Vietnam Veteran Receives Long Overdue Medals Including 4 Bronze Stars

Vietnam veteran receives medals nearly five decades after service 
KBZK News
By Keele Smith
July 12, 2015

BOZEMAN - Sunday was an emotional day for a Vietnam war veteran who was officially recognized nearly five decades after serving.

U.S. Senator Steve Daines presented Tom Creasey with six medals Sunday morning, 46 years after serving in the Vietnam War. Creasey served in the U.S. Navy on active duty from 1966 until 1969. 

He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with Four Bronze Stars and the Vietnam Campaign Medal, among others. 
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Decorated Disabled Veteran Shot on 4th of July By Police

Shot on the Fourth of July, Veteran Says 
Courthouse News Service
By LORRAINE BAILEY
Monday, July 06, 2015

Smith says he was hit five times in his chest, stomach, arm and legs, and grazed by two bullets on his face and neck.

CHICAGO (CN) - A decorated veteran was drinking a beer on the street last July 4 when Chicago police chased and shot him five times, he claims in Federal Court.

Levail Smith says he fought in Operation Desert Storm with the U.S. Marine Corps, service that earned him three Bronze Stars, a Combat Action Ribbon, a Navy Unit Commendation, the National Defense Services Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait).

That tour also left Smith with post-traumatic stress disorder, however, and he says qualifies as fully disabled.

Smith was doing his laundry in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood at approximately 11:30 a.m. on July 4, 2014, when he stepped outside and joined a group of men standing on the sidewalk, according to a federal complaint Smith filed last week.

He says one of the men handed him a can of beer, and that an unmarked police car immediately descended on him after he took a sip.

Seeing Officer Tim Manning place his hand on his gun after getting out of the car, Smith says the threatening gesture triggered his PTSD, causing him to fear for his life and run.
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Highly Decorated Ranger, Wasn't

Stolen valor can also be a problem among active-duty troops 
Stars and Stripes
By Ashley Rowland
Published: July 5, 2015

Rare are the reports of active-duty servicemembers trying to paint themselves as heroes.

SEOUL, South Korea — Damian Barbee was a model soldier, a highly decorated Ranger with nearly a dozen awards for valor and ribbons recognizing his overseas service.

His story was too good to be true.

In May, the former senior noncommissioned officer was found guilty of lying about items on his service record, including claims he earned a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Master Parachutist Badge and a valor device on his Army Commendation Medal. Even his Ranger tab was fake.

In addition to being court-martialed for seven false claims of wearing decorations and badges, Barbee also lied to investigators, telling one official he had been awarded the Combat Action Badge in 2002, producing a falsified document as proof.

Barbee, formerly an E-8, was sentenced to hard labor without confinement for three months and given a reduction in rank to staff sergeant.

A groundswell of support for U.S. troops after more than a decade of war has led some to take advantage of that goodwill — lying about military service for adoration and financial gain. The practice is so offensive that it’s punishable by federal law under the Stolen Valor Act, which was signed by President Barack Obama in 2013.
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101 Year-old Veteran Receives WWII Medals

101-year-old veteran receives WWII medals 
The Blade
BY TAYLOR DUNGJEN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
7/3/2015

Miss Kaptur said the medal presentation was “to pay tribute to a veteran whose memories and whose service have given us the liberty that we commemorate this July Fourth.”

In war, there's little time to think about fear or to worry about what might happen.

There's time to act.

On Jan. 6, 1945, Army Pvt. Horace Appleby took action, saving the life of a comrade and, for that he was awarded the military's third-highest decoration, the Silver Star.

“I didn't think much about it,” said Mr. Appleby, 101, of Toledo. “I did what I had to do.”

Thursday, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) presented Mr. Appleby with 10 medals for his service during World War II. His medals, many of which he didn't know he was entitled to until his great-niece, Renee Hahn of Perrysburg, started inquiring about his personnel records, include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, Honorable Service Lapel Button, and the Marksman Badge with rifle bar.

“He's the family treasure,” Mrs. Hahn said. “You better believe it.”
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Veterans Angry After Contractor Claimed To Be One Of Them

Veterans want apology from Sheriff's candidate 
The Advertiser
Claire Taylor
June 28, 2015

Mark Garber appears in military garb on campaign material used in his race for Lafayette Parish Sheriff.
(Photo: Claire Taylor, Daily Advertiser)

Mark Garber, a candidate for Lafayette Parish Sheriff who was awarded the Bronze Star for his work as a civilian interrogator with the Air Force in Iraq, has angered a couple of local military veterans who say he is pretending to be one of them.

