thedrifter
08-12-04, 08:33 AM
Issue Date: August 16, 2004
‘Honorary Marine’ was a fraud
Navy captain who served with Corps units convicted of illegally wearing 11 decorations
By Bryant Jordan
Times staff writer
Navy Capt. Roger D. Edwards’ résumé was impressive by any standard: A 36-year military career included stints in the Army, the National Guard, the Coast Guard and, since 1977, the Navy, where he rose to captain and served as executive assistant to Rear Adm. Robert D. Hufstader Jr., the Marine Corps’ top medical officer.
He was a combat medic in Vietnam, commanded medical battalions, ran a hospital, and was a senior medical plans officer for U.S. Central Command.
His private life was no less impressive. Edwards is an ordained Episcopal priest, a husband, a father of two daughters and a licensed pharmacist.
But what immediately impressed most people about the 54-year-old, especially the Marines with whom he served, was the 13-tiered rack of medals he proudly wore upon his chest. This was not your typical end-of-tour fruit salad for a Medical Service Corps officer who would have spent a career behind the lines. On the contrary, this was a warrior’s résumé, including a Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, the Combat Action Ribbon and four Purple Hearts. A basic parachutist insignia capped off the massive stack, further attesting to Edwards’ courage, valor and warrior status.
So impressive was he, that the Marine Corps commandant himself honored Edwards with the official title Honorary Marine.
Trouble was, it was all a lie. Edwards didn’t rate those medals. The captain was a liar and a phony.
And now he’s in the brig.
Edwards was found guilty July 30 of 11 counts of wearing unauthorized decorations. His fraud had been ferreted out and reported by an intrepid FBI agent, among others. He was sentenced to 115 days confinement and a total of $7,500 forfeiture in pay over three months, and slapped with an official letter of reprimand. He’s expected to retire once he’s released from jail, but at what rank his retirement pay will be based on remains unclear. Navy officials will have to determine the highest rank he attained in which he served honorably.
So today, Edwards, who pleaded guilty at his court-martial, wears prison orange and has the distinction of being the only officer in the brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
Bogus medals on all fronts
Edwards’ medals fraud was extensive. In addition to the Silver Star, the DFC, CAR and Purple Hearts, he illegally sported a Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster (representing his fourth award), the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Citation, the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal and the Basic Parachutist Badge.
And those did not include the dozen or more other awards he wore and could not back up in court. The Marine Corps decided not to prosecute the others under a pretrial agreement that secured his guilty plea.
“I apologize to the court … offer my sincere, heartfelt and deepest apology for putting the Marine Corps in this position,” Edwards said in an emotional statement to the court July 30, hours before being sentenced, while his wife, Brenda, sat alone and fingering a set of rosary beads. “I am deeply remorseful over the negative publicity this has caused … It’s been my honor and privilege to serve 17 years with the Marine Corps.”
At one point, looking over his shoulder to his wife, Edwards noted the pain it has caused her and his daughters.
“My children cry and have suffered. I stand before you a broken man,” he told the judge, Navy Capt. Henry Lazzaro. “My sorrow revolves around how I have let so many people down.”
For an officer who served so long with the Marines — much of it quite notably — what happened next was perhaps the ultimate humiliation. The Corps forced Edwards to surrender the eagle, globe and anchor pin given to him by the commandant of the Marine Corps when he was made an Honorary Marine.
Had Edwards fought the charges and lost, he could have been sentenced to six months’ incarceration, forfeiture of six months’ pay and allowances and dismissal from the Navy — which not only would have ended his career, but stripped him of all retirement benefits.
But Charles Gittins, Edwards’ civilian defense attorney, called the jail sentence “bizarre,” and questioned the wisdom of putting a Navy captain — an O-6 — in the brig, to be overseen by junior enlisted troops. He’s since petitioned the court to have Edwards released to house arrest, based on his “difficult psychiatric circumstances.”
