Entries with Surname (Title)s starting with 'S'

George Sanderson from Narrabri NSW did some hard work in South Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968, including being part of the famous Battle at Fire Support Base Coral.

Sanderson now wears two decorations he did not earn, they are the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (RVCM) and the 3rd Battalion (3RAR) Presidential Citation for service at Kapyong in Korea in April 1951

Sanderson is wearing:

Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975(AASM) - Entitled
Vietnam Medal (VM) - Entitled
Anniversary of National Service Medal (ANSM) - Entitled
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (RVCM) - Not entitled
Korea Presidential Citation - Not entitled

He is not entitled to wear the RVCM

Sanderson did not serve the required 181 days in Vietnam to earn the RVCM. He served only 169 days. The rules for this medal are specific and Sanderson chose to ignore the rules and purchase and award himself the medal. Below is the record of days Sanderson spent in Vietnam.

He is not entitled to wear the USA Presidential Citation

The Presidential Citation was awarded to 3RAR for their heroic efforts in Korea in 1951 when Sanderson was 5 years old. All who served with 3RAR at the battle of Kapyong may wear the Citation when either in uniform or when wearing civilian clothes. Those posted to serve with 3RAR since Kapyong are allowed to wear the Citation, only whilst on the posted strength of the Battalion and only whilst in uniform. As Sanderson did not serve with the Battalion in Korea and is not serving with 3RAR he must not wear it. It falsely indicates that he is a hero of Kapyong.

Being caught knowingly wearing medals that have not been awarded is embarrassing and the kudos from wearing them is much less than the shame of being ousted as a medals cheat. Sanderson must adjust his medal rack by removing the RVCM that he purchased, and cease wearing the self purchased Presidential Citation.

Sanderson is a member of the Narrabri Returned and Services League (RSL) Sub Branch. Here is another example of an RSL allowing members to do as they please. We wonder what other ignominious acts of false decorations fester within their Sub Branch.

We welcome Sanderson to the ANZMI Sub Branch where his disreputable acts will be on shown forever more.

Mathew Sardon enlisted in the Australian Regular Army on the 1 June, 2012. Following initial training, he was posted to 4 Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery as an observer

Sardon is a classic military imposter. He is a wannabee, valour thief and medal cheat.

He is also a failed soldier who never deployed outside Australia during his 2 years and 8 months in the ARA. He subsequently transferred to the Australian Army part time Reserves, (ARes), where his services were terminated in June 2016.

Yet, to look at his impressive rack of medals, anyone would naturally conclude that he is/was a highly decorated member of the Australian Defence Force, who has been deployed on dangerous war like service.

In the below photographs, Sardon wears the following medals -;

1. Australian Active Service Medal with two clasps - Afghanistan and Iraq.
2. Afghanistan Medal
3. Iraq Medal.
4. Australian Defence Medal.
5. NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Medal. Operation Slipper, Afghanistan.

Above his medals he is wearing the -;

6. Australian Infantry Combat Badge. (ICB)
7. The Australian Returned from Active Service Badge. (RASB)

Sardon is not entitled to wear any of the medals or the two badges mentioned above.

He has purchased the entire lot to fraudulently represent himself to others that he is the real deal, a returned veteran with an impressive Australian Defence Force career. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the below exchange, Sardon infers that he is deployed on warlike service with United States Marines. It seems that this imposter will resort to any means available to maintain a façade to others about his false military service.

We have statements that Sardon did not complete one bush training exercise during his limited regular Army service, due to his unsuitability to Army life.

Not everyone is suited to the harsh realities of Australian Defence Force service, and ANZMI is not critical of Sardon’s inability to carry out his allotted field duties.

However, ANZMI is critical of Sardon’s poor decisions to embellish his service and create a false military history to gain benefits and undeserved recognition, by stealing the valour of others who have “done the hard yards”

Due to his dishonest and illegal behaviour, Mathew Sardon has now gained deserved recognition on this site.

Sardon has committed offences under the Defence Act 1903, Sections 80A and 80B.
(Falsely representing himself to be a returned soldier and improper use of service decorations.).

ANZMI will continue to ferret out these imposters for as long as they offend, and for as long as we have the support of the Australian and New Zealand veteran community and the general public.

Case Notes:

“Sleep tight tonight, your Air Force is awake”, well the real one is anyway.   The Air Force that Dieter Fakautoki (aka Schaaf) belongs to, only exists in his head.

Dieter Fakautoki, the ‘flying barber’ from Melbourne and formerly from Brisbane is the owner and operator of Lion Fortress & Man Cave, a barber shop in Melbourne.   When he is not giving his customers a trim, he would like us to believe he is a Veteran RAAF Pilot and he has the photographs to prove it.

You have to admit, he’s a pretty handsome looking rooster, at least that’s the image he is trying to convey to the ladies via his Facebook and Instagram accounts.   Unfortunately for him, the one thing that Dieter has forgotten is that he is not actually a Pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), nor has he seen military service in Afghanistan, Iraq or for that matter, Australia.