The Southwest Louisiana Veterans Coalition board wants an apology, while one Lafayette veteran said Garber should withdraw from the Sheriff's race.

Garber is pictured in campaign material dressed in military gear with a gun; his Bronze Star medal also is shown. To make it worse, local veterans said, Garber stood up at a banquet recently when military veterans were recognized.

"He slapped the face of every veteran in Lafayette by portraying himself as a veteran," said Daniel J. Bentley, commander of American Legion Post 69 of Lafayette. "He is not a veteran."

Garber told The Daily Advertiser , "I have never, ever claimed to be a military veteran."

But the website for his private legal practice with attorney C. Ray Murry recently stated: "Mr. Garber and Mr. Murry are military veterans."

The statement was changed Thursday after The Daily Advertiser brought it to Garber's attention. He said the statement was written long ago and was worded improperly because his law partner is a veteran of the military.

While in Iraq, Garber wore a uniform and carried weapons like military personnel, and was deployed on missions with soldiers. He considers himself a veteran of Iraq, but not a military veteran, he said.
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Double Amputee Afghanistan Veteran Running For Congress in Florida

Veteran Who Lost Both Legs In Afghanistan Announces Run For Congress 
Daily Caller
ALEX PAPPAS
Political Reporter
June 8, 2015

“The adversity I have faced in my life has only intensified my desire to serve and to ensure that the people of our great nation have every opportunity to rise as far as their talent and hard work will take them,” he said.

Brian Mast, a retired Army special operations combat veteran whose legs were amputated after an IED blast in Afghanistan, said Monday he will run for Congress in Florida.

Mast, who served in the Army for 12 years, will seek the Republican nomination for Florida’s 18th congressional district. In 2010, Mast was working as a bomb disposal expert in Afghanistan when he was seriously injured by a roadside bomb.

“Whether you are in a combat zone, or trying to find a job or a better life for your family, there is plenty of adversity out there that must be overcome,” Mast said in a statement. “Our government should be working to remove barriers to opportunity, not create them.”
Bayoubuzz

Mast was awarded the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, according to this campaign.
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Linked from Brian Mast Announces Run For US Congress

Why Did Honored Iraq Veteran End Up This Way?

Records: Estranged wife suspected war vet husband in deaths 
Associated Press
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
June 1, 2015

(Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review, via AP). This Feb. 2011 photo shows decorated Iraq War veteran Roy Murry. Murry's estranged wife, Amanda, told authorities her husband suffered from post-traumatic stress and was becoming increasingly delusional

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The estranged wife of a decorated Iraq War veteran said she had no doubt who law officers should investigate when her mother, stepfather and brother were found shot to death at their rural home.

Amanda Murry told law officers that her husband, Roy H. Murry, 30, of Lewiston, Idaho, blamed her family for the couple's marital woes.

"Amanda Murry said that Roy Murry was the only person who she suspected had any reason to do harm to the residents," according to court documents released Monday.

Roy Murry is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon after he was arrested on three counts of first-degree murder.

Amanda Murry told authorities her husband suffered from post-traumatic stress from his service in Iraq and was becoming increasingly delusional, according to court documents.

Roy Murry earned a Bronze Star for valor as an Army National Guard sergeant in Iraq, where he was severely injured by a bomb. He has had a series of run-ins involving weapons with law enforcement officers since his return from the war.

Murry remained in custody after surrendering to authorities on Saturday, four days after the home of his wife's family was set on fire near Colbert, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said.

The three bodies were found with numerous gunshot wounds on the rural property.

Amanda Murry, a nurse, told investigators that she had moved in with her mother, stepfather and brother in December and wanted a divorce.
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Camp Pendleton Marines, Everything Working Against Them, Everyone For Each Other

Marines Awarded Navy Cross, Bronze Stars for Bravery in Afghanistan Battle 
NBC San Diego
By Andie Adams and Bridget Naso
Apr 9, 2015

“I asked the guys, I said, 'Look, does anyone have a problem with risking it to take these guys out there because if we don't, they're going to die here,’” said Jacklin. “And there wasn't a second of hesitation. Everyone says, ‘I'm in, let's do it, let's do it.”

Six Camp Pendleton Marines were honored Thursday for their bravery in Afghanistan: one with the Navy Cross, and the others with the Bronze Star. All part of a Marine Corps Special Operations Team, they took part in one of the most historic battles during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Gunnery Sgt. Brian Jacklin, who was the team’s second in command, described the June 2012 battle at an early morning ceremony at Camp Pendleton Thursday.

