Retired Army Lt. Hal Fritz said the court treated those medals as something abstract. But for him, it's a memory.
Fritz was leading a seven-vehicle armored column down a Vietnam highway in 1969 when enemy combatants launched a surprise attack from all sides. Fritz was seriously wounded in the crossfire, but ran through the machine gun blasts to rally his troops. After his platoon survived the first wave, Fritz charged into a second enemy advancement armed with only a pistol and a bayonet. He was seriously wounded, but refused medical attention until all of his men had been cared for. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1971.
"We would disagree with the majority saying lying about receiving the medals doesn't devalue them," said Fritz, 68, who now lives in Illinois. "I would say go back with me to Vietnam dragging the dead and dying off the battlefield."
More @ SF Gate
Why doesn't free speech apply to lying to a Federal official, which is a felony? Why are politicians - especially Presidents, who should be held to a _higher_ standard - allowed to lie to the nation, yet an individual lying to a Federal officer can be imprisoned? (Martha Stewart was _not_ convicted of insider trading, but of lying to a Federal officer, which meant time in prison.)
ReplyDeleteOne standard for the Feds, a different standard for us. There is absolutely NO effing reason a politician should be able to violate the law without penalty while ordinary citizens go to jail or prison for the same offenses. We know it is this way, and has been for years. It needs to change.
Nothing more I could add. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteI meant to add this: it is also a felony to impersonate a police officer or a Federal officer. Perhaps the states need to simply re-write the law to make it illegal to impersonate a Medal of Honor recipient.
ReplyDeleteThen, if SCROTUS wants to decide it is unConstitutional to imprison a person for impersonating a CMH recipient, we can get rid of the penalties for impersonating an officer, Federal, state or local.
Yes, pure BS.
ReplyDeleteI am a Supreme Court Justice, anyone else wanna join me and see how that goes when we show up in DC and tell everyone and anyone that? Bet I would end up in a cell.
ReplyDelete