FBI is aware of Weber’s case, said Special Agent Darrell Foxworth, a spokesman in the agency’s San Diego field office, but so far officials there won’t confirm whether a formal investigation is underway.