Imposters as heroes

Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

The time has come for the Defense Department to create a database that could allow information about military medals to be verified.

Most veterans are honest about their service years. But cases of veterans who lie about having earned awards, and nonveterans who lie about having served valiantly, are growing. There is more of a problem with this trend than their strange desire to create false backgrounds for themselves.

History can be recorded and even engraved in stone, and yet be completely wrong in cases where veterans have lived a lie. It almost happened here last year. A World War II veteran had been embellishing his military record for decades. In September the House of Representatives passed a bill that would have named a post office on Russell Road after him. After the facts of his actual record came out, the result of a newspaper inquiry, the bill died.

On Sunday The New York Times, in a story on this issue, cited reporting by the Associated Press, which in April disclosed that the Veterans Affairs Department was paying disability benefits to hundreds of people who had falsely claimed to have been prisoners of war during the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars.

Stories are cropping up in papers all over the country of people who have used inflated military credentials to help themselves attain success in the private and public sectors. Most of these people have been revealed only because an individual or group got suspicious and started the lengthy and arduous task of researching paper records.

The Times reported that fake military documents, medals and uniforms are easily obtainable on Internet sites. This makes it harder to distinguish between heroes and imposters.

In 2007 and early 2008, bills were introduced in the House and Senate that would require the Defense Department to create a searchable database listing accurate information about the medals it has awarded. If for no other reason than to restore full faith in the heroes who actually have earned valorous medals, these bills should be passed.