Articles Tagged with stolen valor

Marine Corps Times reports:

A man who pleaded guilty last year to altering an identification card after he was spotted in the uniform of a three-star Marine general has been charged again with posing as a highly decorated Marine officer.

Sixty-seven-year-old Michael Hamilton of Richlands was charged last week with wearing a Marine colonel’s uniform and three counts of wearing medals, including two Navy Crosses, the second highest award for valor.

Question, if he served at least three years in the Army, and he left active duty as a PFC, is it not likely that he was disciplined at some point and reduced in rank?

With the aid of Maggies Farm (Stolen Honor as a Pick-up Line?), Moonbattery, (Captain Chinpubes below was spotted at a grand Victory party for Moonbat Houston Mayor Annise Parker), and cdr salamander, here is a better shot and a breakdown of the awards claimed by

Well, lets review the "awards" at least. You can see a high-res here and a full-frontal here.image
His decorations include;

I noted earlier that some accused of violating the Stolen Valor Act are challenging it’s constitutionality in situations where the person was a braggart, but did not gain or attempt to gain through the fraud.  Here is a new case of someone who likely did gain – a city job?

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M. McBride
Contributed photo

in Houston Chronicle

A Houston man was charged on Friday with allegedly impersonating a U.S. Army general by wearing a uniform decorated with more military honors than earned by famed Gen. George Patton.

The FBI charged 44-year-old Michael P. McManus with five federal misdemeanors, accusing him of unlawfully wearing an unauthorized uniform embellished with some of the U.S. military’s most distinguished combat medals.

He is one of about 50 people charged under the 2006 Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a federal crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the military, regardless of whether the accused does not try to profit from the deception.

One man bilked a Veterans Affairs program out of huge sums of money, while a woman received some $40,000 in tuition after telling employees at her university that she was an Air Force pilot flying in Iraq on weekends.

The Houston Chronicle reports.

According to the Department of Justice, McManus did actually serve in the Army between the years of 1984 and 1987. However, he never achieved a rank higher than private first class, nor did earn the Military Combat Awards and insignia he is accused of wearing.

As we first pointed out Friday night, those medals include two Distinguished Service crosses, a Purple Heart and a medal around his neck indicating he was the commander of the British Empire.

ABC reports.

A challenge to the Stolen Valor Act is being made based on the First Amendment.

Rick Strandlof may have lied about being a decorated Iraq War veteran, but those lies are protected by the First Amendment, according to his attorney and a civil liberties organization.

imageWould you trust this man in a foxhole?

A 69-year-old San Diego County man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge for posing as a decorated Marine major general.

Navy Times reports.

Fort Lewis says an Army private will be court-martialed Tuesday in the death of a 16-year-old high school student in the barracks.

Whether Robert White was injured in Iraq in 2005 and deserved a Purple Heart makes no difference now.

The chief hospital corpsman wore the award without receiving it through official channels, and in the Navy’s eyes, that makes him a faker.

Marine Corps Times reports.

A retired Coast Guard chief warrant officer 2 who claimed to be a decorated and combat-hardened SEAL — and managed to get a disability rating from the government — has pleaded guilty to wearing combat awards he did not earn.

He also claimed to have earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” for valor, Purple Heart with four stars, a Combat Action Ribbon and Vietnam War-era awards. The Coast Guard clerk bought the story and added the awards to Barnhart’s DD 214. Later DD 214 alterations would add a Navy Commendation with “V” device, Presidential Unit Citation with three stars, and Vietnamese Medal of Honor First and Second Class.

reports Navy Times.

David Vincent Weber arrived last month at a Ramona Veterans of Foreign Wars event in style: two stars on his shoulder and two Purple Heart medals pinned on the front of a Marine Corps image uniform.

Weber, 69, appeared in a federal courtroom in downtown San Diego yesterday with considerably less pomp. He faces a charge under the 2005 Stolen Valor Act of wearing military medals he didn’t earn while passing himself off as a Marine major general at VFW Post 3783’s birthday celebration for the Corps.

SignOn San Diego reports.

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