Tears glistened in her eyes, as she watched the crowd gathering around her husband shaking his hand, patting his back, and awaiting his autograph. His hair was now gray and there were some wrinkles, but he was still the handsome young soldier who returned to her from Vietnam in 1969, an escapee from a Viet Cong prison camp, a recipient of the nation’s highest award for valor the Medal of Honor, 2 Silver Stars, and 3 Purple Hearts. He  was her hero, her husband, the father of their five children, and grandfather of eight. Every year, just like this, he was the Grand Marshal of a July 4^th Parade, and she so proud when she saw how he was revered. All was wonderful . . . well, except for one thing, he was a liar, a poser, a fraud, one of our nation’s most sickening scoundrels. This man was actually a PFC truck driver in Vietnam, who drove around his divisional headquarters in Cam Ranh Bay for a year, and never heard a shot fired in anger. This is a fictional vignette, but very typical of frauds being portrayed daily throughout the USA with the perpetrators never suffering any consequences, except passing on a legacy of dishonor to their sons, daughters, and grandchildren. The heart-breaking theft of valor from our nation’s true heroes, this crime of fraud cannot easily be prosecuted.

            Last week, thanks to public pressure from the Hurley brothers, POW Network, Wannabe Slayers, and others, Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy publicly admitted he had been living a lie to get elected posing as a Green Beret Vietnam war hero without ever earning a Green Beret. Other phonies have been getting exposed each week, because veterans are sick of all the lying posers now who are claiming to have earned medals, Green Berets, Navy SEAL tridents, and other awards, especially for personal gain.  

            We really are in World War III, and we must protect our fighting men and women in harm’s way, but how can we do that if we do not even protect the honor of our veterans? How can we protect our military if cowardly Republican politicians jump ship when they see the Commander-in-Chief’s poll numbers go down, or vote-hungry democratic politicians embellish our miss-steps in order to weaken the other party? What happened to revering our military and our veterans? What happened to statesmanship? In World War II Americans took jobs they did not want to help the war effort, rationing, blackouts, sacrifice, and a jingoistic national pride that would never consider bringing home the troops short of total victory, nor would our leaders look at newspapers to decide how to prosecute that war. We are spoiled! We are becoming America the Land of the “Me” and the Home of the “Depraved.” The Republican Party lost the House and Senate and everybody except the voters acted shocked that it happened.  Many democratic leaders trash the Administration every chance they get, but the American public is sick of the classless nature of politics anymore.

            We must regain our honor as a nation. Democratic Colorado congressman John Salazar, proposed the Stolen Valor Act wherein it will finally be a crime with stiff penalties to claim or wear unearned medals and other military awards, but members of my party have not jumped on this bill simply because Salazar is a freshman and a democrat. Most all legitimate veterans of all wars sorely want such a bill passed to punish the phony liars stealing the honor of our nation’s real heroes, but we are still playing political games. This has got to stop! The lawmakers who have not signed on this bill must think of us, the veterans, the voters, the public, and not party politics.

            What is the legacy we are passing to our children? It must be a  legacy of honor and a code of righteousness. That is what America is about. We cannot be free if we enslave ourselves to fractionalism, private interests, and the party-politic. The Stolen Valor Act did pass the Senate in the last session of Congress, and the House of Representatives just went back into session on Monday, November 13th. It is not expected to pass there, because of partisanship, and congress is not expected to stay in session very long. We must all act now.

            Please call your US Representative immediately and demand that the Stolen Valor Act be reported out of the judiciary committee by Chairman Sensenbrenner, place the bill, S1998, on the suspension calendar, and be brought to the floor of the House with a call for unanimous consent without objection. Then, it will only require the President’s signature and will become law, and our nation’s elite, our military and our veterans finally will stop being robbed of their honor, of their valor. Please do this for America’s veterans; past, present, and future. What we do now, each of us, will be a part of the legacy we pass on. We are America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. We must give back the stolen valor to those who have made America that way and who bought our freedoms with their blood and sacrifice. In this, you personally can make a difference, a monumental difference, right now.

            To learn how to easily contact your US Representative go to this link: http://www.homeofheroes.com/speakout/index.html . Then please pass this on to everyone you know.

            You can also call these people with the same demand:

Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) (202) 225-5101
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) Phone: (202) 225-2976
House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) Phone: (202) 225-4000
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) Phone: (202) 225-6536

            Thank you and God bless  America.

Don Bendell's current novel, a modern day military thriller, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DETACHMENT, was released worldwide by Berkley (Penguin) in 2006 and has been getting nothing but 5-star reviews, and BROKEN BORDERS, the sequel will be released worldwide in a few days… Don served as an officer in 4 Special Forces Groups, including a tour on a Green Beret A-team (Dak Pek) in Vietnam in 1968-1969, and was in the Top Secret Phoenix Program, is a top-selling author of 23 books, with over 1,500,000 copies of his books in print worldwide, a 7th degree black belt master in 4 martial arts, he is a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado. Don's editorials have been widely-published in newspapers and magazines, and circulated by millions all over the world on the Internet. He has been interviewed on FOX NEWS LIVE and on many radio shows, and speaks all over the country. Contact Don at don@donbendell.com.