He and ten fellow Marines were helping the Army stabilize villages in the Helmand province when they were surrounded on all sides by their foes. “The enemy had the advantage in terms of geographic position, they had the advantage in terms of local fire power.

Everything was working against that team,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman at the ceremony. 
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Police Search for Hit and Run Driver Who Killed VIetnam Veteran

This story really has my blood boiling. How could anyone just leave this veteran to die on the street? Considering I just dropped off a new mailbox to replace my neighbor's box I hit yesterday morning, it is sickening to read about someone not even caring they hit a person.

Police release details regarding hit-and-run that killed Vietnam Vet
WJCL News
By Staff Report
Published: February 20, 2015

SAVANNAH, GA (WJCL) — Major Accident investigation Team (MAIT) officers from the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department have narrowed their search for a truck involved in a Jan. 4 hit-and-run to a red Chevrolet.

Investigators are looking for a red 1999 or 2000 Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe or Suburban with damage to its front end on the right side as the vehicle that struck and killed a Florida man on Abercorn Street that Sunday night.

Peter Meyers, 72, of Vero Beach, FL, was found on the ground in front of a motel on the 5700 block of Abercorn about 10:30 p.m.

He was walking across Abercorn at the time he was struck and thrown into shrubbery. The incident could have taken place before, during or after a rain storm earlier in the evening. 

Meyers, a Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Bronze Star, was laid to rest with military honors at the United States Military Academy at West Point on January 13. read more here

Black Hawk Down Chris Faris Retiring After 31 Years

Top MacDill enlisted leader, veteran of Mogadishu's 'Black Hawk Down' battle, to retire 
Tampa Bay Times
William R. Levesque
Times Staff Writer
Sunday, January 25, 2015

Chris Faris, command sergeant major of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base,is retiring at the end of February after 31 years in the military. He is also a co-grand marshal of Gasparilla 2015. Photo courtesy Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino

He acknowledged the battle that cost the lives of 18 U.S. troops and left 73 others wounded is never far from his mind. "I probably think about it two million times a day, every day," Faris said. "You don't go to war without being changed."

TAMPA — Chris Faris was wounded in Mogadishu in 1993 as a member of the elite Delta Force during the battle made famous in the book and film Black Hawk Down. And he has spent nearly six years deployed overseas since 2002, often while on secret missions in the world's most-dangerous places. But the work one of the grand marshals of the 2015 Gasparilla celebration wants to be remembered for is his effort to encourage soldiers to seek the help they might need after returning from war.

Faris is command sergeant major — the top enlisted leader — of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, and has earned seven Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart in his 31 years in the Army. He will retire at the end of February. That, Faris said, is enough.
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Air Force Staff Sgt. Pearsall Turns Lens Into Healing PTSD

Veterans Portrait Project new passion for former combat photographer 
The Post and Courier
Prentiss Findlay
November 27, 2014

"The physical pain was one thing. I was trained well enough to just kind of suck it up and keep going. I just wasn't prepared for the emotional anguish I was going to feel," she said.

Retired Army First Sgt. Eugene D. Smith enlisted in
1966 at the height of the Vietnam War.
He retired in 1992.
He was photographed for the Veterans Portrait
Project in St. Louis. Stacy Pearsall

Stacy Pearsall prepared to focus her camera on veteran David Ball as she softly sang "Let It Go" over and again, a tune from the Disney movie "Frozen."

She recently completed a year of coast-to-coast travel for her Veterans Portrait Project.

In 33 cities, she photographed men and women who served their country including a 99-year-old Bataan Death March survivor.

In West Ashley, she added another veteran to the list of more than 3,000 for whom she has done portraits. She and assistant Cali Barini set up lights and other equipment in Ball's garage where he was photographed.

It was a good day for Pearsall. The post-traumatic stress disorder that can keep her at home in Goose Creek was at bay.

Pearsall said that she is getting better emotionally.

The portrait project has been a saving grace for her. 

"Four or five years ago I wouldn't be able to sit in this room where we are sitting. I would be buried in the corner over there. I've been pushing my comfort zone to get myself out of this repetitious funk because that's what PTSD does to you," she said.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Pearsall was wounded in 2004 and 2007 during tours of duty in Iraq when improvised explosive device blasts hit armored vehicles in which she was traveling. She received the Bronze Star for her actions helping rescue wounded soldiers. 
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Marine with robotic leg braces to receive a Bronze Star

Marine With Robotic Leg Braces to Get Bronze Star
Associated Press SAN DIEGO
By JULIE WATSON
Nov 21, 2014

Capt. Derek Herrera wanted to remain on active duty after a sniper's bullet in Afghanistan left him paralyzed two years ago.

