Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill

Lucky sends us a link to BBC which reports that members of the UK’s parliament have introduced legislation that would make wearing military awards you didn’t earn punishable by a £5,000 ($6238.57) fine or prison;

“People who have served their country in genuinely dangerous environments, then someone comes along and pretends that they are their equal – that causes a lot of offence,” he says. “When people see veterans it’s important that people have confidence their medals are legitimate.”

Internet vigilante groups with names like the Walter Mitty Hunters Club are dedicated to uncovering and shaming them, and these exposes are regularly picked up and given extra publicity by an indignant tabloid press.

The article goes on to describe some of the incidents involving “Walter Mittys” that were the impetus for the bill.

One well-publicised case involved Roger Day, who admitted he hadn’t earned the 17 medals – including awards for serving in World War II, the Military Medal and SAS badges – that he wore at a 2009 parade in Warwickshire.

In 2008, bus driver Jamie Barrett was spotted marching in Edinburgh with members of the Parachute Regiment who had served in the Falklands. He had bought his medals online. After he was exposed, Barrett said: “I’m basically a Walter Mitty type of person.”

And last year, Oxford’s town crier Anthony Church confessed to inventing a career in the armed forces. He had previously claimed he was a “regimental sergeant major” and had worn a Falklands medal.

Category: Stolen Valor Act