One man's war on military-hero impostors

One man's war on military-hero impostors
Most people can't tell the difference between the hero who was awarded his Purple Heart for taking shrapnel in the Battle of Fallujah and the fraud who bought his medal on the Internet.
By Christian Davenport

The Washington Post

Since 2006, claiming an unearned military decoration has been a federal offense, thanks to a federal law Doug Sterner, guardian of the nation's military decorations, helped to craft.

WASHINGTON — It certainly looked real. It had the right font, right seal. It was even signed by the secretary of the Navy.

But Doug Sterner, self-appointed guardian of the nation's military decorations, immediately suspected that there was something fishy about the Marine's citation for the Navy Cross, one of the military's most prestigious awards.

First of all, it said that the president "takes pride" in presenting the prize. "Pride," Sterner knew, is typically used only when the recipient is dead. This Marine was very much alive, which meant the citation should have said the president "takes pleasure."

Then Sterner noticed that the citation was supposedly signed in 1968 by Navy Secretary Paul Nitze. But Nitze was secretary only until 1967.

Sterner, who lives in Alexandria, Va., knew that in his obsessive quest to compile a database of recipients of the military's top decorations, he had found yet another phony. This time, the man he outed was Richard Thibodeau, who for years had proudly spun tales of heroism and even had his awards hung in a veterans museum.

Some phonies do it for the money they collect posing as war heroes. But Tom Cottone, an FBI agent who for years busted them, said most do it for an adoration money can't buy. "They get access to people, places and events they would never have except that they are representing that they earned awards for valor in combat," he said.

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One man war on military hero impostors