Now he plans to retire from the Marine Corps, but not before walking across a stage with robotic leg braces to receive a Bronze Star.

Herrera will be honored Friday at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, in a ceremony that will also mark his medical retirement after 8½ years in the military.

Herrera has vowed to retire while standing, like he did when he joined the Marine Corps.

"I could easily go and roll up in my wheelchair. But for me it's a mental and emotional goal that I set for myself: to stand up and walk out of the Marine Corps," said Herrera, who was the first American to purchase the ReWalk system recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The special operations officer is being honored with the Bronze Star for his actions on June 14, 2012, when the patrol he was leading came under heavy fire in Afghanistan. Herrera continued coordinating efforts while receiving treatment for his own spinal injury and collapsed left lung.

"The bravery and fortitude he displayed inspired his men to heroic feats as they valiantly fought to save the lives of their wounded team members and repel the enemy assault," wrote Maj. Gen. M.A. Clark in recommending Herrera be recognized with a Bronze Star.
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Navy SEAL Veteran Robert O'Neill Not Apologizing

Ex-Navy SEAL makes no apologies for going public
The Associated Press
KEN DILANIAN
Nov 15th 2014

Robert O'Neill, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, speaks at the 'Best of Blount' Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony at the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville, Tennessee, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. O'Neill, in an interview with the Washington Post, identified himself as the person who killed Osama bin Laden in a 2011 raid.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill, who says he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden, played a role in some of the most consequential combat missions of the post-9/11 era, including three depicted in Hollywood movies. And now he's telling the world about them.

By doing so, O'Neill has almost certainly increased his earning power on the speaking circuit. He also may have put himself and his family at greater risk. And he has earned the enmity of some current and former SEALs by violating their code of silence.

But O'Neill, winner of two Silver and five Bronze Stars, makes no apologies for any of that. In a wide-ranging interview Friday with The Associated Press, he said he believes the American public has a right to more details about the operation that killed the al-Qaida leader and other important military adventures. And he insisted he is taking pains not to divulge classified information or compromise the tactics SEALs use to get the drop on their enemies.

"The last thing I want to do is endanger anybody," he said. "I think the good (of going public) outweighs the bad."

"We work in secret and we pride ourselves on that, so if somebody comes out and spills this much, it angers the rest of us," Jonathan Gilliam, a former SEAL, said in an interview.
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More War Veterans Heading Into Congress

Democrat Moulton wins Massachusetts' 6th District
WHDH News
Posted: Nov 04, 2014

BOSTON (AP) - Democrat Seth Moulton has won the race for Massachusetts' 6th Congressional District, defeating Republican Richard Tisei.

Moulton stunned the state during the primary when he defeated nine-term incumbent Democratic Rep. John Tierney, the first sitting Massachusetts congressman to lose a primary since 1992.
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Who is Seth Moulton?

Seth W. Moulton, a former Marine and Democratic nominee for Congress in Massachusetts’ Sixth Congressional District, was twice decorated for heroism during battles with Iraqi insurgents in 2003 and 2004. Moulton earned the Bronze Star medal for valor and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation for valor.
The Boston Globe

A humble hero has emerged for cynical voters suffering a bombardment of boastful political ads.

The Boston Globe reported that Seth W. Moulton, a former Marine and Democratic nominee for Congress in Massachusetts’ Sixth Congressional District, was twice decorated for heroism during battles with Iraqi insurgents in 2003 and 2004. Moulton earned the Bronze Star medal for valor and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation for valor.

But he didn’t tell anyone. Not even his parents.

At least not until The Boston Globe got ahold of his military record and began asking questions.

Achievements of such heroism are impossible to overstate. Moulton received The Bronze Star medal for valor for responding to a Mahdi Militia attack on Iraqi security forces. First Lieutenant Moulton and his platoon came under intense mortar, rocket, sniper and machine gun fire at the Najaf main Iraqi police station. He defended this position for six hours, ignoring the exploding mortars and constant sniper fire to lead the Battalion’s assault on the enemy.
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Younger veterans heading to Congress in bigger numbers
Navy Times
By Leo Shane III
Staff writer
Nov. 5, 2014

All 14 Iraq War veterans running for re-election in the House won their bids.