“The goal was to preserve his retirement,” Gittins said after the trial, and in that the defense succeeded.
‘I thought that I rated them’
That Edwards had a long and notable career in the military was never in question. In fact, some of his laudable achievements were even brought up in court, including his work on a deployable surgical wing called a Forward Resuscitative Surgical Suite used in the war in Iraq.
“No wounded Marine who reached an FRSS died” during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Edwards told the court.
But his deceit overshadowed all other achievements.
Edwards admitted he began wearing various bogus medals, award devices and badges beginning in July 2001 — although the prosecution produced a witness who testified he wore them as early as 1997 — and that he wore the disputed decorations even after realizing he didn’t have the authority to do so. His illegal medals, however, were the most brazen breeches of honor. Sometimes he wore all the illegal medals, sometimes just a few, depending on what uniform and blouse he was wearing. Amazingly, he wore his medals based on what he’d worn previously. “If it had the holes, I’d wear them all,” he told the court.
When the judge asked him how he came to be wearing all these ribbons and medals, he said:
“I thought that I rated them.”
Edwards said he believed he rated the Silver Star because a battalion commander gave him a certificate saying so as he was processing out of Vietnam. But later, in 1998, he realized he had no supporting paperwork. He realized this while going through his records in anticipation of a rear admiral selection board, he said.
Edwards said he pinned on the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Citation because he read in Navy Times that his former unit was authorized the medal. He later realized he was not authorized to wear it, he said, but did not remove it from his rack.
In fact, he went on wearing others he also knew he didn’t merit.
Edwards admitted in court he never had any reason to believe he rated the DFC or the Purple Hearts, and said he was never wounded while serving in Vietnam. It was the same with the CAR: Edwards admitted he never saw combat while in the Navy or serving with the Marine Corps. And he certainly never rated the basic parachutist insignia.
He also knew he didn’t rate the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal, and said he knowingly wore the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal without authority.
“I chose to ignore all that. I know in my heart I was wrong,” he told the court. “I had no justification. I was wrong.”
continued......
‘Honorary Marine’ was a fraud
Navy captain who served with Corps units convicted of illegally wearing 11 decorations
By Bryant Jordan
Times staff writer
Navy Capt. Roger D. Edwards’ résumé was impressive by any standard: A 36-year military career included stints in the Army, the National Guard, the Coast Guard and, since 1977, the Navy, where he rose to captain and served as executive assistant to Rear Adm. Robert D. Hufstader Jr., the Marine Corps’ top medical officer.
He was a combat medic in Vietnam, commanded medical battalions, ran a hospital, and was a senior medical plans officer for U.S. Central Command.
His private life was no less impressive. Edwards is an ordained Episcopal priest, a husband, a father of two daughters and a licensed pharmacist.
But what immediately impressed most people about the 54-year-old, especially the Marines with whom he served, was the 13-tiered rack of medals he proudly wore upon his chest. This was not your typical end-of-tour fruit salad for a Medical Service Corps officer who would have spent a career behind the lines. On the contrary, this was a warrior’s résumé, including a Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, the Combat Action Ribbon and four Purple Hearts. A basic parachutist insignia capped off the massive stack, further attesting to Edwards’ courage, valor and warrior status.
So impressive was he, that the Marine Corps commandant himself honored Edwards with the official title Honorary Marine.
Trouble was, it was all a lie. Edwards didn’t rate those medals. The captain was a liar and a phony.
And now he’s in the brig.
Edwards was found guilty July 30 of 11 counts of wearing unauthorized decorations. His fraud had been ferreted out and reported by an intrepid FBI agent, among others. He was sentenced to 115 days confinement and a total of $7,500 forfeiture in pay over three months, and slapped with an official letter of reprimand. He’s expected to retire once he’s released from jail, but at what rank his retirement pay will be based on remains unclear. Navy officials will have to determine the highest rank he attained in which he served honorably.
