Democrat Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has apologized for falsely labeling himself a Bronze Star recipient on a White House application in 2006.
Though Wes Moore served in the Army Reserve between 1996 and 2014, deploying to Afghanistan between August 2005 and March 2006, winning the National Defense Service Medal, he stated on his 2006 application for a White House fellowship that won a Bronze Star.
He never received such an award.
According to documents obtained by the New York Times, Moore said on his application, “For my work, the 82nd Airborne Division have awarded me the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Action Badge.” The Air Force’s Personnel Center says that the award goes to service members who perform “acts of heroism in ground combat.”
Moore told the Times he made an “honest mistake” in 2006, saying his brigade commander had recommended him for the Bronze Star at the time.
“While serving overseas with the Army, I was encouraged to fill out an application for the White House Fellowship by my deputy brigade commander,” Moore said. “In fact, he helped me edit it before I sent it in. At the time, he had recommended me for the Bronze Star. He told me to include the Bronze Star award on my application after confirming with two other senior-level officers that they had also signed off on the commendation.”
One of Moore’s mentors, Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, confirmed to the Times that he told Moore he had been approved for the medal and encouraged him to include it on his application. Fenzel only learned Moore never received the award after interviewing with the outlet.
“In the military, there is an understanding that if a senior officer tells you that an action is approved, you can trust that as a fact,” Moore said Thursday. “That is why it was part of the application, plain and simple.”
As noted by Newsbreak, Moore had “multiple opportunities in the past to correct the record, including during a 2008 PBS panel discussion with Gwen Ifill and in a 2010 appearance on The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert.”
“I am proud of my service in the U.S. Army, I am proud of the soldiers I served with in combat, and I love my country. I’m never going to back away from that. The military taught me to put the safety of others over my own, leave no one behind, and live “Mission First, People Always.” These are the values that drive my work as governor – and that will not change,” Moore said Thursday.
“I’ve been open and honest about my military service for my entire career, and I am deeply proud of it. But it seems I must, once again, set the record straight, as people hunt for new ways to undermine my service to our country in uniform,” he added.
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