BACKGROUND
Leslie Radford Coward comes to us from Middleburg, Florida. He is originally from Ohio and appears to still have maintained a residence in Stow, Ohio in addition to Florida. Coward is 72 years old at the time of this writing – Jan 2022.
Although we do not have public claims, most are implied by the above uniform that Coward is wearing. We are told that Coward claims he was in the Army in Vietnam, then went on to be a Navy SEAL, then went into the U.S. Air Force.
Besides a U.S. Navy SEAL Trident on the left side of his uniform, there is a U.S. Army Combat Infantryman Badge (x2) on the right side.
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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 “Leslie Radford Coward” or any other variation of his name ever completing BUD/S Training or assigned to any SEAL teams.
Leslie Coward’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 National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) which would maintain records from the Vietnam era. They would also pick up any and all military service should Coward have served in different branches.
It should be noted here that Leslie Coward has several variations associated with his middle name and this was accounted for when we filed.
ALIASES ASSOCIATED WITH LESLIE RADFORD COWARD:
LESLIE B COWARD, L COWARD, LES COWARD, LUZ E COWARD, LESLIE RADFORD COWARD
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FOIA RESULTS
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Summary Sheet
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Assignments
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Awards
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Airman’s Medal
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)
DoD Manpower Data Center – Leslie Radford Coward
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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
BUD/S – SEAL
There is no record of Leslie Coward graduating BUD/S-SEAL training and no record of him serving with a SEAL Team.
Based on his military service in the U.S. Air Force, the only window of time would have to have been before he joined the Air Force. Based on his date of birth – he was 19 y/o when he joined the U.S. Air Force. This would have made it difficult if not impossible to have done a tour in the U.S. Army as well as a tour in the Navy and complete SEAL training. It is even less likely to have done this after he retired in 1993 from the U.S. Air Force after 20 years.
RANK
There were no claims of rank to confirm. The photo is a little blurry, but he does have a rank displayed on the shoulder boards.
TIME IN SERVICE
No claims of time in service that we heard, but the timeline appears off as discussed above.
VIETNAM
Coward’s awards support a Vietnam tour. As part of a Vietnam tour, members of the Air Force can serve in various places around Vietnam – such as U.S. Air Bases in Thailand – without being in the country of Vietnam proper. Basically, this means the Vietnam War theater. This may explain his Airman’s Medal earned in Thailand. Unfortunately, a complete list of assignments were not in his military records.
AWARDS
Although the photo of Coward’s medals is blurry, there is no doubt there are more medals than are listed in his official military records. Here is a comparison with the medals listed in his records on the right side. He had five awards of the USAF Good Conduct Medal but was not sure of subsequent designations (i.e. five bronze or one silver device) but not pertinent to claims.
Leslie Coward – Award Comparison
Setting the Navy SEAL trident aside, there is nothing in Coward’s official military records to indicate that he earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB), either once or twice as designated in the following picture.
Combat Infantryman Badge (2nd Award)
SUMMARY
If Leslie Coward has used any of these claims to gain anything of value, he could be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act.
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PHOTOS
[ NONE ]
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SOCIAL MEDIA
[ NONE ]
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