David D’Anunzio – U.S. Navy SEAL, Blog of Shame

militaryphonies

5 years ago

BACKGROUND

David Alan D’Anunzio comes to us from Brooksville, Florida but originally is from New York. His Facebook page claims he lives in Tampa, Florida. D’Anunzio is 58 years old at the time of this writing – July 2021.

D’Anunzio currently serves as the Department of Florida’s VFW Sgt-at-Arms.

As you can see in the above photo, D’Anunzio displays a US Navy SEAL Trident on his chest.

In a photo of the honor guard at VFW Post 8681, you can make out the US Navy SEAL Trident but it is a bit harder to see. We enlarged the section to focus on.

D’Anunzio’s Facebook page is adorned with references to U.S. Navy SEALs, which may imply that he was a SEAL.

David D’Anunzio – Facebook

Someone that met D’Anunzio recently said that D’Anunzio claimed that he was in BUD/S Class 114 and stationed with SEAL Team 2.

There was some suspicion by a former Navy SEAL, so D’Anunzio was reported to us to look into his situation.

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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 “David Alan D’Anunzio” or any other variation of his name ever completing BUD/S Training or assigned to any SEAL teams.

David D’Anunzio’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Due to his age and claim of service dates, we filed with the Department of the Navy which maintains records from the mid 1990s-present. The Department of the Navy indicated that D’Anunzio’s records were kept with NPRC due to a release from the Navy in 1992.

Ironically, D’Anunzio was released from active duty on July 1, 1992 – exactly 29 years ago today.

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FOIA RESULTS

NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)

NPRC FOIA Results – David D’Anunzio – Summary Sheet

NPRC FOIA Results – David D’Anunzio – Assignments 1981-1984

NPRC FOIA Results – David D’Anunzio – Assignments 1984-1989

NPRC FOIA Results – David D’Anunzio – Assignments 1990-1992

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)

The DoD Manpower Data Center / SCRA database was searched with the following results.

DoD Manpower Data Center / SCRA Results – David D’Anunzio

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OTHER RESEARCH

CRUISE BOOK

We were able to find a photo in the 1983-84 East Med Cruise book for the USS John F. Kennedy. This coincides with the time D’Anunzio was on that ship.

Although the name is possibly misspelled, ‘DS’ would have been his rating at the time. We could not find anyone in the United States with the name spelled as “A’Anunzio” so there is reasonable suspicion it is him. The photo doesn’t really add any value to the case other than establishing his unit was not a SEAL Team.

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NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

We came across this newspaper article which falls under the category of “Hometown Heroes” or “Local Military News” area. “Gates” refers to a town in New York, about 10 minutes drive from Rochester.

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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY

There is no record of David Alan D’Anunzio attending BUD/S-SEAL training and no record of him serving with a SEAL Team.

In fact, the BUD/S class that D’Anunzio claimed – BUD/S Class 114 – classed up the same month that D’Anunzio joined the Navy so that would be impossible.

D’Anunzio wears a Combat Action Ribbon (CAR). The ship he was on – the USS McInerney (FFG-8) – earned a CAR for the Gulf War. We do wonder if he was asked about his CAR and that may have lead to the story of him being a SEAL – implying an individual award vs. a ship award – but who knows?

If D’Anunzio has used false claims to gain anything of value – he may be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act.

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