Keaton

KEATON, Graham (or Grahame) Frederick. ex- 217183. Born 1948.
This man was photographed at a dining in night with an Air Force Cadets unit while wearing the Infantry Combat Badge and the General Service Medal, he is not entitled to either. 
He says he was an Infantry Sergeant in Vietnam with the Third Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, when in fact he was a Temporary Corporal storeman and served his tour in the relative safety of his 25 Supply Platoon store at Vung Tau with the occasional visit to Nui Dat.  January 1968 to January 1969.

Graham(e) Frederick Keaton (217183) served in Vietnam with RAASC (Royal Australian Army Service Corps) as a Technical Storeman.
We appreciate the way he hitched up the left sleeve of his Mess Dress jacket to clearly display his miniature medals and ICB  for the photo but he was not an Infantry Soldier nor is there even a remote chance that he spent time serving outside the wire on warlike operations in an Infantry-like role. Therefore he is not entitled to wear the coveted Infantry Combat Badge.

The second medal on his breast, from your left, is the General Service Medal 1962-66. The problems being that the entitlement for this award ceased on 28 May 1964 for Vietnam service and 11 August 1966 for Borneo and the Malay Peninsular.

Keaton didn't serve in any of these countries and also,  didn't join the Army until 21 November 1966.
The last three medals are self purchased trinkets worn for the purpose of extending the row of a Vietnam Veteran and impressing the uninitiated.  Keaton is a wannabe who impressed the said uninitiated and got away with it for a long time.

This website has been closed downbut the information below was obtained beforehand.

 http://www.aafc.adfc.gov.au/221sqn/fsgtkeaton.htm

FLIGHT SERGEANT (AAFC) GRAHAM KEATON
FSGT (AAFC) Keaton joined the Australian Air Force Cadets as an instructor of cadets in 1992. Starting his staff position with the rank of Corporal (AAFC) due to previous service with the military.
Flight Sergeant (AAFC) Keaton served in the Royal Australian Army Infantry from 1966 through to 1972 attaining the rank of Sergeant. In January 1968, SGT Keaton was posted to Vietnam, fighting with 3 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment and survived the tour to return a year later.
[We understand that the ambiguous "to return a year later" refers to him returning to Australia, not Vietnam] 

We have copies of Keaton's Army records which were obtained in June 2004 from National Archives by an executive member of the RAASC Association who noted that there were no entries regarding Keaton's claimed service with 3RAR in Vietnam or service in Borneo-Malaya. This search was prompted by a Veteran who was obviously very interested in Keaton's claims but he decided to let the matter rest for a while. 

The fact remains that Keaton was a Lance Corporal/Temporary Corporal, Technical Storeman in Vietnam and served from January 1968 to January 1969 with 25 Supply Platoon, RAASC.
RAASC was the Royal Australian Army Service Corps, the storemen, the drivers, the deliverymen. They were vital logistic support soldiers but not combatants in the true sense of the word.

Keaton wanted to continue on in the Army with Service Corps after his posting to Singapore in November 1970 but this was vetoed in May 1972, he returned to Australia in August 1972.
His Army service was so inglorious that another entry was made in his records.

"NOT TO BE RE-ENLISTED - BY AHQ (Army Headquarters) DIRECTION"   Dated 29 November 1972.

He must have really fouled up during his Singapore posting, he was virtually booted out of the Army still a Temporary Corporal.

Keaton was recently promoted to Wing Warrant Officer. Here are the details as published by the AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE CADETS, February 2006.

WOFF(AAFC) G. Keaton 8021558 HQ2WGAAFC is appointed Wing Warrant Officer
2WGAAFC (WGWOFF 2WGAAFC) WEF 1 Feb 06 until 31 Dec 08 inclusive with an option for a further two year appointment until 31 Dec 10 exercised at the discretion of OC2WGAAFC.
AUTH: CDR-AAFC.

The workload for a man in this position, Wing Warrant Officer,  would be quite hefty, the criteria for promotion to the rank are well documented and we have a copy of the duty statement. He's considered to be unable to work and is in receipt of a DVA pension due to this, we find it odd that he couldn't find a civilian job with even less work pressure...................or did he?

Keaton's posing was brought to the attention of high ranking Air Force Cadets Officers in 2004 but they did nothing in the hope that the problem would "simply go away".........It didn't.

This sort of behaviouris inexplicable and could be viewed by some as aiding and abetting wannabe behaviour, for a senior officer to be aware of such a problem and do nothing borders on disrespect for the veteran community.

21 March 2006

We delayed publishing the following for a few reasons, one of them being that we were waiting for a newspaper report on Keaton and his former boss at 2 Wing AAFC. The article can be viewed below.

"Wing Commander" BAIN will appear in his own story on our Cases page soon.

What if an impersonator repents?

In the case of civilians who wear military honours and awards to which they have no entitlement, they are permanent residents of the site. In the case of genuine vets who embellish their service and wear unentitled honours and awards, their stories are only removed from the site when three criteria are met;

1. They offer a written apology to the veteran community at large, and

2. They offer a written apology to their unit/ship/muster

3. The offended Veterans accept the apology.

Once those conditions are met, the story is removed from the site.