Homeless veteran concedes he did not go to Iraq

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 6/4/2005 | Natalie Pompilio

[wjersey]

A Philadelphia man who said he was homeless after a stint with the Pennsylvania National Guard in Iraq did not actually serve there, Guard officials said yesterday.

Luis Mejias, 39, said he had been sent home from the Middle East after failing a random drug test last year. He said the trauma of serving in wartime was one reason he was having a difficult time finding a job and a home. His version of events was published May 27 in The Inquirer.

But confronted yesterday, Mejias conceded that he did not go to Iraq. He did fail a drug test, but the test was taken before he was to be shipped overseas, he said, and the Guard confirmed that.

Mejias did serve with the Guard in Kosovo, said Capt. Cory Angell, a Pennsylvania National Guard public-relations specialist.

Mejias said he lied for two reasons: He needed help finding a home for himself, his girlfriend and her children, and he was angry with the military because he felt they had treated him unfairly.

"I wanted to get back at them in a sense. I gave them my time. And in return, they gave me nothing," Mejias said. "I'm sorry for going a little overboard. I should not have done it."

The article about Mejias focused on his plight and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union finding him a temporary home. The story also highlighted the problem of homeless veterans, including those who served in the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mejias had the support of local peace activists, including members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a national organization based in Philadelphia. After the article was published, numerous individuals stepped forward to help the family, sending money or other donations.

The first questions about Mejias' story emerged this week, when one of his unit leaders contacted the National Guard's public affairs office. At the same time, a soldier who said he had served with Mejias in the Guard contacted the media.

Last week, Guard officials confirmed that Mejias had served in the National Guard and was going through the process of being separated from his unit. They checked those facts under the assumption that Mejias was telling the truth about his service, they said. Commanders from Mejias' unit were also unavailable at that time to comment or confirm the story.

Mejias had previously said he served for 19 years, and he stood by that statement yesterday. The Guard said he served only six years that could count towards a military pension and had a break in service from November 1989 to December 1997.

Cheri Honkala, founder of the welfare rights group, said Mejias simply came to her office one day, saying he was homeless and had spent time in the military.

"The combination of those things, we thought they were wrong," Honkala said. "This whole thing is a serious tragedy for our organization and for all the people that stepped forward to support Luis and his family."

The Guard is in the process of arranging Mejias' discharge, Angell said.

"We don't treat good soldiers like this," Angell said. "We are doing what we have to do to maintain good order and discipline within our organization."

[wjersey]

Another homeless vet story shot down

[RushCrush]

No worries, some liberal group will take good care of this mentally challenged person.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Since this guy is having such a terrible time, what with his drug problems that got him kicked out, they should put him in a nice warm jail cell.

[YOUGOTIT]

Like thousands who lied about being in Vietnam - The press will write stories about the homeless from the war on terror.

[browardchad]

And the Inquirer just gobbled up every bit of the bogus sob story, because it fit their agenda. It sounds like all they checked is whether he was in the Guard or not; not whether he was in Iraq or his length of service in the Guard. And of course, let's not blame the poor man for his drug problem. He's a victim.

Par for the course.

[lowbridge]

bump

[EdHallick]

Unreal, this is happening all over again. A friend of mine is was a Vietnam vet use to go up to these homeless guys who claimed they were the same and ask them where they served and they`d always be full of it. But of course that doesn`t matter to liberals who would claim they were legit.

[SandRat]

And the Inquirer just gobbled up every bit of the bogus sob story, because it fit their agenda. It sounds like all they checked is whether he was in the Guard or not;...

Remember the film "Absence of Malice with Sally Field and Paul Newman"? That's the hobbit reporters each and every time.

[68 grunt]

One question to them, "who were you with?" You'll know how full of it they are in their first sentence of response.

[MudSlide]

Well in Dan Rather's mind the story is false but accurate.

Why didn't the Inquirer just go out and buy this guy a home instead of wasting their time trying to make Guard/Government/Bush look bad?


Did I really ask that question in all seriousness?

Now they have egg on their face again!

[FreePaul]

His version of events was published May 27 in The Inquirer.

His version must have been what the reporter and editor wanted to hear. Otherwise they would have checked his story before they published it. Any wonder why "the media" have no credibility?

[MudSlide]

Sounds like another CBS story/

CeeBogisNews!!

[Ditto]

No worries, some liberal group will take good care of this mentally challenged person.

Now that he is of no value in their mission of disparaging the military, that will dump him.

[tgslTakoma]

Oh my goodness!! It looks like Mejias' May 27, 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer story, a make-believe tale of Iraq War service was picked up by none other than the fat, lying leftist swine, Michael Moore on his website.

Here's what he said in that article, before he was caught in the lie...

