BACKGROUND
Kenneth Alfred Desautels comes to us from Leicester, Massachusetts. Desautels is 74 years old as of June 2019.
Desautels was prominently featured in a news article by the Telegram.com during Memorial Day 2019.
As you can see from the above photos – Desautels wears a US Navy SEAL insignia, Petty Officer First Class strips (E-6), service stripes on the sleaves designating 8 years of service, a Purple Heart for combat wounded and a Combat Action Ribbon.
The article does not specifically say “SEALs,” but talks about a special amphibious unit.
It’s been about 50 years since Mr. Desautels left the Navy’s special amphibious forces and began to march in the Memorial Day Parade.
Then later…
Mr. Desautels joined the Navy in 1960 not long after graduating from Leicester High School. In 1966, after serving as a Navy electrician, Uncle Sam “volunteered” him to serve in a special amphibious unit.
After intensive training, Mr. Desautels was sent to work as a diver identifying and removing explosives the Vietnamese would place on American vessels coming to port in Qui Nhon, Vietnam.
Mr. Desautels spoke of the mission — given, as he termed it, mainly to “unattached” sailors (he wasn’t married at the time) who were good swimmers — in a no-frills manner.
“It was a job we were trained to do, and that’s what we did,” he said. The young man from Leicester — who became good at swimming at Rochdale Pond near his home — was now trying to find explosives hidden on the hulls of ships 8,500 miles away.
Mr. Desautels said he was able to find about half a dozen mines, which he and his fellow divers had to then remove so they could be detonated safely.
Sometimes, the mines were attached to lines that somebody was looking to pull to prompt explosion, he said, making it important to be as discreet and quick as possible.
Going back to high school, Desautels seemed to be destined to go into the Navy electronics field.
Desautels posted on a bulletin board in regard to his military service with IUWG-2 and claims he was an EM3 (E-4) and Diver:
Here is another photo of Ken Desautels that appeared in the newspaper in 2011. Although difficult to tell due to the strap, there appears to be a SEAL Trident insignia visible.
Also of note is he does not have as many medals as he does in the article from before. Here is a side-by-side comparison…
What is noteworthy here is that Desautels was not in the Navy anymore so how could his medal rack be growing?
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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES
After contacting the UDT/SEAL archives and checking the UDT/SEAL database we found that there is NO record of “Kenneth Alfred Desautels” ever completing BUD/S Training or assigned to any SEAL teams.
Ken Desautel’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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FOIA RESULTS
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
Ken Desautels has no record of going to BUD/S and no assignment with a SEAL Team over his career. There is also no listing of a SEAL NEC in his records.
There is no diver qualification listed in his records.
His service with Inshore Undersea Warfare Group TWO (IUWG-2), Little Creek, Virginia may be what he referred to as a special amphibious unit, but that is not the SEALs.
The summary sheet shows that he got out as a Electrician’s Mate Fireman [EMFN] (E-3) vs. the E-6 that he claims by his rank inginia.
He has six years service but some of that may be Reserve time. He does not show 8 years as would be claimed by two service stripes on his uniform. Perhaps this was in order for the E-6 claim to be less odd?
There is no Purple Heart or Combat Action Ribbon in his official military records.
STOLEN VALOR
If the claims by Kenneth Desautels were used to leverage work, military or civilian promotions, or anything else of value, Desautels may be in violation of Stolen Valor laws. State laws may also apply.
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PHOTOS
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SOCIAL MEDIA
[NONE]
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