In September, he presented his framed, homemade POW flag, no bigger than an index card, to a local veterans' group in a ceremony that was written up and photographed by the local newspaper.
On Oct. 22, Murray, 48, stood proudly in his bemedaled lieutenant colonel's uniform next to Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. troops in
Vietnam, at a veterans' ceremony he organized at Smithfield Beach in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Westmoreland spoke eloquently to the 200 veterans and their families who had gathered there to honor POWs and MIAs. Murray, his manner crisp and military, his event a splendid success, was one of the heroes of the day.
Now, as it turns out, he wasn't a hero that day or any other. Not by a long stretch. He is now reviled by veterans and their families as an insensitive impostor, and he's in trouble with the law.
His eye injury, he has since admitted to police, did not happen during the war but during a fight at work one day. His stories about homemade flags and
Vietnam and Agent Orange and being a POW were hoaxes, too, authorities say.
A federal grand jury indicted Murray last week and charged him with making a false statement to the U.S. Department of the Interior. He signed "Col. John Murray" on his application for a permit to use the national park for the veterans' ceremony, and for that, he faces a maximum penalty of a $250,000 fine and five years in prison.
Local police have also charged him with driving under the influence.
Murray, who is awaiting trial on the DUI charge and is to be arraigned tomorrow in Scranton in the federal case, could not be reached. His lawyer, E. David Christine Jr., did not return phone calls.
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Not everyone fell for Murray's tale of heroism and service.
Doyle Nelson, chief National Park Service ranger in the Water Gap recreation area, was suspicious from the outset.
