The elusive Mr. Townsend has been hiding from us for a long, long, time. 

David C. Townsend from Prince Edward Island, Canada claims that he is a US Navy SEAL who served in Vietnam.  Below is a  photo of Mr Townsend’s automobile showing the license plate as ” USN SEAL “. Also posted below are various photo’s of Mr David Townsend wearing clothing displaying the US Navy SEAL Trident.

We have been getting reports on him for years.  

He is not shy about displaying a Trident and making claims of being a United States Navy SEAL north of the border. 

Multiple attempts to contact him over several years, in an effort to verify his service, have yielded no results.  He usually just ignores our inquiries.

We have also tried to find anyone in the SEAL community that might know him from years past.  We got nuttin, zip, nadda. 

What we do know is that nobody with the name David C. Townsend was ever a Navy SEAL.  He likes to sport around with SEAL Team 3 patches from time to time. Of course ST3 did not exist during Vietnam.  Somebody asked Don Shipley to verify him a while back.  

Verification Results

Sir,

I greatly appreciate your interest in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams, and your search for the TRUTH. My efforts to expose SEAL imposters are performed as a service to the public, and in honor of my fallen SEAL Teammates… men who truly earned the right to the title “US NAVY SEAL” but who are no longer able to stand forward in defense of their honor, their reputations, and their TEAMs.

If the name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the SEAL Database (SEAL Teams, Underwater Demolition Teams and predecessor units from 1943 to the Present Day) for anyone named DAVID/DAVE TOWNSEND. I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations without finding any that appear to be applicable.

Unless he has undertaken the unlikely action of a legal name change (an action for which there would be evidence in the form of court documentation) since his claimed participation in SEAL training, and based upon the information you have provided, I can state conclusively that DAVID/DAVE TOWNSEND NEVER COMPLETED SEAL TRAINING, and he is not now, nor was he ever a Navy SEAL or a Navy Underwater Demolition Team member.

Countless SEAL Imposters show proof of their SEAL claims in the form of SEAL Insignia (Tridents), SEAL Coins, SEAL Award Citations, and SEAL Training Graduation certificates which are unfortunately all available on-line. Numerous others get SEAL Tattoos, Photoshop their faces on SEAL Pictures and alter actual Military Discharge Papers to show SEAL service. Myriads of imposters claim the Navy removed their name from the SEAL Database when they encountered trouble during their service and nothing could be further from the truth.

Many SEAL imposters when confronted with the information I have provided will resort to claiming that their records are sealed, burned or their SEAL Operations were classified as Secret and that there are no official records of them. Before any classified operations may be undertaken as a SEAL Operator, a man must first successfully complete the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Training program and then the follow-on secondary training program. The names of all those who successfully graduate from that training program sequence are compiled in the SEAL database. Later participation in classified operations has “NO IMPACT” on whether or not a person is listed as a graduate of the training program.

There are records of every man who has qualified for the title of “SEAL”; there have been and will continue to be secret missions, but there are NO secret SEALs.

When discovering that a person was never a SEAL, many people would like know what that person actually did in the military or did he serve at all. For a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request of that person’s military service you should contact www.pownetwork.org and provide the necessary information. A $20 donation will cover the cost. Please inform POW Network that I have verified the SEAL claim when contacting them.

Thank you again for your concern in this matter, and for your assistance in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams. If I can be of any further assistance to you in this matter, please contact me at your convenience.

Respectfully, Don Shipley BUD/S 131, SEAL Team ONE, SEAL Team TWO.

Owner http://www.extremesealexperience.com/

P.O.W. Network

Summary and conclusion

After countless efforts from multiple sources both in the United States and Canada, No trace was found for David Townsend’s date of birth (DOB). So we were unable to file for Mr. Townsend’s military service record under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

We cannot confirm that Mr Townsend didn’t serve in the US Armed Forces. Or if he served in the RVN.

However, Retired Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Don Shipley could not find any record of him being a Navy SEAL.  We also accessed the most recent Data Base for every one who has graduated Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUD/S),  A requirement for all Navy SEALs. We can confirm that David ” Dave ” Townsend’s name is not on that list. This leaves us with the conclusion that Mr. David “Dave” C. Townsend was never a US Navy SEAL.

Ignoring requests to verify your service or using a potential alias north of the border will not keep someone off of our blog of shame.  We find it unthinkable that a legit Navy SEAL would not step up and have others he served with verify his service.  

 We can only speculate why someone using the name David ” Dave ” C. Townsend living in Canada would be hiding from us.

 Social Media accounts

https://www.facebook.com/dave.townsend.77128

https://mysideoftherideacrosscanada.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/today-i-did-some-selfies/comment-page-1/#comment-46