Next year’s Congress will boast the largest class of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans yet, even as the overall number of lawmakers with military experience continues to decline.

At least 22 veterans of the current wars won their races Tuesday, with at least four contests still undecided Wednesday morning. This year’s Congress has 17 veterans of the current wars.

The new class includes six Democrats and at least 16 Republicans. It is headlined by Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton and Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, the first two Iraq War veterans elected to the chamber.

Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., is the only other senator to have served in Iraq, but he was appointed to the seat to fill a vacancy.

Cotton, who had already represented Arkansas in the House, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and was among the key Republican pickups that will shift control of the Senate to his party next year.

Ernst, the first female Iraq War veteran elected to the Senate, made national headlines with campaign ads last spring in which she boasted of her experience castrating hogs on the family farm. “When I get to Washington, I’ll know how to cut pork,” she quipped.
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WWII veteran kept Silver Star and 7 Bronze Stars a secret

Family unearths veteran's secrets
Lancaster native who kept WWII stories to himself has many awards
The Eagle-Gazette
Written by
Carl Burnett Jr
staff
July 14, 2014

George Davis stands in front of his tank lined up for a military review during WWII. / Submitted by Chris Anderson

LANCASTER — When former Lancaster native George William Davis was asked about his World War II military service, he would change the subject or just say no one wanted to hear about it.

“He used to say he saw things over there that he didn’t think other people should know about,” said his son-in-law, Chris Anderson.

But that wasn’t the case for Anderson, or the Davis family. They were interested.

Davis died in 1996 before he opened up about his military service and before Anderson started digging into his military history.

“I was trying to do research for a book I was trying to write about my family’s military history,” Anderson, a Vietnam War Navy veteran, said.

Anderson said he contacted the military records department through Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office to obtain Davis’ military records.

What they found out was that all of Davis’ military files had been destroyed in a fire in 1973. But there was one more place they could look for information — the Hocking County Recorder’s Office.

He entered the Army three days after Pearl Harbor and served for nearly four years in battles against the Axis powers in North Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium and Germany.

He received a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in battle, as well as Campaign Stars for Algeria-French Morocco (North Africa), Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe (Germany).

He was granted an honorable discharge and received the Good Conduct Medal, a special Belgian award (the Belgian Fouraguri) and he also received a Silver Star for gallantry, seven Bronze Stars and a Bronze Arrowhead.

He had an amazing military history and saw most of the battles in Europe that included the Americans.
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Iraq Veteran Gets Special Graduation Ceremony

Army vet, after missing graduation because of mysterious illness, gets special ceremony Friday
Sedeño completed his master's degree in secondary education
Lubbock Avalanche Journal
By Karen Michael
A-J MEDIA
Posted: June 13, 2014

With Texas Tech President Duane Nellis, Jeremy Sedeño and Tech Regent John D. Steinmetz beaming for cameras, the degree transfer was quickly completed.

An Army veteran who earned two Bronze Stars while serving two tours of duty in Iraq was honored in a small graduation ceremony at Texas Tech on Friday afternoon after being too sick to attend graduation in May.

Jeremy Sedeño returned to Lubbock after serving in the U.S. Army as a medic to finish his education at Texas Tech.

He worked to complete his master’s degree in secondary education after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in history.

About a week and a half before his graduation, he became ill with flu and was admitted to the hospital, where doctors found nodules on both sides of his lungs. Four days before graduation, he had a lung biopsy, with doctors going into his body through his back and ribs to take a piece of his infected lung.

In the time since graduation, Sedeño has traveled to the Mayo Clinic to find out what is wrong with him, but he still has no conclusive answers. Some doctors have speculated he could have come into contact with something toxic during his service in Iraq.
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Fort Hood Decorated Major Died of Gunshot Wound

Decorated Fort Hood Officer Who Died Of Gunshot Wound Identified
KWTX.Com
FORT HOOD (May 29, 2014)

Fort Hood Thursday identified an officer who died earlier this month of a gunshot wound in Harker Heights as Maj. James D. Mullin, 40.

No further details of the shooting were released.

Mullin, of Harker Heights, joined the Army as an armor officer in January 1997 and had been assigned since November 2013 to the 1st Cavalry Division’s Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

Mullin, who deployed to Afghanistan from February 2004 to April 2005 and again from February 2012 to July 2012 was the recipient of two Bronze Stars.
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Vietnam Veteran finally receives medals after 44 year wait

Vietnam vet receives medals 44 years later
KXLY4
Author: Ian Cull
Multimedia Journalist
Published On: Mar 28 2014

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho
A Coeur d'Alene man who participated in two combat tours in Southeast Asia with the 101st Airborne Division finally received awards for valor Thursday he earned more than 40 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam.

