‘Soldier’ story appears to be a sham

Published 9:42 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

He had a uniform and a sad story. Dressed in camouflage and claiming to be on leave after returning from his second tour in Iraq, the man said he had come to North Bend last week to meet his girlfriend and their two children at her new apartment, but the address she gave him turned out to be a church.

Alone, without mon-ey, transportation or a place to stay, and with no help from the Army, he turned to the community. Locals bought him meals, drinks at the Sure Shot Tavern and one woman gave him $500 to cover food and lodging until he was supposed to report for duty at Fort Lewis in a week.

The only problem? The Army has never heard of the guy. The man in camouflage claimed to be Lt. Don Daily of the 355th Engineer Battalion stationed out of Fort Bragg. However, Fort Bragg officials said they’d never heard of a Lt. Daily, the man he said was his commanding officer or even the 355th at Fort Bragg.

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