U.S. Supreme Court steals valor

The U.S. Supreme Court has been in the news lately. Its most recent ruling on health care has the nation either cheering or pulling their collective hair out by the handful.

Yet there was another ruling overshadowed by all the attention the health care debate spawned.

Ironically, both rulings were made on the same day. One would spark a political firestorm that is still raging, while the other ruling — well, not so much (unless you ask a veteran or active member of the U.S. armed forces). The court’s other action June 28 was a 6-3 ruling against the Stolen Valor Act, which was signed into law in 2005 by President George W. Bush.

The ruling rendered the Stolen Valor Act invalid. The law said it was a crime for someone to lie about receiving the nation’s highest military awards. In this case, a person lied about receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor is our nation’s highest award. It is awarded to our bravest and best for going way beyond the call of duty, for risking life and limb engaging the enemy while protecting fellow soldiers in war.

Xavier Alvarez, a California politician, publicly claimed he was a Marine and a recipient of the medal. But he never wore the uniform, never served in the Marine Corps, and he never fought in combat. He was not one of the 81 living recipients of that award. He was a fraud. He was arrested, tried and convicted. He appealed. The appeals court fight reached the highest court in the land. And that court claimed the action was protected as free speech and ruled in his favor.

Free speech? Really?

It was a slap in the face to all who served, a punch in the gut to those who really earned the Medal of Honor. Most of those awarded this honor receive it posthumously. Very few soldiers are still living to stand in front of the president and have the Medal of Honor draped on his or her shoulders. And the court ruled that this was just free speech?

I disagree. It was fraud. Fraud is not free speech, it is a crime.

Of the 3,459 people awarded The Medal (as we veterans and GIs call it), since it was established in 1862, only 81 are still alive to tell us their tales. These are veterans from World War II to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These brave souls endured quite literally hell on earth and performed acts of heroism that chill the blood. As I said before, most of those awarded this honor did not survive; rather, their selfless acts earned it for them in death.

This decision is a bad one in my opinion. The high court and the American Civil Liberties Union went way too far redefining the limits of free speech. A politician claimed to be something he was not, allegedly for political gain. He claimed to be Marine, to be a recipient of the nation’s highest honor for valor under fire. And this fraud was held up as freedom of speech. He was exposed as the real low life he is by all of this. But his actions do not, in my opinion, constitute free speech.

As a veteran, I must draw the line in the sand. I do so not for myself, but for my fellow veterans who lie silent now buried in our nation’s cemeteries, foreign battlefield cemeteries of World War I and World War II, and at the bottom of the world’s oceans. They can no longer speak for themselves, but veterans like myself and others can. I can reluctantly say this feeling is not shared by all veterans. It is a mixed feeling to tell the truth. Still, I am standing by my words.

There is a tradition among active duty and veterans of the armed forces who see one of these people with that medal on their neck. Everyone stands and renders honors to him, no matter the rank he held or holds. Everyone from the lowest enlisted rank to the highest grade officer salutes the bearer of that medal first. That is a sign of the greatest respect. The U.S. Supreme Court did not pay that same respect when its members rendered their decision against the Stolen Valor Act. It was aptly named that for a reason.

There are laws on the books in the military justice system addressing this problem, with those in service who have done such foolishness. Those can be found in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Stolen Valor Act mainly deals with the citizen from a federal, civilian level. Now it is powerless. I feel it must be reversed or another act must be made with respect for those who have earned those awards re-established. The fraud perpetuated by this man was not free speech. It was a crime.

The shame he bears is now shared the U.S. Supreme Court, Alvarez’s lawyers and the ACLU. The shame of it all will ultimately land on the heads of the American citizen soldiers and veterans if nothing is done about the issue. All this ruling has done is open a Pandora’s box.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.