PHONY WAR HEROES DEBUNKED BY REAL THING.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The last Mitchell Paige Mitchell Paige (August 31, 1918 – November 15, 2003) was a recipient of the Medal of Honor from World War II. He received this most prestigious military honor awarded by the United States of America for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on heard, the guy was up in the Seattle area somewhere, running up thousands of dollars in hospital bills he couldn't pay. He didn't have any money, but he told people he had something of value in his knapsack - something he was very proud of: the Medal of Honor Medal of Honor highest American military decoration for wartime gallantry. [Am. Hist.: Misc.] See : Bravery he was awarded for heroism in Vietnam. His story touched the hospital staff and others who heard it. A war hero fallen on hard times. Sad. ``Before you knew it, his hospital bills were paid for him, and the guy took it on the lam again,'' Paige said. ``But I'll find him. You can be sure of that. I'll find him.'' Find him because the guy's a phony - just like 500 other Medal of Honor phonies whom the 80-year-old Paige, a real Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, has tracked down in the past 40 years. Men who paid $500 to $1,000 for their medal on the black market and became instant heroes on their resumes. Men who had streets and schools named after them, cut the tape on new highways and were grand marshals Grand Marshal is a ceremonial, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "Marshal" with the first usage of the term "Grand Marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders. in their hometown Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. parade. Men from all walks of life - local businessmen to judges, politicians, and even an astronaut astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. in training. Paige, a retired Marine Corps colonel, found them all - by himself for the first 35 years, more recently with the help of the FBI. In 1994, Congress passed a federal crime bill stiffening stiff·en tr. & intr.v. stiff·ened, stiff·en·ing, stiff·ens To make or become stiff or stiffer. stiff the penalties from a $250 slap on the wrist to a year in jail and $100,000 fine for anyone caught fraudulently making, buying selling or wearing the Medal of Honor. He exposes the phonies in the name of the real heroes, Paige says - the GIs who fought and often gave their lives for their country, but seldom, if ever, got any recognition for it. ``I do this for the guys who stayed behind and gave up their lives holding off the enemy while their squad or platoon escaped, the guys nobody ever recognized because nobody knows their names,'' Paige said. ``They're the real heroes. To have these phonies take the glory is a disgrace.'' There are 160 living Medal of Honor recipients If you're not in that file, you aren't the real thing, Paige said. Phony, like the grand marshal of a Fourth of July parade in Twentynine Palms whom Paige exposed a few years back, or the judge in Illinois who upgraded his Purple Heart Purple Heart U.S. medal awarded to those wounded in military action. [Am. Hist.: Misc.] See : Bravery to a Medal of Honor, or the New Jersey mayor who resigned in disgrace after Paige debunked him. The list is long and ugly - phonies who got their hands on unauthorized copies of the Medal of Honor that were sold on the black market by HLI HLI Human Life International HLI Highland Light Infantry HLI High Level Interface HLI High Layer Information HLI Hispanic Leadership Institute HLI Host Language Interface HLI Hekemian Laboratories Incorporated Lordship lord·ship n. 1. often Lordship Used with Your, His, or Their as a title and form of address for a man or men holding the rank of lord. 2. The position or authority of a lord. 3. Inc., the Long Island company that had the government contract for producing the real medals. The company was fined $80,000 in 1997 for selling 300 unauthorized copies of the medal and lost its government contract. But it's too late to get those 300 medals - and probably more, Paige thinks - out of circulation. They're already hanging around the necks of phonies. ``After they're caught and I talk to them, most of these guys say they just got in over their heads,'' Paige said. ``They'll start by telling some lies to people in their communities about their war record, how they were heroes. ``Then, they get invited to speak at some function, and they embellish it even more. Pretty soon, they've built themselves up to be a Medal of Honor winner. ``Before you know it, they're in the local newspaper cutting ribbons or having streets named after them,'' he said. Someone in those communities, usually a veteran, will smell a rat and send the story to Paige. He'll check his files, and if the local hero isn't there, he'll catch the next plane to the guy's hometown. As he says, he does it for all the men who never got recognized for their heroism. ``When I got my medal, I dedicated it to everyone of the 33 men in my platoon who were killed or severely wounded holding off hundreds of enemy charging the hill to overrun 1. overrun - A frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, especially in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes our position,'' said Paige, who earned his medal at Guadalcanal in October 1942. ``They were the real heroes.'' Paige said this with his customary humbleness. He doesn't mention that when Hasbro Inc., maker of the famous GI Joe dolls, went looking last year for one Marine to honor as the new GI Joe action figure, representing all Medal of Honor recipients, it was the name Mitchell Paige that went on the box. The real thing. Not one of those phonies. Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO Mitchell Paige, 80, a retired Marine colonel and one of only 160 living recipients of the nation's Medal of Honor, talks with Marines at Camp Pendleton. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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