It was due to a paperwork mistake that former Army Sgt. Leon Strigotte had to wait 44 years to receive several medals he earned in Vietnam. The Idaho Army National Guard made sure to thank him for his service, with the state's Guard commander, Brig. Gen. John Goodale, on hand to present Strigotte his awards.

Guardsman and fellow combat veterans manned the hallways of the Idaho Army Guard armory in Post Falls Friday to welcome Strigotte, who served two tours in Vietnam between 1967 and 1969. During his service, he was wounded three times -- once during the Tet Offensive in March 1968 and in the Central Highlands in August and again in December of 1969.

During Tet, Strigotte was injured in a land mine explosion, was rehabilitated and then asked to go back. After his second wound in late 1969 he was sent home. He was later awarded three Purple Hearts for being wounded in combat, but the other medals he had earned were lost due to a clerical error.

He was told that after he was med-evaced from Vietnam his paper trail of what he did didn't quite follow him. One year turned into two years, then two decades. On Friday, 44 years later, that paper trail finally caught up to him. Strigotte finally received the medals he had earned, including the Bronze Star, Air Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.
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Senator Pryor about to discover best way to lose election

Sen. Pryor Hit for Saying Foe – a Decorated Vet – Has ‘Sense of Entitlement’
ABC News
By Arlette Saenz
Mar 5, 2014

Republicans and a veterans group have pounced on a comment by Arkansas Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor that his Republican opponent feels a “sense of entitlement” because he served in the military.

Pryor, one of the country’s most vulnerable Democrats, is being challenged by Rep. Tom Cotton, an Army veteran who earned a Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Ranger Tab during deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is a sad display of arrogance from a career politician who has been seeking office for more than two decades and an insult to everyone who has served,” said David Ray, spokesman for Cotton’s campaign.
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Florida Vietnam "hero" fraud wanted more money from VA

This fraud was not caught for any other reason than he got too greedy and wanted an increase in his VA benefits.

February 28, 2014
Fraud Vietnam veteran claiming Purple Heart and Bronze Star pleads guilty
Veteran who lied about Purple Heart pleads guilty
Walter Eatman claimed to have PTSD, Purple Heart
WESH.com By Melissa Catalanotto
Feb 28, 2014

ST. CLOUD, Fla. —A veteran from St. Cloud has pleaded guilty to making false statements to receive benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and stealing government funds.

According to court documents, Walter Clarence Eatman, 68, of St. Cloud, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, applied for and received VA benefits for five years. Court documents said he falsely claimed he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss and tinnitus.

Court documents also say he lied about serving in combat in Vietnam for two years and being awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Officials said Eatman never served in Vietnam, nor did he earn a Purple Heart or Bronze Star.
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'War hero' admits lying to get government benefits
Walt 'Sandman' Eatman of St. Cloud never served in Vietnam, nor was he wounded, federal prosecutors say.
Orlando Sentinel
By Susan Jacobson
February 28, 2014

Walter Eatman of St. Cloud claimed that he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after being haunted by memories of combat in Vietnam, where he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

The trouble is, none of the claims were true, federal prosecutors said.

Eatman, 68, on Thursday pleaded guilty to theft of government funds and making false statements. Prosecutors say he stole about $106,000 in government money and benefits, including mental-health counseling and medication, by lying about his service.

Eatman, whose nickname is "Sandman," is a former Marine. But he did not serve in Vietnam from August 1965 to August 1967 as he claimed.

Eatman came to the attention of prosecutors after he tried to have his Veterans Affairs benefits increased in September 2010 by claiming that was suffering from PTSD.
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A friend sent Wounded Times a link to this story, which makes it all even worse.

Left to right- Don Smith, museum CEO, Art Schwabe, American Legion Florida Commander
and Walt Eatman, Vice Commander pause during their tour of the museum.

American Legion Commander Visits Museum of Military History

The Bringing Honor Home: Campaign 2013 raises funds to support educational exhibits, special events and programs.

The Museum of Military History was honored with a visit by current American Legion, Department of Florida, Department Commander Art Schwabe on August 15th. Commander Schwabe was accompanied by Steve Shuga 6th District Vice Commander and Assistant Commander Walt Eatman. Commander Schwabe’s entourage was escorted by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office motorcycle police unit.
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