The above image, posed by Dieter on Australia Day 2018 just about sums him up.   As you can see, he is wearing both the Australian Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.   He is not however wearing them on the right breast as a mark of respect for a relative but rather simply because he just doesn’t know anything about honours and awards.   You will note that on his left breast he wears a ribbon bar, albeit in this image it is upside down as opposed to other images we have.   He is also adorned with RAAF Pilot Wings for which he has no entitlement whatsoever.

Note his comments on this image, particularly the last three lines.   It seems after all his experience in the RAAF, he still doesn’t understand the rank structure if the Air Force nor does he understand the difference between Groups, Wings and Squadrons.   Given however that he is a fraud, that is understandable.

Dieter seems to have pulled of quiet a coup.   In this image he appears to be a Sergeant Pilot.   Given that the RAAF has not had Non-Commissioned Pilots for over 50 years he seems to have done well for himself.   He certainly holds his age well.

Dieter seems to have access to a range of RAAF uniforms, but just can’t seem to get things right.

Not one to be a shy violet, Dieter is quite prepared to help the Australian Defence Force recruit new members with some timely advice on social media.

The one thing we have noticed about Dieter is that when he is actually in a position to be photographed near a genuine Air Force asset, he wears civilian clothes, we wonder why?

The truth is, Dieter SCHAAF (Dieter FAKAUTOK as he is more widely known) is a fraud and a wannabe.

He wears the Australian Afghanistan Medal and the Australian Iraq Medal, both of which he has no entitlement too.   He also wears the Australian Defence Force Medal (ADM) but has no entitlement to that award either.   In fact, we can find no evidence that he ever served in the Australian Defence Force.  

Unfortunately, he has also failed to realise that he should have the Australian Active Service Medal (AASM) to accompany the awards he is wearing, but given he has no entitlement to any of them, it doesn’t really matter.

What does matter is that he is committing offences against the Defence Act Defence Act 1903, where he is in breach of Part VII Sections 80A and 80B, which state there is a maximum penalty of $3,300 fine and six months imprisonment or both for:

80A. Falsely representing to be returned soldier, sailor or airman
80B. Improper use of service decorations

DEFENCE ACT 1903 - SECT 80A

Falsely representing to be returned soldier, sailor or airman

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if:

(a) the person represents himself or herself to be a returned soldier, sailor or airman; and

(b) the representation is false.

Penalty: 30 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

(2) For the purposes of this section:

(a) returned soldier means a person who has served abroad during any war as a member of any Military Force raised in Australia or in any other part of the British Empire, or as a member of the Military Forces of any Ally of Great Britain;

(b) returned sailor means a person who has served abroad during any war as a member of any Naval Force raised in Australia or in any other part of the British Empire, or as a member of the Naval Forces of any Ally of Great Britain; and

(c) returned airman means a person who has served abroad during any war as a member of any Air Force, air service or flying corps raised in Australia or in any other part of the British Empire or as a member of the air forces of any Ally of Great Britain

DEFENCE ACT 1903 - SECT 80B

Improper use of service decorations

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if:

(a) the person wears a service decoration; and

(b) the person is not the person on whom the decoration was conferred.

Penalty: 30 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

(2) Where the person upon whom a service decoration was conferred has died, it is not an offence against subsection (1) for a member of the family of that person to wear the service decoration if the member of the family does not represent himself as being the person upon whom the decoration was conferred.

Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.

(3) It is not an offence against subsection (1) for a person to wear a service decoration in the course of a dramatic or other visual representation (including such a representation to be televised) or in the making of a cinematograph film.

Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (3). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.

(4) A person shall not falsely represent himself as being the person upon whom a service decoration has been conferred.

Penalty: 30 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

(5) A person shall not deface or destroy, by melting or otherwise, a service decoration.

Penalty: 60 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, or both.

He also wears RAAF Pilots wings, again without any idea of the dedication, perseverance and demands placed upon those genuine men and women who earn them after years of study and training.

There is no doubt here, no grey areas, just plain lies and deceit.   What is concerning is the fact that Dieter’s access to various forms of RAAF uniform, thankfully his lack of understanding has made it easy to spot this fake, but to the untrained eye he could pass himself off as the genuine article.  

Let us hope that the appropriate agencies take an interest in this wannabe and take appropriate action against him.  

The next time you are in Melbourne looking for a trim, drop in to the Lion Fortress & Man Cave and say hello to Dieter, the flying barber and ask him to recount his acts of daring-do as an ‘Air Mobility Pilot’ in the RAAF.   With ANZAC Day on the horizon, perhaps our flying ace might make an appearance.   Keep your eyes open.

You would have to wonder at the sheer audacity of some blokes.  Here we have Freddie Scherzer, all ship shape and Bristol fashion as our matelot colleagues would say, proudly graduating from an RAAF Dog Handler’s course.  But a not very clear photo taken on the day is very interesting.

