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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
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Edited >1 y ago
MAJ Norm Michaels roger that, I like #1
1. The fake Medal of Honor recipient who was required to write 174 apology letters.

For the better part of a decade, Jackie Stern proudly wore his Medal of Honor in public speeches, parades, and while bragging to anyone in his Florida community about his heroic action as a Korean War Army captain, CNN reported. Stern bought the real medal at a New Jersey military memorabilia show in 1986 for $500, according to the Miami Herald.

A sheriff’s detective checked Stern’s record and found he had served in the Army in the 1950s but never stepped foot in Korea, saw combat, or advanced beyond the rank of private. Stern also pretended to be a Purple Heart recipient, former prisoner of war, ex-police detective and, of all things one can lie about, a karate champion.

For wearing the Medal of Honor without authorization and altering his military discharge records in order to drive his car with a special Purple Heart license plate, Stern was sentenced to write a slew of apology letters. First, the judge ordered him to publish a public letter of apology in a quarter-page newspaper advertisement featured in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper on Memorial Day in 1997. Additionally, as that same newspaper reported, Stern was required to write personal apology letters to all 174 living Medal of Honor recipients. Lastly, Stern was ordered to volunteer at a Veterans Administration hospital for 250 hours and submit himself to mental health treatment.

“I know that my actions have cheapened the honor of those who have received this valiant award and my pitiful attempt and selfish quest for family recognition has tarnished the dignity of all the brave men and women whom this medal was legitimately bestowed,” Stern wrote in the public apology letter published on Memorial Day, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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LTC Stephen F.
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
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>1 y
MAJ Norm Michaels, SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL, LTC Stephen F., Public humility and the humility of writing letters to all MOH recipients, is a good punishment. But, I would have liked to have seen some Federal prison time. I wonder what it's going to take to really make an impression, on these law breakers, by putting them in jail for at least a year? It's called "Freedom of Speech", but I don't believe our forefathers intended for this First Amendment to be twisted in this way of expression, with a slap on the hand.
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Matt Moon
Matt Moon
6 y
Lmao, 174 applogy letters that's brilliant i would have made it 200.
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SFC Jim Ruether
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I just think its sad!
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SSgt Terry P.
SSgt Terry P.
>1 y
SFC Jim Ruether Calling it free speech and making it legal except in certain causes is indeed sad.
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SSgt Terry P.
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MAJ Norm Michaels I have heard a few embellish on stories they told and that really never bothered me very much.But to go to the extreme of buying and wearing medals lying to family and communities,gaining from these lies is quite a different thing than " No shit,i was right there, when the tiger dragged the man out through the wire."
I liked the punishment of the wannabe Marine that had to publicly wear a sign stating-- “I am a liar. I am not a Marine.” On the back: “I have never served my country. I have dishonored veterans of all wars.”
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