When wounded in service is not good enough.

Miss. vets arrested over Purple Heart claims

By Nicklaus Lovelady - The Clarion Star-Ledger
Posted : Wednesday Mar 26, 2008 16:28:06 EDT

Federal investigators on Tuesday arrested two Mississippi men who allegedly falsely represented themselves as Purple Heart recipients in order to obtain free vehicle license plates.

John Wayne Lebo, 57, of Tylertown and Christopher Billeaud, 52, of Biloxi are suspected of altering their “official military discharge papers to reflect awards and medals (they) did not receive,” according records filed in federal court.

In doing so, both obtained the Mississippi Purple Heart vehicle license plate, which never expires and is given to Purple Heart recipients at no cost, U.S. Attorney Ruth Morgan said.

Purple Heart medals are given to war veterans wounded in combat by an enemy attack and are posthumously given to family members of those killed in battle by an enemy.

The arrests followed separate investigations by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

John Weber III, the attorney for Lebo, was unavailable for comment.

Kathleen Billeaud, the wife of Christopher Billeaud, an Air Force Veteran of Desert Storm, the first Iraq war, said the U.S. government is making a big mistake.

“My husband did not falsify anything. Sandbags collapsed on his neck during a scud [missile] attack, and his neck was broken. I have the documentation right in front of me to prove it,” she said.

According to court papers, officers with the Air Force Office of Investigations went to the Billeaud home in April 2007, after they say they discovered that Christopher Billeaud said he was a chief master sergeant, although he retired as a master sergeant.

One of the officers noticed that a vehicle parked at his home had a Purple Heart license plate. During the interview, the officer asked Billeaud if he received a Purple Heart, and he told the officer no, court records show.

Kathleen Billeaud said her husband has been recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the head of Keesler Air Force Base hospital as receiving a Purple Heart, but not by the Air Force.

She said the Air Force recognizes his disability but said there was some discrepancy on how he was injured.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/airforce_billeaud_purpleheart_032608w/

I was angry when I saw this headline but I was even more angry when I read the story. When is a wound less worthy when it happened in service? I still think they should give PTSD veterans at least an award like the Purple Heart because had they not been deployed, they wouldn't have been wounded either.