COLUMBUS, Ohio — Father Daniel Swartz said he was the chaplain of the Battalion that lost 13 lives last week in Afghanistan. There is a photo he says is of him, being shared on social media.
However the photo is not from Afghanistan, and he is concerned that the photo taken out of context may cause pain to those impacted by a deadly training accident in 2020.
THE QUESTION:
Was a picture of a priest leading the way of a casket carrying a marine from Afghanistan?
THE SOURCES:
- Father Daniel Swartz
- Reverse image search
THE ANSWER:
No.
Here's what we found:
Father Daniel Swartz tells 10TV it is him in the photo.
According to Taylor Henry, the Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations for Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Fr. Swartz is a Navy Lieutenant assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines based in Camp Pendleton, California and he was deployed to the Middle East.
However -- it's been used in a tweet related to the latest events in Afghanistan.
He said this photo was taken at a ceremony in California in 2020 after a deadly military training exercise accident.
He fears this photo -- which now could be taken out of context -- may cause pain to families impacted by that event.
We also ran a reverse image search on the photo -- and we did find two articles where it appears.
One is from August 2020 from an article in the Orange County Register following the training accident.
Another is a follow-up article from March 2021 in the Los Angeles Daily News.
So we can verify -- no this photo of father Swartz was not taken in Afghanistan.
Have something you'd like us to verify? Send us an e-mail to verify@10tv.com.