An Alberta man has admitted that a book he wrote about his experiences in the Vietnam War is all a lie.

(Screenshot from Nanton News)

Dennis Surrendi, of Nanton, placed an advertisement in the May 27 edition of the Nanton News, saying he never served in Vietnam and that much of the material in his 2014 self-published book was stolen from a memoir written more than 30 years ago.

Surrendi happens to be the stepfather-in-law of former MLA Danielle Smith, who introduced his book at his launch.

"He was still in college when I was in Vietnam," said Robert Mason, author of Chickenhawk, which chronicles his experience as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. army.

Mason discovered Surrendi plagiarized his war stories in December 2014 after a fan in Ireland sent him an email.

"Recently I purchased another helicopter pilot memoir called Set Me Free written by a Mr. Dennis Surrendi," wrote Philip Robinson.

"As I began to read it I soon realised that to all intents and purposes it was a word for word copy of your book."

Surrendi deceived a lot of people, including his own stepdaughter-in-law Smith.

Robert Mason took this shot of himself from inside the helicopter he flew for the U.S. army during the Vietnam War. (robertmason.com)

The former Wildrose Party leader and PC member introduced Surrendi at his book launch in Nanton last spring.

"At the time I had no reason to believe my stepfather-in-law's claims were false and his book was plagiarized. Once my family became aware of the full nature of the situation we became estranged from him," Smith said in an email statement.

She says her mother-in-law is in her 70s and only met Surrendi five-years ago.

"She has been caught in the middle of this inexplicable and pointless deception and is devastated," said Smith.

Once my family became aware of the full nature of the situation we became estranged from him. - Danielle Smith

Mason doesn't understand how Surrendi thought he could get away with this, seeing as Chickenhawk has sold more than half a million copies since it was first released in 1983.

"I was absolutely floored," said Mason.

Mason's lawyers sent Surrendi a cease and desist letter, and agreed to not sue him for plagiarism if he publicly admitted his guilt."He used the letters that I wrote to my wife word-for-word in his book, and he just claimed they were to his mom and dad."

He says he made the deal on the assumption that the Crown would charge Surrendi for posing as a veteran under section 419 of the Criminal Code.

RCMP investigate copyright infringement

Nanton RCMP say that will not happen, despite evidence submitted by StolenValour.ca, a Canadian volunteer organization that seeks out military imposters.

"It's more a person presenting a certificate or an ID card. Actual tangible piece of paper stating that they had been in the military, when in fact, they weren't. So they felt that by Mr. Surrendi verbally stating he was in the military, it didn't fit," said Const. John Rotheisle.

He says RCMP continue to investigate a complaint against Surrendi for copyright infringement in the U.S., where his book was also published.

Mason says it's not so much the plagiarism that make him mad, but the fact that Surrendi was parading around as a veteran.

"Pretending have been to Vietnam and take credit for it? That's the most annoying part of it all."