So today, Edwards, who pleaded guilty at his court-martial, wears prison orange and has the distinction of being the only officer in the brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
Bogus medals on all fronts
Edwards’ medals fraud was extensive. In addition to the Silver Star, the DFC, CAR and Purple Hearts, he illegally sported a Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster (representing his fourth award), the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Citation, the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal and the Basic Parachutist Badge.
And those did not include the dozen or more other awards he wore and could not back up in court. The Marine Corps decided not to prosecute the others under a pretrial agreement that secured his guilty plea.
“I apologize to the court … offer my sincere, heartfelt and deepest apology for putting the Marine Corps in this position,” Edwards said in an emotional statement to the court July 30, hours before being sentenced, while his wife, Brenda, sat alone and fingering a set of rosary beads. “I am deeply remorseful over the negative publicity this has caused … It’s been my honor and privilege to serve 17 years with the Marine Corps.”
At one point, looking over his shoulder to his wife, Edwards noted the pain it has caused her and his daughters.
“My children cry and have suffered. I stand before you a broken man,” he told the judge, Navy Capt. Henry Lazzaro. “My sorrow revolves around how I have let so many people down.”
For an officer who served so long with the Marines — much of it quite notably — what happened next was perhaps the ultimate humiliation. The Corps forced Edwards to surrender the eagle, globe and anchor pin given to him by the commandant of the Marine Corps when he was made an Honorary Marine.
Had Edwards fought the charges and lost, he could have been sentenced to six months’ incarceration, forfeiture of six months’ pay and allowances and dismissal from the Navy — which not only would have ended his career, but stripped him of all retirement benefits.
But Charles Gittins, Edwards’ civilian defense attorney, called the jail sentence “bizarre,” and questioned the wisdom of putting a Navy captain — an O-6 — in the brig, to be overseen by junior enlisted troops. He’s since petitioned the court to have Edwards released to house arrest, based on his “difficult psychiatric circumstances.”
“The goal was to preserve his retirement,” Gittins said after the trial, and in that the defense succeeded.
‘I thought that I rated them’
That Edwards had a long and notable career in the military was never in question. In fact, some of his laudable achievements were even brought up in court, including his work on a deployable surgical wing called a Forward Resuscitative Surgical Suite used in the war in Iraq.
“No wounded Marine who reached an FRSS died” during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Edwards told the court.
But his deceit overshadowed all other achievements.
Edwards admitted he began wearing various bogus medals, award devices and badges beginning in July 2001 — although the prosecution produced a witness who testified he wore them as early as 1997 — and that he wore the disputed decorations even after realizing he didn’t have the authority to do so. His illegal medals, however, were the most brazen breeches of honor. Sometimes he wore all the illegal medals, sometimes just a few, depending on what uniform and blouse he was wearing. Amazingly, he wore his medals based on what he’d worn previously. “If it had the holes, I’d wear them all,” he told the court.
When the judge asked him how he came to be wearing all these ribbons and medals, he said:
“I thought that I rated them.”
Edwards said he believed he rated the Silver Star because a battalion commander gave him a certificate saying so as he was processing out of Vietnam. But later, in 1998, he realized he had no supporting paperwork. He realized this while going through his records in anticipation of a rear admiral selection board, he said.
Edwards said he pinned on the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Citation because he read in Navy Times that his former unit was authorized the medal. He later realized he was not authorized to wear it, he said, but did not remove it from his rack.
In fact, he went on wearing others he also knew he didn’t merit.
Edwards admitted in court he never had any reason to believe he rated the DFC or the Purple Hearts, and said he was never wounded while serving in Vietnam. It was the same with the CAR: Edwards admitted he never saw combat while in the Navy or serving with the Marine Corps. And he certainly never rated the basic parachutist insignia.
He also knew he didn’t rate the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal, and said he knowingly wore the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal without authority.
“I chose to ignore all that. I know in my heart I was wrong,” he told the court. “I had no justification. I was wrong.”
continued......