Can we get any official Navy records on this von Brunn guy??

He's claimed to be a "PT-Boat skipper, and executive officer during WWII in the Mediterranean, and Pacific Theaters".

I find this very hard to believe, given his age at the time, and no knowledge of his family background (did they have any real money? - one usually didn't become a US Navy officer in the reserves unless his family had money and/or he went to college prior to his service)

He could very well have been an enlisted sailor who served in either theater (but both? Come on)
Odds are, in addition to being a convicted felon, racist pig and murder suspect, von Brunn is also a serial exaggerator, if not an outright fraud - and I wonder if he can also be prosecuted under the "Stolen Valor" Act of 2006.

For further shits and giggles, here's the transcript of a letter von Brunn allegedly sent to former Navy Secretary James Webb back in the 1980's:
http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2009/06/10/webb_letter/

Read it and puke.

:evilfrown:

Remember, GHWBush had no college and was an officer.

One of the older PT skippers:

and while JFK had already graduated from Harvard, it was possible to be an officer without going to college first, (if your family's name was Bush or Walker, from Greenwich, CT).

And I also know that PT boat skippers were usually LT(jg)s (and ensigns were their XOs) and would have been around ages 22-25 at the time.

The thing is, though: was von Brunn's family background similar?

As I've said, his self-described background smells of exaggeration, at the very least.

where you learned to be an officer in 40 days. Not all aviators/pilots and flight officers had college degrees as they do now.

Some job titles, such as bombadier, intelligence positions, pt boat captain, you had to be commissioned. A lot of it was a function of the cohort you enlisted with and what the needs of the Navy were at the time.

Conversely, other folks, such as Norman Mailer who had a Harvard degree, were kept in the enlisted ranks.

It's not a stretch for this guy to have been a PT boat skipper as the book and movie states "They Were Expendable." And they were. It was considered kind of scuzzy duty for JFK to be in those vessels. Especially compared to his brother who was an aviator and the smart guys were in subs or capital ships.

However, it still doesn't say where he actually served - if he was in such a midshipman program back in 1943, odds are he wouldn't have seen any action until 1944 (although it IS possible he could have been at the Battle of Surigao Straits in late 1944 where PT boats distinguished themselves)

Until there is further evidence coming from the Navy of his official records, he is still an exaggerator.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/10/2009-06-10_holocaust_museum_shooter_james_von_brunns_exwife_says_his_racism_ate_him_alive.html

(snip)
Born in St. Louis, von Brunn graduated from Washington University in 1943 with a degree in journalism.

That same year, he became a midshipman with the Navy Reserves after enlisting for "patriotic reasons," documents show.

Von Brunn claims to have been a decorated PT boat captain during World War II.
(snip)

much more at the link. . .