In the image taken at the Silver Fox Entertainment Centre in Summerside PEI on 11 November 2019, he’s rockin’ a most interesting collection of ribbons and insignia.
The ribbons represent the Canadian Somalia Medal, Special Service Medal, Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal, UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UN Protection Force, UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda, NATO (FY), the Canada 125th Anniversary, the Canadian Forces Decoration, a privately purchased Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal & The St John Ambulance Service Medal.
Of the 3 medal ribbons on the bottom row, there’s the Netherlands UN Peacekeeping Medal, the centre one is unknown and the last is a privately purchased UN commemorative trinket.
Our Dutch friends tell us that he is wearing the Draaginsigne Gewonden, legitimately awarded, on his left chest pocket, the badge is analogous to Canada’s Sacrifice Medal.
What we do know.
He was a Boatswain in the Navy Reserve 1991-97 then transferred to the Regular Force as an Infantryman serving in 2nd Bn RCR in Gagetown 1997-2001. He completed a tour in Bosnia 1999 and was awarded the CPSM and NATO (FY) Medal. Van der pol voluntarily left the CF in 2001.
Before joining the CF, Van der Pol had prior service in the Netherlands Army and he was deployed as a mechanized infantryman with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
Of the medal ribbons that he’s wearing, there is no evidence that Dutchman has any lawful entitlement to the wear the (1) Canadian Somalia Medal, (2) the Canadian Special Service Medal (NATO), (3) UN Protection Force Medal, (4) UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda Medal, (5) Canada 125th Medal, (6) the Canadian Forces Decoration and, (7) the St John Ambulance Service Medal.
Of course, there’s an awesome vest involved…
In an email exchange with Van der pol, he talks of role in a play in which he played a soldier suffering from PTSD who became a biker…
He claims the uniform and jacked up ribbons and insignia were just stage props that he wore on the same day as he was camping with a 2% van club in Europe and he changed on the way to the venue.
Cool story bro, the ribbons on the uniform and your cut are identical unfortunately, the images are separated by 6 years!
You also told us that you were wearing the US Combat Infantry Badge to honour your father, a Netherlander who was wounded in action in Korea. And, the jump wings were awarded / purchased at a civvy parachute school and your CO authorized you to wear them.
The US Navy wings are an interesting addition to his medallic fuckery…Then, outta the blue, Ol’ Hendrik just cowboy’d up… (7 April 2021)
SVC would like to take this opportunity to recognize the assistance of provided us by trusted friend, the late, Sergeant First Class Jonn Lilyea, a US Army Gulf War Veteran & co founder of the web site “This Ain’t Hell” (TAH)
Mr Brent Errol Tremblay, embellisher & fake combat wounded veteran, welcome to the jungle!
Stolen-Valour Canada was advised by a number of parties that there was a potential issue with the US medals and insignia that Brent Tremblay of Neville, Saskatchewan had been photographed wearing.
Mr Tremblay rockin’ the US Combat Infantry Badge along with the Purple Heart. Interestingly, he’s not wearing the 2 medals he could be entitled to for his CAF service in Cyprus
Prior to investing any research effort into what could potentially become an wild goose chase, we contacted Mr Tremblay in (July 2018) order to provide him with an opportunity to sort out the reported situation. SVC does not act upon unsubstantiated intelligence or malicious tips, and we were hoping that he’d take advantage of our offer to assist to protecting his reputation.
Eventually, he read the emails, refused to cooperate and/or protect his reputation and, in fact, he made the now standard threats of legal action against us should we share our research on our media platforms. (22 Mar 2019)
However, we learned through an intermediary on 27 Mar 2019, Tremblay made the decision to ”cowboy up” and admit he had no lawful entitlement to wear the US military awards including the Purple Heart and CIB.
When contacted, Mr Tremblay told us that he had made an apology on an obscure fishin’ bubba’s FB page (he refused to share the apology, only his reaction to their messages of support) and that he had destroyed the US medals and insignia…
But, we already knew that as a result of our cross border partnerships, as SVC obtained the results of a FOIA request. Our American friends used Tremblay’s full name / confirmed date of birth in their communications with the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis, Missouri.
