Richard Elmer Johnson – US Army, US Marine SNCO, Purple Heart, POW, Blog of Shame

BACKGROUND

Richard Elmer Johson comes to us from Chesapeake, Virginia.  At the time of this writing, October 2022, Johnson is 46 years old.

Johnson was featured in the November 12, 2020 issue of the magazine “The Flagship” as a nominee in a section that appeared to list candidates for “Military Retiree of the Year.”

Johnson was featured on Page C8 as a nominee. In the profile, it appears that he was an E-5 in the Army and an E-6 in the U.S. Marines – if we are reading that correctly.

He goes on to say that he had an 11-year military career and was a P.O.W. for 12 days during Operation Enduring Freedom until he escaped with his First Sergeant.  He also claims that “while in the Marine Corps I made Staff NCO” and was “part of the 10th Battalion Rangers and attached with the 101st Airborne in the Army.”

A similar profile of Johnson also appeared in Military News, in May 2021 which appears to be a publication related to The Flagship.  It was essentially the same writeup.

 

It has been reported that for a Veteran’s Day event in 2021, Johnson wore medals on his jacket.  He wore the same jacket and medals later that evening at an American Legion meeting.

The following photos were submitted as proof.

The following photo was edited to highlight the awards.

The one medal looks like a Purple Heart.  Another appears to be a GWOT (Global War on Terrorism), but it is hard to tell.

Johnson is the commander of American Legion Post 280 in Chesapeake, VA.  One can see the “280” on his cap in most of these photos.

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SWIRLING SUSPICIONS

The following assertions have been relayed to us via a 3rd party.  We cannot substantiate any of it, so please treat its value accordingly.

• Many members of the American Legion have asked specifics on the POW claim as well as serving with the Rangers or 101st Airborne – they felt that he hasn’t provided an answer that was truthful in their view.
• Allegedly Johnson has had family members state he never served much less had been a POW.
• Johnson has claimed to be an NRA instructor but has asked members of the American Legion for help to pass the qualification.  As a Marine or soldier, the members of the Legion felt he would have known how to shoot so this struck some as very odd.
• An individual had spoken to Johnson’s family, and a family member had said that Mr. Johnson was JROTC in high school and had always wanted to join the service. He went to boot camp/ basic training (the service branch was not mentioned, however) but did not graduate. There was no reason given as to why he allegedly did not graduate.

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All of this doubt and speculation prompted people to contact Military Phony to see if we were could help to get to the bottom of Johnson’s claims.

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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES

Richard Johnson’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.  We had to file with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) to account for all claims.

Just to help summarize – both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps pointed to the NPRC as the most likely organization to hold Johnson’s military records.

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FOIA RESULTS

US ARMY HUMAN RESOURCES COMMAND (HRC)

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US MARINE CORPS (DoN-USMC)

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)

We searched the DoD Manpower Data Center database and found the following service listing for Richard Elmer Johnson.

This database was also searched for any other active duty to present day. It did not show any other service dates, but sometimes the database is unreliable for recall to active duty from reserve status. This appears to be consistent with all of Johnson’s FOIA responses, however.

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NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)

NOTE: Richard Johnson has several prior addresses in Michigan, so the place of entry is not unreasonable.

Also, the cover letter from the NPRC made a statement about Army service.

So, the NPRC is saying there is no Army service identified after 1995.

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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY

LENGTH OF SERVICE

There are discrepancies between Johnson’s claim of being in the Army for 5 years and then being in the Marine Corps for 6 years.  Giving it the benefit of the doubt, this may have been a bad interpretation of the profile sheet. (see below)

However, there is no mistake regarding a claim of 11 years in the military.  Since the NPRC results show 1994 and 1995, this would have been when Johnson was 18-19 years old.  This most probably represents his first connection with the military beyond a potential stint in JROTC.  Stated another way, it would have been hard to squeeze in an enlistment in the Marine Corps before the ages of 18-19, especially the years that he claimed.  The entire Army service is listed as ‘INACTIVE” which means he wasn’t even drilling weekends in the Army Reserve.  Basically, he was in the inactive reserves which essentially means he was on a list to be recalled if necessary.

Then, the DoD Manpower / SCRA results seem to address 1996 which would have been a year later.  He was in the Marine Corps Reserve.  However, it was only for a few months – 39 days to be exact.  This does not appear to be enough time to complete basic training if this is what this active duty represents.

However, there was little to no opportunity for him to have been in combat during this short period of active duty.

RANK

Johnson was discharged from the Army as a PV2 (E-2) vs. the SGT (E-5) claimed.  No indication of a Marine Corps rank.  The USMC could not locate records on him and pointed to the NPRC, which only came up with inactive Army reserve records.

AIRBORNE

There is no supportive documentation that shows Johnson attending or completing Airborne training.  He speaks of serving with the “10th Battalion Rangers and attached with the 101th Airborne” while in the Army.  Perhaps he meant in some support role and was not Airborne qualified.  The implication is strong, however.

COMBAT

His records do not support the claims that Johnson served in combat.  He would have had to serve in combat to be a recipient of the Purple Heart.  It is not in any of the FOIA results we obtained.

SUMMARY

If Richard Elmer Johnson has used any of these claims to gain anything of value, he could violate the Stolen Valor Act.

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PHOTOS

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SOCIAL MEDIA

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/johnsoninvestigations2020/ (business)

 

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