medals of honor.

[packnrat]

need input from those who served this great country.
just read a news story about a retired marine, who now through the courts can wear medals he did not earn. never awarder, just store bought.

i was never in service. but to me this is a slap in the face of ALL those who served and worse to those who gave all to get these medals.

or am i barking up the wrong tree?


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ex...alls-it-free-speech/ar-CCvR7i?ocid=spartandhp


and yes i am one of those who shake the hand and say thank you to any service man in uniform. or a retired vet with a "symbol" stating he was there.

i once had the great honor to say thank you to a WW2 vet.

:flag


dam typo in the title sorry.


.

 

[berth]

i once had the great honor to say thank you to a WW2 vet.

:flag

I had a meeting like that. Let me recall a small anecdote of one I met, just a couple of years ago outside a restaurant while waiting for a table.

Me: "You were on the Saratoga! You were on the SARATOGA!?"

He was on the Saratoga at Iwo Jima.

The following day, Saratoga was detached with an escort of three destroyers to join the amphibious forces and carry out night patrols over Iwo Jima and nearby Chichi Jima. Taking advantage of low cloud cover and Saratoga '​s weak escort, six Japanese planes scored five bomb hits on the carrier in three minutes; three of the aircraft also struck the carrier. Saratoga '​s flight deck forward was wrecked, her starboard side was holed twice and large fires were started in her hangar deck; she lost 123 of her crew dead or missing as well as 192 wounded. Thirty-six of her aircraft were destroyed. Another attack two hours later further damaged her flight deck.

5 bombs, 3 Kamikazes.

Some of those 123 dead were his shipmates stationed where he was supposed to be, but damage kept him from being there. Otherwise, he would have been killed with them.

He came home, after the war, drifted a bit, and finally started a Plumbing and Heating company with a friend in the San Gabriel valley. He was there meeting his 3 daughters.

 

[budman]

dam typo in the title sorry.


.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Don't worry about it, the decision is at the 9th Circuit in SF, the most over-turned court in the country....:laughing

It'll go to the Supreme Court and (hopefully) be overturned. Yeah, I served a little, and it ticks me off if an obvious poser wears unearned awards. I wouldn't go postal & rip them off the individual, tho. What generally happens is that this type of POS gets benefits (VA, commercial businesses) and that's fraud.

Congrats on meeting a Saratogian! :thumbup

Now go find an Indianapolis survivor.... Don't ask about swimming or Jaws, tho....

 

[BillSmith]

Meddlesome men

The term and law is Stolen Valor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2013

As mentioned in the article, there is a law, however, the legal ruling allows it as a form of 'Freedom of Speech', thus allowing wearing a facsimile of a medal.

Yeah, I'm OK with a daughter of a deceased Medal of Honor recipient wearing a parent's in tasteful fashion.

Poser dude? No. Tar and feathers more appropriate.

 

[navy8ret]

Saw this Tuesday morn and yes it pissed me off - those idiots all need to be fired or just plain step down :x (the judges)
Cincinnatus got it right "It'll go to the Supreme Court and (hopefully) be overturned"

 

[motomania2007]

As a veteran (8 years USAF), one of the main reasons I feel proud to have served my Country is that my Country stands for freedom.

Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of and from religion, privacy in my own person and place, and many more ...

Many different freedoms that are closely intertwined and where removal of any one of which undermines all of them.

I find it disgusting that someone tries to misrepresent who they are by wearing military medals they never earned.

That said, I can see that they are expressing themselves as an uncaring, disgusting, despicable, unpatriotic individual ... and that is their right.

If he tries to raise money or make speeches representing that he has earned those medals ... that is fraud and he should be prosecuted for fraud.

Would I like to see things l flag burning and stolen valor outlawed?

Part of me says yes, definitely!

But a larger part of my logical, engineering and legally trained brain says that if I move to prevent him from expressing that he is an asshole, that empowers someone else to move to prevent me from saying what I think ...

 

[dravnx]

As a veteran (8 years USAF), one of the main reasons I feel proud to have served my Country is that my Country stands for freedom.

Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of and from religion, privacy in my own person and place, and many more ...

Many different freedoms that are closely intertwined and where removal of any one of which undermines all of them.

I find it disgusting that someone tries to misrepresent who they are by wearing military medals they never earned.

That said, I can see that they are expressing themselves as an uncaring, disgusting, despicable, unpatriotic individual ... and that is their right.

If he tries to raise money or make speeches representing that he has earned those medals ... that is fraud and he should be prosecuted for fraud.

Would I like to see things l flag burning and stolen valor outlawed?

Part of me says yes, definitely!

But a larger part of my logical, engineering and legally trained brain says that if I move to prevent him from expressing that he is an asshole, that empowers someone else to move to prevent me from saying what I think ...

As a fellow veteran, USAF, thanx for expressing my thoughts so eloquently.