Mr Tremblay was a member of the Royal Regina Rifles for a short period of time (1980-81). He then joined the Regular Forceas a Cook, completed his trades training at CFB Borden and subsequently served in Cyprus with the 2nd Bn PPCLI. He left the CAF shortly after his early repatriation to Canada.
As a legitimate Canadian Forces veteran with service in Cyprus Tremblay could be entitled to the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal and the United Nations Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Medal…
Thanks to investigative assistance of the late SFC Jonn Lilyea US Army (a Desert Shield / Storm infantryman / CIB recipient) and a co-founder of the US Blog This Ain’t Hell, we were advised that there was absolutely no record of Tremblay’s claimed service during Operation Desert Shield / Storm.
Had he been on Active Duty and deployed to the Middle East, the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis, Missouri would have held the documents.
It’s really quite simple,
Tremblay lived in various locations along the I-5 corridor in Washington State / Oregon (1990ish-2000s). He was a Power Generation Equipment Repairman serving with the 41st Infantry Brigade of the Oregon National Guard just long enough to have his official portrait taken…
He never served in the South West Asia theatre of operations in any capacity so, he could not have met the criteria for being awarded the Purple Heart Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge…
There’s probably more to Tremblay’s story however, SVC has focussed on his medallic fuckery alone.
Fakers got to keep on fakin’… We’ve concealed the identity of “service dog” as he’s just another innocent victim / stage prop in Tremblay’s military themed fairy tale. (2 Oct 2019)
Lest We Forget.
With this admission of circumstance SVC, considers this matter closed. The post will remain on our web site in perpetuity.
Stolen-Valour Canada was advised by a number of parties that there was a potential issue with the medals that Mr Matthew Connolly had been photographed wearing.
SVC does not act upon unsubstantiated intelligence or malicious tips that are often initiated as a result of petty jealousy, marital misadventure or, sheer vindictiveness. We will not waste any staff effort on someone’s “gut feel” nor do we do participate in witch hunts. Tipsters must provide evidence (pictures, news articles, social media links) of their concerns before we can move forward.
Prior to investing any research effort into what often becomes an unfounded wild goose chase; we contact named individuals in order to provide them with an opportunity to sort out the reported situation. Our hope, they would take advantage of our offer to protect his reputation and silence this issue once and for all.
To that end, we asked that Connolly on 14 Feb 2019 to provide us with the documentation that would prove his entitlement to wear the Special Service Medal (NATO) and the NATO Non-article 5 Medal.
The result – Connolly read our communication and told us that the medals he wore were replica medals ordered to replace the originals lost in a house fire. He had advised the medal mounting company of his dates of service / units and, a four medal group consisting of the SSM, CPSM, UNIFICYP and NATO Non Art 5 medals was created.
Connolly’s medal group including the SSM, CPSM, UNFICYP, NATO Non Article 5 Medal and the QDJM. Prior to 6 March 2019.
Unfortunately, the ships (FRASER / HURON) that he claimed to have served in between 1977-1980 did not meet the 180 day threshold for the SSM during the time he said he was a member of the ship’s company.
The NATO Non Art 5 Medal presented a challenge as there is no clasp detailing a particular mission however, that particular medal was created to recognize specific operations that did not occur until many many years after he left the CF…
Connolly’s actual medal group consisting of the CPSM, UNFICYP and QDJM. After the 2 medals he lacked any lawful entitlement to were removed.
We were asked to review a number of photographic images of former Master Corporal Kenneth (AKA”Ranger Ken”) Arthur POITRAS CD who resides in the Winnipeg, Manitoba area.
Our review identified a number of inconsistencies in his medallic display and, when combined with his confusing claims of service, that gave us cause to question his entire military narrative.
Our team conducted a thorough review of all available records, this included websites, newspaper articles, photographic images, regimental tour books, searchable data bases of medal recipients and extracts from military documents in Canada and in the United States in order to determine the legitimacy of his claims.
When recently questioned by a retired senior PPCLI Officer who is actually a US Army RANGER, this was Poitras’ response…
Poitras wearing a maroon beret next to the mural dedicated to a true PPCLI hero!
