But there would have been other kinds of things that would have been fraudulent, such as accepting Don Draper’s VA benefits.
I don’t think he ever has, has he? He had intended for Lane to resign in return for keeping the matter silent. Now he doesn’t want to disgrace his memory.
I don’t think anyone has ever figured out why Lane hanged himself (though Bert may have had some suspicions, since he was the one who found the cancelled check).
With respect to Don’s/Dick’s desertion, something just occurred to me:
My late brother, who served in the USAF during Vietnam, once told me that as long as you keep something (like a dogtag) that shows you may have intended to return to your unit, desertion cannot be proved, and they can only charge you with being AWOL.
Don still has Dick Whitman’s dogtags. Such issues as identity theft and financial fraud aside, would the above be true in his case? Is such a thing ever even possible?
This sounds like a total urban legend. I would never believe it without some kind of confirmation.
If anyone else had told me that, I would never have believed it either. But he had been a staff sergeant stationed at Kadena AFB on Okinawa, so … I dunno. Hadn’t thought about it in years.
I wasn’t in the U.S. military, but with us, it was simple - if you were gone for 13 days, you were AWOL; if you were gone for two weeks, you were a deserter. Soldiers knew this rule very well and were careful to come back before the deadline - AWOL treatment were kept in-unit (where troops could often find a sympathetic ear), while deserters were officially transferred to the Military Police authority, usually never to return.
I’m sure the U.S. services have similar procedures.
Yeah, I wouldn’t have confidence about that kind of a legal opinion with those credentials. Military units are a hotbed of urban legends.
[Voice of Vincent Vega]: Just askin’!
I can’t remember; did he accept Don Draper’s VA benefits?
We had no indication that he did.
As an unremarried widow of a service casualty, my mother applied for many benefits. Like the GI Bill loan for our house, educational benefits for her Cold War Orphan kids, etc. Every application was accompanied by copies of my father’s service record, her ID, our ID’s. etc. Along with signed forms–each signature would have been a crime if she’d been filing fraudulently. (My brother was glad to find some of those copies recently. A warehouse fire had destroyed many service records & we’ve been trying to reconstruct our father’s history. Mom said he never talked about the war.)
I’m pretty sure Don just took anything handed him on discharge & never looked back.
It is a standard TV trope that someone who took off before completing their service must go back and finish up. So Dick Whitman owes the Army some time.
OTOH, I don’t know what real life Army rules are. I vaguely recall seeing newspaper articles about men in this situation from time to time. IIRC (maybe), they have to report back, sit around a while, get some paperwork processed (not always quickly) and get a less-than-honorable discharge.
I agree that there’s no way Don would be taking any benefits that are due to the real Don Draper. And isn’t that part of why he was supporting Anna Whitman? She should have been collecting a survivor’s benefit but couldn’t because the Army thought Don was still alive.
I have to respectfully disagree with Bob “Wino” Ducca. I think the Dick Whitman issue has been successfully put to bed and Weiner isn’t going to resurrect all that back story nonsense with just seven episodes left.
Doesn’t every person who knows about it and does nothing become a co-conspirator as well? So far, I count eight (two of whom are deceased), including Betty, who lied to government investigators to cover the whole thing up. If Henry is elected to office, wouldn’t he and his family be subject to the same kind of vetting as Don was in connection with North American?
Hmmm… maybe the series will end with the whole kit and kaboodle behind bars.
[Voice of Gomer Pyle]: Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive! 
Man, if they’re going to rip off other series’ endings, they should at least go for a good one like Newhart.
I swear, if Bobby #4 has a snowglobe in the last episode, I’ll hunt people down.
Come to think of it, Adam knew something wasn’t kosher too before he committed suicide (three deceased). Helluva way to keep a secret! 
Keep in mind too that not only has Pete known about Don for years now, he helped stonewall an official investigation, losing the North American account for SCDP. Something this suspicious went completely unnoticed?
I fear things cannot turn out well in 2015!
I’ve been found out, Dick Whitman-style!
Sorry, I couldn’t remember your new name except for the Wino part.
Pete didn’t “stonewall an official investigation,” he called off a perfunctory background check. And knowing someone may be using a different name is hardly grounds for charging them with conspiracy years later.