Congressional Medals Of Honor Stolen

In the midst of the 2004 presidential election campaign, while the nation was focused intently on issues surrounding military service during the Vietnam war, a crime was committed against some of those who made the greatest sacrifice for their country -- and the national media barely even noticed.

The crime took place on the U.S.S. Yorktown, a World War II aircraft carrier. Docked in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., across the harbor from Charleston, the Yorktown's lower decks are home to the Patriot's Point Maritime Museum. The historic Yorktown also houses the Medal of Honor Museum, and is home to the headquarters of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Inside the museum are several display cases featuring Medals of Honor awarded to recipients from all five branches of military service.  These are priceless honors, and educating people about them is a duty which the CMOH considers sacred.

The CMOH society's membership includes Americans of all races and from all walks of society. The following excerpt from the Society's web site explains why members and supporters of this unique institution consider their mission so important:

"No amount of money, power or influence can buy one's rite of passage to this exclusive circle, and unlike almost any other organization, this group's members hope that there will be NO MORE INDUCTEES.  Beyond this attitude towards recruitment, about all they have in common is a passionate love for the United States of America and the distinct honor of wearing our Nation's highest award for military valor, The Medal of Honor."

On the morning of June 27, 2004 a cleaning crew discovered that someone had violated the sanctity of the CMOH's museum, and smashed the glass in one of the cases. Missing were seven invaluable Medals of Honor, dating as far back as the Civil War and stretching through the Boxer Rebellion, World War II, and Vietnam. Also gone were a hat and jacket worn by Adm. William "Bull" Halsey during his WWII campaign in the Pacific.

After stealing the medals, the thief or thieves went deeper into the bowels of the ship, to a room where other invaluable historical items are stored and displayed. At the time, the museum did not have an alarm system. The lone, overnight security guard on duty had to patrol all four ships that make up the museum at Patriot's Point, so the thieves could have easily managed to evade him.

The Society immediately summoned cops from the Mount Pleasant Police Department to the ship to investigate. They dusted for prints, talked to people who worked on the ship, and then called in the FBI, because it's a federal crime to steal a Medal of Honor.

The FBI's One-Man Fraud Squad

Special Agent Thomas A. Cottone, Jr. is a 40-year veteran of the FBI. He's the agency's go-to man for investigations involving medal theft and fraud. Over the years, he's tracked down scores of thieves and "fake war heroes," and locked them up on federal charges. He's one of the most knowledgable law enforcement professionals in the country on the subject of stolen and counterfeit military medals, and he's determined to find the culprit in this case.

So how does one get a Medal of Honor? It's not easy. The Medal of Honor is the highest decoration awarded to soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in the U.S. armed forces. Each service has its own unique design. As of February 1st, 2007, there are only 111 living recipients to explain how they distinguished themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity ... above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States."

"The people who've lived to recieve this honor don't usually want to sit around and tell war stories at the VFW," said Gary Littrell, the current president of the CMOH society. "The guy you see who's always talking about what he did in combat is the one you should be most skeptical of. The Medal Of Honor is awarded for a blood sacrifice and cost many of the men who served with you their lives.  It's an honor, not a bragging right."

The Congressional Medal of Honor is the only military award that the President of the United States personally presents to a living recipient, or posthumously to the surviving next of kin.

Congress passed an act in 1862 during the Civil War that created the Medal of Honor. Recipients are nomiated by a commanding officer or a member of Congress.  The first one was awarded that same year. Since then only 3,462 medals have been handed out to 3,443 different people, 615 of whom received their medals posthumously. Since the end of the Vietnam war, the Medal of Honor has been awarded only four times, all posthumously:

1. and 2. Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart and Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, Mogadishu, Somalia  1993: Shugart and Gordan earned their medals during a mission later popularized in the movie "Blackhawk Down." Elite Delta Force snipers, they were circling above the city in a Blackhawk helicopter when Somali fighters with RPGs shot down another Blackhawk piloted by Michael Durant. Durant was the only survivor, but he was severely injured, and a huge crowd of angry Somalis massed around the wreckage. After a rescue convoy determined that they'd be unable to reach Durant in time, Shugart and Gordan volunteered to rope in and protect Durant. They managed to hold back the Somalis for several hours, until their ammunition ran out. The crowd mutilated their bodies and dragged them through the streets.

3. Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, Iraq  2003: Sgt. Smith was building a prisoner of war camp at the Baghdad airport when a large enemy force attacked his unit. He arranged a hasty defense with the two platoons and four armored vehicles at his disposal, but the enemy soldiers kept coming. So he manned a .50 caliber machine gun on one of the armored vehicles himself, much like WWII hero Audie Murphy, and covered his unit's withdrawal. When the smoke cleared, more than 50 Iraqi soldiers lay dead, and Smith himself was mortally wounded.

4. Cpl. Jason Dunham, Iraq  2004: Cpl. Dunham was working a checkpoint near the Syrian border in Al Anbar Province when his unit stopped a suspicious car. When Corporal Dunham approached to question the driver, the insurgent began struggling with him, then tossed a hand grenade at two of Dunham's fellow soldiers.  Dunham dove on the grenade, covering it with his Kevlar helmet and his own body to shield his comrades from the blast.  He died of his wounds eight days later.

