GyG1345
01-08-03, 07:28 AM
washingtonpost.com
New CMC Doffed 3 of His Medals
Marine's Records On Awards Missing
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 8, 2003; Page A10
Lt. Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the incoming commandant of the Marine Corps, disclosed yesterday that he had stopped wearing three medals because of sloppy record keeping in a case reminiscent of that involving Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda, the chief of naval operations who committed suicide in 1996 after improperly wearing combat decorations.
Hagee disclosed his decision to remove the medals at a hastily convened Pentagon news conference in an attempt to lay to rest any controversy regarding his decorations before he assumes command of the Marine Corps on Monday.
"I should have been more aggressive, and I should have had this done much earlier," Hagee said. "There's no excuse -- my fault."
His aides began contacting reporters yesterday morning in response to an article about Hagee's decorations that appeared on the Web site of Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper. One senior aide called the episode "embarrassing" and said it touched on an extremely sensitive issue in the Navy and Marine Corps, given the Boorda tragedy.
Boorda, chief of naval operations, committed suicide outside his home at the Washington Navy Yard shortly before two journalists were to visit him to discuss why he had worn two bronze "V" pins for valor in combat in the Vietnam War when they were not explicitly authorized in official citations, as required. Boorda had stopped wearing the pins a year earlier in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the reporters.
Hagee, 58, former commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., did not mention the Boorda case but sought to draw distinctions between his case and Boorda's.
Hagee said that he had initiated a review of his decorations in September at the time he was confirmed by the Senate, and decided on his own to stop wearing the three medals when supporting documentation could not be found. After searching for the documentation for three months, Hagee said he made the decision last month when he posed -- absent the three ribbons -- for a new official photograph as Marine commandant.
Hagee insisted that he had earned all three ribbons and said he would continue searching for documentation that would enable him to wear the decorations in the future.
While Boorda acknowledged he had made a mistake in wearing pins for valor based on a mistaken belief that he was entitled to them, Hagee, who received the Bronze Star with a combat "V" pin for valor in Vietnam in 1970, admitted only to sloppy record keeping.
But given the Boorda case and the military's long history of problems with medals inappropriately worn, Hagee was concerned enough about the issue that he briefed Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday morning.
Later in the day, Rumsfeld issued a statement backing Hagee.
"General Hagee brought the matter to me this morning and briefed me on the circumstances regarding documentation for his awards and decorations," the statement said. "He has considered the matter carefully and has a sound approach for addressing the matter. I have complete confidence in him and look forward to having him assume his responsibility as commandant of the Marine Corps on Monday."
At his news conference, Hagee described the Marines' archaic system for keeping records on individual and unit citations. But he said that it was every Marine's duty to make sure that the medals on his or her uniform were supported by the required documentation. Asked how those beneath him would respond to his lapse, Hagee said, "Marines are going to be disappointed."
Hagee said the three medals he has stopped wearing are a humanitarian service award for operations in Somalia in 1992; the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, awarded by the South Vietnamese government; and a Navy unit commendation that was awarded sometime before 1988.
Hagee said he removed the humanitarian award only because the U.S. Central Command, in issuing the decoration to the unit Hagee commanded, failed to include the names of the unit's individual members on the citation.
Hagee said he removed the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry because he cannot find his personal copy of the citation and can no longer obtain a copy because the South Vietnamese government no longer exists. Documentation for the Navy unit commendation could not be located, he said, because he can no longer remember the unit that received the award, or the year in which it was issued.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
New CMC Doffed 3 of His Medals
Marine's Records On Awards Missing
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 8, 2003; Page A10
Lt. Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the incoming commandant of the Marine Corps, disclosed yesterday that he had stopped wearing three medals because of sloppy record keeping in a case reminiscent of that involving Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda, the chief of naval operations who committed suicide in 1996 after improperly wearing combat decorations.
Hagee disclosed his decision to remove the medals at a hastily convened Pentagon news conference in an attempt to lay to rest any controversy regarding his decorations before he assumes command of the Marine Corps on Monday.
"I should have been more aggressive, and I should have had this done much earlier," Hagee said. "There's no excuse -- my fault."
His aides began contacting reporters yesterday morning in response to an article about Hagee's decorations that appeared on the Web site of Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper. One senior aide called the episode "embarrassing" and said it touched on an extremely sensitive issue in the Navy and Marine Corps, given the Boorda tragedy.
Boorda, chief of naval operations, committed suicide outside his home at the Washington Navy Yard shortly before two journalists were to visit him to discuss why he had worn two bronze "V" pins for valor in combat in the Vietnam War when they were not explicitly authorized in official citations, as required. Boorda had stopped wearing the pins a year earlier in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the reporters.
Hagee, 58, former commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., did not mention the Boorda case but sought to draw distinctions between his case and Boorda's.
Hagee said that he had initiated a review of his decorations in September at the time he was confirmed by the Senate, and decided on his own to stop wearing the three medals when supporting documentation could not be found. After searching for the documentation for three months, Hagee said he made the decision last month when he posed -- absent the three ribbons -- for a new official photograph as Marine commandant.
Hagee insisted that he had earned all three ribbons and said he would continue searching for documentation that would enable him to wear the decorations in the future.
While Boorda acknowledged he had made a mistake in wearing pins for valor based on a mistaken belief that he was entitled to them, Hagee, who received the Bronze Star with a combat "V" pin for valor in Vietnam in 1970, admitted only to sloppy record keeping.
But given the Boorda case and the military's long history of problems with medals inappropriately worn, Hagee was concerned enough about the issue that he briefed Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday morning.
Later in the day, Rumsfeld issued a statement backing Hagee.
"General Hagee brought the matter to me this morning and briefed me on the circumstances regarding documentation for his awards and decorations," the statement said. "He has considered the matter carefully and has a sound approach for addressing the matter. I have complete confidence in him and look forward to having him assume his responsibility as commandant of the Marine Corps on Monday."
At his news conference, Hagee described the Marines' archaic system for keeping records on individual and unit citations. But he said that it was every Marine's duty to make sure that the medals on his or her uniform were supported by the required documentation. Asked how those beneath him would respond to his lapse, Hagee said, "Marines are going to be disappointed."
Hagee said the three medals he has stopped wearing are a humanitarian service award for operations in Somalia in 1992; the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, awarded by the South Vietnamese government; and a Navy unit commendation that was awarded sometime before 1988.
Hagee said he removed the humanitarian award only because the U.S. Central Command, in issuing the decoration to the unit Hagee commanded, failed to include the names of the unit's individual members on the citation.
Hagee said he removed the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry because he cannot find his personal copy of the citation and can no longer obtain a copy because the South Vietnamese government no longer exists. Documentation for the Navy unit commendation could not be located, he said, because he can no longer remember the unit that received the award, or the year in which it was issued.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company