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Hunt is on for phony POWs

By their count, Mary and Chuck Schantag of the P.O.W. Network have exposed close to 1,900 impostors since 1998, when they began to check POW claims. They say they have exposed another 2,000 men who claimed they were in elite units.

"It's taken over our lives," said Mary Schantag."We check reports of phonies when we get up in the morning and before we get to bed at night."

Their motivation is simple."The lies are changing history. It's wrong. It causes the real heroes to be grouped with the phonies and frauds," she said."The integrity and honor should be given to those who really earn it."

Their job is made easier because, compared with World War II, the Vietnam War produced relatively few American POWs—766—and the military has thoroughly documented them, said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office.

Read entire article at Chicago Tribune