Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) falsely claimed he was awarded the Bronze Star.
While those on his staff claim he never lied about receiving the award, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the New York Times found that Moore claimed in 2006 that he did receive the Bronze Star.
“For my work, the 82nd Airborne Division have awarded me the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Action Badge,” Moore wrote. While he later received the Combat Action Badge, he never received the Bronze Star.
Moore has since called his false claim an “honest mistake.”
“I made an honest mistake by including something because my commanding officer thought it was a good idea,” Moore said. “He thought that I earned it and he was already going through the paperwork to process it.”
Moore emphasized that his claim was made at the encouragement of his deputy brigade commander, noting that the commander “helped me edit it before I sent it in.”
“At the time, he had recommended me for the Bronze Star. He told me to include the Bronze Star award on my application after confirming with two other senior-level officers that they had also signed off on the commendation,” Moore said in a statement.
“My deputy brigade commander felt comfortable with instructing me to include the award on my application for the Fellowship because he received confirmation with the approval authority that the Bronze Star was signed and approved by his senior leadership,” he added. “In the military, there is an understanding that if a senior officer tells you that an action is approved, you can trust that as a fact. That is why it was part of the application, plain and simple.”
Although he now wishes he had “gone back to correct the note on my application,” Moore again said his false claim was an “honest mistake, and I regret not making that correction.”