On Scherzer’s dress uniform we can see what are believed to be an Australian Active Service Medal (AASM) with 2 clasps, Iraq 2001 and ICAT, the Afghanistan Medal, the Iraq Medal and the NATO medal with ISAF clasp.  No doubt a very impressive rack topped off with a Meritorious Unit Citation and the Army Combat Badge. 

The only cloudy moment on what was probably a very fine day for Freddie is that he is not entitled to wear any of the medals.

A section of Scherzer’s former LinkedIn profile (since removed) makes for good reading:

“I have been responsible and involved in the planning, management and supervision of high standard construction tasks and continuous training conducted by the Australian Army in Australian and overseas communities; this includes the erection of bridges and other structures, the production of potable water, the management and supervision of over 100 local and foreign soldiers and the accurate advice and direction to superiors throughout various tasks.

In this position, I was able to manage superiors and subordinates effectively and efficiently, work with various government agencies in Australia and overseas and be able to communicate with various groups and individuals.  A career highlight was accepting the role and responsibility to detect and disarm improvised or conventional explosives whilst serving overseas with my explosive detection dog.”

Sounds as if Freddy was quite a digger!  But what is the real story?  From what we have been told, this is the reality of Scherzer’s military service.

In March 2008 Friederich Franz Scherzer joined the Australian Army at the age of 19. Following basic training he was allocated to the Royal Australian Engineers.  He successfully completed a number of courses including one which left him qualified as a basic combat engineer. However, from what we are lead to believe we are confident he was not involved in any training in the army which would qualify him as an IED dog handler.

Early in 2011 Scherzer seems to have left the Australian Army and commenced service with the RAAF.  He completed a basic security course before finishing training as a basic dog handler. Freddie and his dog then carried out security duties at both Richmond and Amberley RAAF bases.  Sometime in early 2012, Scherzer and the military parted company.  The only award he is entitled to is the Australian Defence Medal (ADM))

Yet again we have a man who has served his country in 2 arms of the military, an achievement he should be well satisfied with.  Unfortunately like many former service personnel whose stories come the way of ANZMI, Friederich Franz Scherzer has decided to guild the lily. 

In ANZMI rankings, Scherzer is a first class medal cheat.  Not only is this an affront to all Australians who served their country, it’s a disgrace to the RAAF uniform he dishonoured on that graduation day.  But you have to ask yourself, why did not one senior NCO or officer present at that graduation parade not asks questions about Scherzer’s impressive awards? 

And is often the case with frauds such as Freddie Scherzer, he has regaled a number of his former military colleagues with many tales of daring do.  He claimed to have served as an Engineer with 1CER based out of Holsworthy NSW and that he had deployed three times within his short Army career. During his overseas service he claimed to have been involved in fire fights with the Taliban and that he had engaged and took the lives of enemy fighters. We find that this is pretty standard modus operandi of wannabes like Scherzer.

On another occasion in Freddie’s vivid imagination he was involved in a search for explosives when a child came out of a house and began firing at his patrol group.  Quick as a flash and with a well-honed veteran’s skill Scherzer returned fire and killed the kid.  Fred then claimed that the child’s mother picked up the weapon forcing him to also take her out.  Those of us familiar with the film American Sniper will have a sense of déjà vu at this point of Scherzer’s war exploits.

Another tale that seems to also have an American Sniper ring to it is Scherzer claiming to have been on a sat ‘phone talking to his partner back in Australia and coming under fire.  Ever cool Freddie ended the call by saying that he ‘had to go’.  Quite a man!

This stuff goes on and on; Fred patrolling in board shorts because of the heat, Fred being the first breacher during compound raids, exiting a tunnel and taking enemy fire only to be saved by his body armour and so on and so on!  Not content with these fabulous ‘warries’, during the RAAF dog-handler’s course, Scherzer would occasionally flash the legendary sand coloured beret of the SASR.  This he said he gained when he was posted to the SAS as a quartermaster!  Freddie is obviously versatile as well. 

And yet again we get another taste of Hollywood with Freddie claimed that while on patrol in Afghanistan, his patrol entered a building, previously occupied by the Taliban and found a suitcase containing $US 100,000.  This is almost a scaled down story very much like the Gulf War movie, Three Kings. Scherzer says that he and his mates shared and pocketed the cash, which was later smuggled back to Australia in their trunks. But Scherzer was always prepared for close questioning about his exploits, hiding behind his ‘PTSD’ to end the conversation.

Over the years ANZMI has exposed numerous medal frauds, cheats and wannabes from virtually all conflicts involving Australian Defence Forces from the Second World War through to Iraq and Afghanistan.  But in recent years we have seen a rise in the numbers of myth perpetrators of more contemporary conflicts such as Somalia, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Sometimes it seems that our work will never be done.

For all his bravado, Freddie has earned his place on this site.