thedrifter
04-30-06, 09:09 AM
Borrowed from hubby... Thanks fontman
Beware Medals of (Dis)Honor
BY BILL POOVEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Congressional Medal of Honor Society reports that there are 113 living recipients of the nation's highest military award, but an FBI agent said impostors outnumber the true heroes.
"There are more and more of these impostors, and they are literally stealing the valor and acts of valor of the real guys," said Tom Cottone, who tracks such pretenders in addition to his work on an FBI violent crime squad in West Paterson, N.J.
Some fakers merely brag about receiving the award - and that's not illegal - but some impostors wear military uniforms and bogus medals. "There are guys out there wearing the Medal of Honor who didn't earn it," he said.
It's hard to know the exact number of impostors, but there are about 25 pending investigations, said Cottone, who has been investigating fakers since 1995.
World War II Medal of Honor recipient Charles Coolidge of Signal Mountain got flimflammed out of his medal - at a military reunion of all places - when someone offered to help recondition it and gave him back a fake version of the award.
Cottone tracked down Coolidge's real Medal of Honor from a man who was selling and trading medals in Ohio.
"It was a big surprise to me to get it back," said Coolidge, 84.
Coolidge received the Medal of Honor for leading an outnumbered section of heavy machine guns during four days of fighting against German infantry and tanks in France in 1944.
Congress increased the penalty for fraudulently wearing the Medal of Honor in 1994 - up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. But there's no such penalty for other medals, and it's still legal to lie about getting the Medal of Honor.
"It is now not illegal for somebody to go on national television and say I was a Medal of Honor winner or a POW," Cottone said.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation and other veterans groups are looking to change that. U.S. Rep. John T. Salazar, D-Colo., is sponsoring the Stolen Valor Act to penalize distributors of phony medals and those who pretend to be decorated veterans.
Salazar's legislation would make it illegal to make a false public claim to be a recipient of any military valor award, such as the Medal of Honor, a Silver Star or Purple Heart.
"It is about more than punishing people," said Salazar, who was hoping the House Judiciary Committee would consider his bill. "It's about preserving the history and honor of those medals."
Cottone said he recovered two fake Medals of Honor at a New Jersey gun show. Both were made by HLI Lordship Industries Inc., a former government contractor for the Medal of Honor.
The company, based in Hauppauge, N.Y., was fined $80,000 in 1996 and placed on probation after admitting 300 fakes were sold in the early 1990s for $75 each.
In December 1995, Illinois Judge Michael O'Brien resigned after he was confronted with questions about his claim of being a Medal of Honor recipient. After admitting that two Medals of Honor displayed in his chambers were fakes, O'Brien resigned. He has since died.
Cottone said investigators have to "catch someone wearing the medal." He said O'Brien couldn't be prosecuted because he was never caught wearing the actual medal.
Sometimes a military impersonation doesn't involve the Medal of Honor. Lisa Jane Phillips, 34, of Apex, N.C., pleaded guilty in September to impersonating an Air Force captain for almost three years.
Phillips bought uniforms and medals online or at military surplus stores and convinced Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., to exempt her from tuition because of her military service. She talked about serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and consoled other students whose relatives had been deployed.
And civilians are not the only impostors.
In October 2002, Cottone said he was introduced to a Navy captain who "was wearing at least 12 rows of ribbon bars," a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart.
"There was too much of everything," Cottone said. "He was wearing 21 unearned medals." The officer was court-martialed and convicted, he said.
"If we don't maintain the integrity of these military awards, the real ones won't mean anything," Cottone said.
Frances Doss, whose husband Desmond T. Doss Sr. was the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II, said it's hard to imagine why someone would wear a fake medal. Her husband died in March and was buried in Chattanooga.
"I guess they want attention so much they are willing to take a chance nobody will find out," she said.
Ellie
Beware Medals of (Dis)Honor
BY BILL POOVEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Congressional Medal of Honor Society reports that there are 113 living recipients of the nation's highest military award, but an FBI agent said impostors outnumber the true heroes.
"There are more and more of these impostors, and they are literally stealing the valor and acts of valor of the real guys," said Tom Cottone, who tracks such pretenders in addition to his work on an FBI violent crime squad in West Paterson, N.J.
Some fakers merely brag about receiving the award - and that's not illegal - but some impostors wear military uniforms and bogus medals. "There are guys out there wearing the Medal of Honor who didn't earn it," he said.
It's hard to know the exact number of impostors, but there are about 25 pending investigations, said Cottone, who has been investigating fakers since 1995.
World War II Medal of Honor recipient Charles Coolidge of Signal Mountain got flimflammed out of his medal - at a military reunion of all places - when someone offered to help recondition it and gave him back a fake version of the award.
Cottone tracked down Coolidge's real Medal of Honor from a man who was selling and trading medals in Ohio.
"It was a big surprise to me to get it back," said Coolidge, 84.
Coolidge received the Medal of Honor for leading an outnumbered section of heavy machine guns during four days of fighting against German infantry and tanks in France in 1944.
Congress increased the penalty for fraudulently wearing the Medal of Honor in 1994 - up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. But there's no such penalty for other medals, and it's still legal to lie about getting the Medal of Honor.
"It is now not illegal for somebody to go on national television and say I was a Medal of Honor winner or a POW," Cottone said.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation and other veterans groups are looking to change that. U.S. Rep. John T. Salazar, D-Colo., is sponsoring the Stolen Valor Act to penalize distributors of phony medals and those who pretend to be decorated veterans.
Salazar's legislation would make it illegal to make a false public claim to be a recipient of any military valor award, such as the Medal of Honor, a Silver Star or Purple Heart.
"It is about more than punishing people," said Salazar, who was hoping the House Judiciary Committee would consider his bill. "It's about preserving the history and honor of those medals."
Cottone said he recovered two fake Medals of Honor at a New Jersey gun show. Both were made by HLI Lordship Industries Inc., a former government contractor for the Medal of Honor.
The company, based in Hauppauge, N.Y., was fined $80,000 in 1996 and placed on probation after admitting 300 fakes were sold in the early 1990s for $75 each.
In December 1995, Illinois Judge Michael O'Brien resigned after he was confronted with questions about his claim of being a Medal of Honor recipient. After admitting that two Medals of Honor displayed in his chambers were fakes, O'Brien resigned. He has since died.
Cottone said investigators have to "catch someone wearing the medal." He said O'Brien couldn't be prosecuted because he was never caught wearing the actual medal.
Sometimes a military impersonation doesn't involve the Medal of Honor. Lisa Jane Phillips, 34, of Apex, N.C., pleaded guilty in September to impersonating an Air Force captain for almost three years.
Phillips bought uniforms and medals online or at military surplus stores and convinced Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., to exempt her from tuition because of her military service. She talked about serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and consoled other students whose relatives had been deployed.
And civilians are not the only impostors.
In October 2002, Cottone said he was introduced to a Navy captain who "was wearing at least 12 rows of ribbon bars," a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart.
"There was too much of everything," Cottone said. "He was wearing 21 unearned medals." The officer was court-martialed and convicted, he said.
"If we don't maintain the integrity of these military awards, the real ones won't mean anything," Cottone said.
Frances Doss, whose husband Desmond T. Doss Sr. was the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II, said it's hard to imagine why someone would wear a fake medal. Her husband died in March and was buried in Chattanooga.
"I guess they want attention so much they are willing to take a chance nobody will find out," she said.
Ellie