The Bronze Star, depicted here, is awarded to a person in any branch of military service who, while serving in any capacity with the armed forces is distinguished by meritorious achievement or servicein connection with military operations against an armed enemy. Photo by Maj. Jon Quinlan/U.S. Air Force.
Gov. Wes Moore finally got his Bronze Star last week, 18 years after his service in Afghanistan that got him nominated for the medal — and after several years of political headaches over reports that claimed he received the award even though it had not been given.
The Washington Post first reported that Moore received the Bronze Star in a private event Friday evening at the governor’s mansion. The Post said it was attended by Moore’s commanding officer from Afghanistan, who presented the medal, the governor’s staff members, select lawmakers and others who Moore said were “hand-selected by me” for defending him through the controversy.
That controversy surrounded claims in news stories and by broadcast interviewers who introduced Moore as a Bronze Star recipient, misstatements that he did not correct at the time. The issue has dogged Moore, who made his military service a central theme of his political persona.
When questions about the Bronze Star came up during Moore’s 2022 campaign for governor, he insisted at the time that he had never claimed to have won the award, only that he failed to correct mistaken statements by others. He said then that the focus on his failure to correct the record were “a measure of desperation in the attacks” against him
The controversy was revived this summer when the New York Times reported that Moore claimed in a 2006 application for a White House fellowship to have received the Bronze Star and the Maryland College Hall of Fame Award — which does not exist.
Moore’s superiors from that time — his commanding officer and a coach on the Johns Hopkins University football team, where Moore played — took the blame for those misstatements, claiming in the Times’ story that they had directed him to include them in his application.
In a statement at the time, Moore again apologized for not setting the record straight when he had the opportunity to do so — and again went on the offensive against those who raised the issue to question his credibility and “hunt for new ways to undermine my service to our country in uniform.”
Moore was a member of the Army Reserve, when he volunteered for service in Afghanistan, arriving in August 2005. He was assigned to a civil affairs unit of the 82nd Airborne Division, where his job was to persuade insurgents to side with the newly elected Afghan government.
Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, who was a lieutenant colonel and Moore’s superior in Afghanistan at the time of the White House application, praised the governor’s service in Afghanistan, saying at Friday’s ceremony, according to The Post, that there were six Taliban who had aligned with the Afghan government when Moore arrived and 417 when he left.
It was Fenzel who nominated Moore for the Bronze Star. That award can be given to any member of the military for “meritorius achievement” in connection with military operations. It does not represent valor in combat — that service is honored with a Bronze Star with a “V” device, which Moore was not nominated for and did not get.
Fenzel said he assumed the award had been given and was surprised when reporters called asking about the discrepancy. After he learned of it, he resubmitted that paperwork and walked it through the process to make sure he received it this time, according to the Post report of Friday’s ceremony.
The governor’s office this weekend confirmed that Moore had finally received the medal, but declined further comment.