Stolen Valor

George Washington was quite clear on what should happen to the scoundrels who claimed military honors that they had not rightfully earned:

"Should any who are not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished."

From harmless wannabe SEALS to those who get full rides to college on military scholarships, there's no shortage of people who find no shame in pretending they're decorated soldiers:

1. Roger D. Edwards: A US Navy Captain with 34 years experience, he was found guilty by court martial of wearing service ribbons and medals that he did not earn, including the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

2. Lisa Jane Phillips: The campus police chief at Meredith College spotted this faker wearing a WWII combat medal. Phillips got a full ride to the school by claiming she was a Captain in the US Air Force that had seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan. She'd never served a day in her life.

3. Richard Thibodeau: This 64-year-old medical technologist regaled in his tales of combat with the Marines in Vietnam. He claimed he was a retired Sergeant Major, the highest enlisted rank in the Marines, and that he had been awarded the Navy Cross for valor. Records would show that he never set foot in Vietnam, or bootcamp.

And unfortunately, it's now easier than ever for twisted adults to play GI Joe. Like college diplomas and minister's licenses, the trappings of valor are also available over the Internet.  Need a Bronze Star or a certiicate saying you graduated from scout sniper school? No problem. With a few mouse clicks you too can be conning your way onto floats at Memorial Day parades.

Doug Sterner of Pueblo, Colo. runs a website devoted to preserving the honor and integrity of military service and awards for valor, and he says that, "In any given town there's probably some fake war heroes pretending to be something they're not.  We do our best to weed 'em out and expose them whenver suspicions come to our attention."

In response, Congress finally passed The Stolen Valor Act on December 6, 2006, which makes it a crime to merely claim that one earned the Medal of Honor. Prosecution was difficult before passage of the act because impostors had to be caught actually wearing the medal. The act increases penalties for impersonating a Medal of Honor winner, and extends those penalties to all other medals. It also adds new provisions covering the sale and shipping of fake medals.

A short list of Medal of Honor recipients follows below. Littrell and Norris were interviewed for this story; the others are the recipients whose medals were stolen in the heist. As these men illustrate, it takes superhuman feats of strength, bravery, and extraordinary sacrifice -- sometimes even death -- to earn the right to wear one.

The current President of the Medal of Honor Society earned his medal as a US Army infantry advisor to the South Vietnamese army. After an enemy mortar attack hit his hilltop position, killing the Vietnamnese commander and wounding the other advisors, he took over the besieged battalion. After calling in artillery and air support, he led the entire battalion to safety.

Former Navy SEAL Tommy Norris looks like a slender, unassuming guy, but behind enemy lines he's a master of near impossible missions. When an EB-66 electronic warfare aircraft escorting a flight of B-52 bombers went down in the jungle, the generals called upon Norris and his expertise. They'd already lost five aircraft and nine men trying to rescue the lone survivor, Lieutenant Colonel Iceal "Gene" Hambleton, call sign BAT-21-Bravo. Norris' mission to find Hambleton would prove the most daring - and costly - of the entire war. His adventure spawned several books, and a Hollywood movie starring Gene Hackman and Danny Glover.

Six months after the successful completion of that mission, Norris was tasked with another one: take a five-man team behind enemy lines and recon a naval base. Along for the ride was Mike Thorton, a strapping SEAL who knew how to dish out the pain. After a botched insertion, the team managed to make it back to the beach, where they tangled with an overwhelming enemy force. Norris called in naval gunfire on their position, and ordered the team to pull out. While covering their withdrawal, he took a shot to the head; Thorton ran back through a hail of bullets, grabbed the unconscious Norris, and swam him several miles out to sea, where a boat picked them up.

Pfc. Bellrichard was manning a foxhole with four other soldiers when they were hit by an enemy mortar attack. It was just a prelude to a strong ground assault, which Bellrichard halted by tossing several grenades. Then came more mortar shells, and another ground assault. Bellrichard kept the grenades flying, but when a mortar shell landed right in front of him, he lost his balance and dropped a live one into the foxhole. Rather than rolling out and saving himself, he jumped on top of the grenade and took the blast with his body. Amazingly, he then got up and continued killing the enemy with his rifle, until succumbing to his wounds.

Two Navy divers were attempting to free a landing craft stuck in 40 feet of water and 20 feet of mud when they became stuck in the wreckage. Hammberg jumped in, risking cave-ins and jagged steel and working in total darkness to free the men. After reaching the first one, he continued on, reaching the second one just as a cave-in started above him. He threw his body in front of a heavy piece of steel, saving the man trapped below.

Another Navy diver, Mihalowski was a member of a rescue chamber crew at the sinking of the U.S.S. Squalus. He made several risky trips down to the ship in a diving bell, searching for survivors.

Wilson was one of 19 men who penetrated 200 miles behind Confederate lines to capture a railroad train and blow up tracks between Chattanooga and Atlanta.

On patrol and searching for bandits with his men, a rifle grenade fell from someone's pack and ignited after striking a rock on the trail. Truesdall picked it up and tried to throw it, blowing off his hand and absorbing the full brunt of the explosion.

Woods saved the lives of his comrades and civilians with the detachment when he repelled an Indian attack in New Mexico.

Hansen served with an Allied forces relief expedition, distinguishing himself in an intense combat mission during the Boxer Rebellion.