SV-C then reached out to the regimental associations, their museums and other organizations in which Poitras has claimed to have served. The publicly accessible records, that we have had the opportunity to review, did not support his claims. That being said, the absence of verifiable records alone does not conclusively prove that an individual is a fake or embellisher, it just indicates that there are no records…
Our next step, we contacted Mr Poitras on 5 May 2019 and provided him the opportunity to sort out the reported situation.
In this image, sent to SVC by Mr Poitras on 7 May 2019, shows the medal group and jump wings he routinely wore at military themed events.
*Special Service Medal (NATO/OTAN),
*Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal,
*U.N. service medals (6) – India/Pakistan, Cyprus, Golan Heights, Lebanon, Namibia, and Angola,
*International Commission of Control Supervision (Vietnam),
*Multinational Force of Observers (Sinai), and
*Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal (1977).
He separated the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD), his sole legitimate medal from this group on our request.
Recorded history and simple arithmetic caused us to raise a number of red flags in regards to Mr Poitras’ medal group.
India/Pakistan- UNMOGIP (1948-1979) and UNIPOM (1965-1966). These two missions used the identical medal ribbon. CF participation was limited to military observers, all officers, and RCAF aircrew.
Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal (1977) The names of PPCLI recipients of this medal are recorded in the regimental journal. There are no 21 year old Private soldiers with broken service listed…
Lebanon-UNIFIL (1978) only 117 CF members received this medal and their names are known to SVC. Of note, this medal was also worn fraudulently by a convicted valour thief / senior officer.
Angola-UNAVEM II (1991-95) Canadian participation in this mission was limited to a total of 60 military observers, all officers.
Vietnam-International Commission of Control Supervision (1973) – 14 PPCLI Officers served on this mission that predates Poitras’ enrolment by almost 2 years!
SO, what we do know…
Former Master Corporal Kenneth Arthur POITRAS was an Infantryman in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. He served in both the 2nd & 3rd Battalions of PPCLI between 1975 and 1983. Poitras was selected for and attended basic parachutist training at the Canadian Airborne Centre in Edmonton in the Spring of 1977, he failed to complete the course.
There is absolutely no record of him attending the US Army’s RANGER qualification course although he claimed to have been a trainee on Class 2 of 1976.
Was he honouring a friend by wearing the RANGER garb?
He continued to serve in the 3rd Bn PPCLI at Work Point Barracks until he applied remuster to Mobile Support Equipment Operator. Poitras then served at a number of Air Force bases until he retired from the CF in 1991.
By surrendering the bogus medals and wings, former Master Corporal Kenneth A Poitras CD confirms that he didn’t serve overseas in any capacity and had had no lawful entitlement to the wear the items.
We are asked to have a look at Mr John Edward JOHNSTON’s very public, high speed, low drag claims by some brothers from another mother who shared the video link below.
However, the official records tell a different story.
Mr JOHNSTON was a US Marine Corps Private First Class (E2), Aircraft Recovery Specialist (1994-98) and a US Army / National Guard Specialist (E-4) Unit Supply Specialist (2010-2011). He served for a total of 4 years and 9 months in the US military, and even using new math, that doesn’t add up to the near 20 years of service he claims.
The attached US DD214s, courtesy of our US Partners, indicate that JOHNSTON was never a Staff Sergeant of Marines nor was he a Scout-Sniper with seven combat deployments!
But, he has all the medals & dress blues…
Baby Blue Marine…
Johnston must also be a time traveller as he’s rockin’ the Medal for Humane Action which recognizes 120 days of service during the Berlin Airlift 1948-49… There are many other inconsistencies with his group of medals when his official documents are reviewed. There’s no explanation for the UK General Service Medal (Northern Ireland) along with the Gulf War (90-91) group…
His medal group indicates he was Wounded In Action twice while serving as a member of the US Army, the records do not support that claim!
Of course, no “Staff Sergeant/Scout-Sniper” would ever deploy to an operational theatre without his mail clerk credentials!
Stolen Valour Canada was advised by a number of parties that there was a potential issue with the medals that Mr Lafontaine, a former Gunner and Supply Technician, had been photographed wearing.