Of Iraq, Mejias said: "It's left me with cockroaches in my head. Sometimes at night I wake up and tell myself, 'You're safe. You're safe.'

"It consumes who you are."

Even better is what the Kensington Welfare Rights Union said about him, on their leftist webpage...

Luis spent 2002-2004 serving in Iraq and then was discharged due to the onset of seizures.

For FR readers' information, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union is always one of the first to sign onto International Answer's catchall "anti-war" mas mobilizations. As a matter of fact, they are on The Steering Committee for the September 24, 2005 event! Follow the links to look at their list.

The stench from the lies in the original story permeates more than one leftist organization.

[SandRat]

Now they have egg on their face again!

Hopefully it is extremely sulfurous in fragrance.

[ErnBatavia]

In the neighborhood where I used to work, there was a professional panhandler who'd set up shop almost daily in front of the local grocery store...His cardboard sign read "Homeless Vietnamese Vet"...

I got the blank stare once when I told him he didn't look Vietnamese, since he was black.....I didn't make a point of the fact that he was twenty years too young to have been in that conflict.

[lowbridge]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1504621&mesg_id=1504621

[Jalapeno]

Nice catch per MM

[Casloy]

"I wanted to get back at them in a sense. I gave them my time. And in return, they gave me nothing,"

Moron, millions of men and women have served in the military and don't expect anything in return except the priviledge of serving their country.

[MNnice]

"I wanted to get back at them in a sense. I gave them my time. And in return, they gave me nothing," Mejias said

Wow.  I didn't know that the all-volunteer force meant that you worked for free.

 

[CIB-173RDABN]

That there are some who served in Viet Nam that found it hard to adjust upon returning home, is without argument true. That they exist in the number that the main stream media would hope, and from the number of men standing on street corners wearing old field jackets claiming to be combat vets would indicate, is not.

The war has been over for over thirty years, and the passage of time has done two things, softened the memories and allowed newer and better experiences to replace them.

I am proud of my time in the service, I am proud of my time in Viet Nam (but outside of my screen name) that time and place does not define who or what I am.

For a short time I wanted to hold on to that time and place and joined the VFW and American Legion, and Disabled American Veterans and a number of other groups.

That was my decompression time. Perhaps two major differences between me, and the "homeless vets" you have seen panhandling on the street. First, I never looked to drugs (either legal or illegal) to solve my problem. Two, I admitted to myself early I had limitations, and then strived to work around them as best I could.

Did I get as far in life as I could have absent my time in Viet Nam, who knows, and who cares. I would not have traded that time for anything, nor would I trade the life I have today for anything.

You can take the hand you are dealt and play it as well as you can, or you can fold.

Those that have folded, have taken the easy way out (although for me, the life of a homeless man seems bleak and difficult). They have given up on life and on themselves.

What does society owe them? I am not sure, I think a better question is what do they owe themselves?

I sometimes wonder when I see a beggar on the street and think to myself, he did not start out this way. I am sure this was not his goal in life. How did that new born baby go through life and what decisions were made on the way that resulted in a life on the street? I would be interested in the story, if for no other reason to see if there are any life lessons on what not to do.

Pity is the first emotion I can feel, and I want to help, but then I realize that no-one but the individual can save them self.

If I was a Sociologist I would do a study to see if there was a time or place outside intervention could turn aside the downward spiral of these individual. That fact that some men (and woman) have hit rock bottom, and somehow managed to pull themselves out of the gutter would indicate that there is hope. But on the other hand, is there a point of no return. That no one, or no thing, can help them and they are destined to die alone in a gutter?

My pity changes to scorn upon any who would falsely claim veteran status in order to get the few dollars needed for their next fix, not because they are defrauding some naïve giver, but because they are stealing the legacy of real veterans that some day may fall upon hard times. But even this scorn is mixed with sorrow, they are still human beings, and they are suffering, but that is their right in a free country. In times past before the concept of the freedom to freeze to death was firmly established by the ACLU, communities had and enforced vagrancy laws. Public begging was not only not encouraged but was illegal.

A person unwilling or unable to provide for them self were picked up and jailed. At first what appears to be a harsh thing, but consider few went hungry in jail, and there beds, and showers, and time. Time to reflect upon life, and time to let the poison in their bodies to be flushed out. Upon release they had another chance to make a decision, a new beginning, or back to their old ways.

In the world the ACLU has given us, these people are never given the opportunity to make that next decision, and so the only thing we can do is not enable them by giving them money.

End of rant.

[citizencon]

Once again, the liberal MSM rushed to print without thorough verification because it served their agenda.

[sefarkas]

Apparently more than one person associated with this story failed a drug test. It is the 21st century. How long do they think it would take for someone to de-bunk this story? A day? A few hours? What brand of crack are they smoking at the Inquirer -- Philadelphia Pravda.

