Besides research work undertaken for her books, Lynette Silver also investigates suspect claims made by various peopel in regard to war service. The list of those exposed for making untrue claims in regard to war service include:
‘Pilot’ Sidney Stocks, who concocted an amazingly action-packed war, including being taken POW and miraculously escaping.
Jack Wong Sue, a behind-the-lines agent who claimed, among other things, to have witnessed the last of the three infamous Sandakan death marches, despite the fact that at the time of the march, and for the next six weeks, his own diary shows that he was thousands of kilometres away at a secure allied base being treated for, and recovering from, a life-threatening illness.
Arthur Rex Crane who, for 22 years, received the highest level of disability pension from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, based on a completely fabricated war service record, which included being a prisoner of the Japanese for more than three years.
Lynette, with the help of researcher Di Elliott and Jenny Sandercock, a family historian, proved that this charlatan was, in fact, a school boy in Adelaide during WW 2, and had never enlisted in any branch of any defence force. Having committed major fraud against the Commonwealth of Australia, he was tried and sent to gaol in December 2010. Lynette, with co-researcher Di Elliott, also exposed ‘Major’ Reg Newton, ‘MC and Bar’, who was an undecorated private in an army reserve unit. They also unmasked the identity of a WW1 soldier, known as Marcel Caux, who had passed himself off as a Frenchman for more than eight decades. The story of his amazing deception, which lasted until his death in 2004, has been published in Marcel Caux A Life Unravelled. (For more information, go to Books)