SVC does not act upon unsubstantiated intelligence or malicious tips that are often initiated as a result of petty jealousy, marital misadventure or, sheer vindictiveness. We won’t waste any staff effort on someone’s “gut feel” nor do we do participate in witch hunts. Tipsters must provide evidence (pictures, news articles, social media links) of their concerns before we can move forward.
Prior to investing any research effort into what has the potential to become a wild goose chase; we contact named individuals in order to provide them with an opportunity to sort out the reported situation. Our hope, they would take advantage of our offer to protect his reputation and silence this issue once and for all.
To that end, we asked that he provide us with the documentation that would prove his entitlement to the Special Service Medal – ALERT (May-Aug 94), UNPROFOR (Jan-Jun 95), UNMIH (Jun-Nov 96) and the Canada 125th Medals.
Of particular concern to us, his claim of being held, along with a Corporal as a “hostage” by the Serbs for 31 days in 1995.
SVC is well aware of hostage incidents involving Canadians that occurred in the UN’s Bosnia-Herzegovina Command including those involving Canadian Army units in Bosnia (GT 12e RBC, RCD BG, 3 R22eR and Canadian UN Military Observers) over the course of the UN Protection Force mission.
There is no open source evidence that CF personnel were held in excess of one month by any of the warring factions. However, given the press coverage of actual hostage events, it’s difficult to believe there’s absolutely no record of the event Lafontaine describes…
Mr Lafontaine quickly sent us a copy of his Military Personnel Records Resume (MPRR) dated 6 August 2003 however, there were a number of anomalies that caused us some concern. Now, these anomalies could be easily explainable administrative errors or, more ominously, could it be an attempt to deceive us by providing an altered document?
When the anomalies were questioned, Lafontaine’s response followed an entirely predictable path,
(1) Feigned cooperation,
(2) Indignation, denial and veiled threats of legal action when asked to clarify our specific concerns,
(3) Removal of photographic evidence of medallic fuckery™ from social media accounts, and
(4) Followed by blocking us from those same accounts.
An interesting response particularly, after he willingly sent SVC his MPRR… Was it because we questioned his claims?
Former MCpl Lafontaine’s work in the veterans community, for which he has been formally recognized by the Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Affairs Ombudsman doesn’t earn him a pass on his highly suspicious operational narrative.
The puck is clearly in his end of the rink, he can either produce independently verifiable documents that will support his claims or, he can apologize for his medallic fuckery™ and commit to surrendering his bogus medals and insignia.
***Update 17 Sept 2018***
Lafontaine, in a now pulled French language radio interview, admitted that his hostage story was a complete fabrication and that he purchased the UN Haiti medal and added it to his group. He has yet to cowboy up in regards to the medals he wore indicating service in Alert, Bosnia (UNPROFOR), along with the Canada 125th Anniversary medal, the Chief of Defence Staff Commendation and a Commander’s Commendation..
Master Warrant Officer Richard Fancy MMM CD, he was the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Halifax Rifles, but apparently that wasn’t enough for him. He pretended to have served in Somalia and Afghanistan and he claimed that he was a paratrooper with the Airborne Reconnaissance Troop.
He was illegally and fraudulently wearing the Canadian Somalia Medal, the General Campaign Star (South West Asia) and, the Canadian Forces Parachutist Insignia.
So, he was court martialled, convicted, reduced in rank and fined.
Earl Woolery who claims that he served in the first Gulf War as a Cavalry Scout.
He was, in fact, a Staff Sergeant serving in an amored cavalry unit however, he didn’t deploy on any phase of Desert Shield / Desert Storm, as Lincoln, Nebraska wasn’t threatened by Saddam Hussein.
Thanks to our partners at This Ain’t Hell (http://thisainthell.us/blog/) we were able to confirm Mr Wollery’s actual status during GW1.
Aside from the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the two Liberation of Kuwait Medals and the extra OLCs… what’s the problem?
He must have been using some skookum optics / sensors as Lincoln, Nebraska was 7000 miles from the berm!
There’s much more to this fella’s story, we’ll just focus on the medallic fuckery™…