[brushcop]

Exactly, I'm sure many of you have read "Jugs" Burkett's book (Stolen Valor) about when he first started looking into these frauds and was amazed at how prevalent it was. His book taught me the process of obtaining service records and exposing frauds and many other phonies. If you don't have one, buy a copy, it's a great reference and just good reading anyway.

Right on about how they answer the question, "Who were you with?", they'll trip every time.

[PotatoHeadMick]

Wow, as far from a rant as anything I have read on this forum for a long time. Thank you for your calm, well reasoned comments on an issue that for most of my generation is, thankfully, only something we read about in academic journals or muse about on our way to some place or person far removed from the cold hard realities of vagrant life. You make some very interesting observations that of course will never be accepted by the sort of 'opinion formers' who predominate in journals like the Inquirer (an ironic name if ever there was, did no one in the editor's office make any inquiries about this guy's story?). I too suffer pangs of guilt looking at a beggar, not because I am fortunate and he is not but because as a human being I recognise that whilst I am not the cause of his misfortune, no matter how much the media and institutional "charity" fund raisers try to convince me that I am, I acknowledge that he did not start out this way, he did not choose this option, and however I might wish he had made better choices along the way I recognise his common humanity with me. I really do not wish to appear as a bleeding heart here, be assured I'm not, but there but for the grace of God go we all.

One last thing, may I thank you for your service in SE Asia, the people of that region (I live there) today know little of the vast debt they owe to men like you who guranteed the freedom which they now take for granted, but as an outsider living here I would like to put on record my appreciation.

[CIB-173RDABN]

One last thing, may I thank you for your service in SE Asia, the people of that region (I live there) today know little of the vast debt they owe to men like you who guranteed the freedom which they now take for granted, but as an outsider living here I would like to put on record my appreciation.

---

Thank you for the kind words. There is a solution to the problem of "homelessness", but not until we asked the correct questions will we find the correct answer. In the United States today, it is not possible for anyone to state the question correctly without being demonized, and so the problem remains. I have faith that this will not always be so.

As for my service in Viet Nam, I have already recieved my "thanks", and that is in the understanding what was really at stake in Viet Nam (and it was more then just Viet Nam).

For those that are too young to remember, except for the original deployment of a unit, replacements were sent over as individuals and put where needed.

The reverse was also true, when your tour of duty was over, you were sent home, as an individual.

Quite often the service man would arrive at Travis Air Force Base in the middle of the night with no one but sleepy clerks there to help you find a connection home. No parades, no flags, no bands, and no loving relative to greet you. Of course that did not matter, as you were home and alive. I was quite satisfied with my welcome home greeting.

I will put my trust in history to determine if the United States was correct in defending Korea, and South Viet Nam (along with an umbrella over Europe). I believe the price was worth it. For those too young to remember I have a phrase for you to look up, "duck and cover" and "bomb shelters". The 1950s and 1960s were very dangerous decades.

It is worth remembering that one lost battle does not mean you lost the war. The full records of the years after WWII to the late 1990 have not been examined since they involved other nations who have secrets of their own to protect.

So again, thank you for your kind words, and know that I have found peace within my self.

[Doctor Raoul]

Cheri Honkala was only interested in him as a stick to beat up the USA with.

She's supposed to be a homeless advocate, so why turn her back on him now when he's still homeless?

So much for the "compassion" of the left.

[upchuck]

From Kensington Welfare Rights Union:

[June 3, 2005] Today the KWRU learned that Luis Mejias never served in Iraq. He was, however, in Kosovo and served many years in the military. Luis apologizes for lying about his service to KWRU, other veterans who served our country, and other supporters. Regardless of his discharge status, KWRU is still committed to helping Luis and his family in securing housing and mental health services.

If you are interested in helping this homeless family please contact us.

[May 24, 2005] KWRU seeks housing for homeless Iraq War Veteran. On Tuesday, May 17, 2005, Luis Mejias, his partner Ana and two of her three children, 10 year old Gabriel and 7 year old Ramon came to the office of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), looking for help with finding a place to live. Homeless for several months, they had been sleeping in their car for the last several nights.

So where's the, "we're sorry about totally screwing up this story. If you donated to Luis, thinking he was an Iraq veteran when, in reality he is not, please accept our apology?"

[Jenny Hatch]

I think it is fine if they want to help this family, but I think it is interesting that this man was a vet from Clinton's War in Kosovo....

Anyone want to hold Bill personally responsible for his mentally disturbed and homeless vets fighting in an ill defined war that goes on and on and on?

Oh wait, I forgot...Wars started by Democrats in the white house are always good.

Jenny