Kiwiussr's fabulous claim.

[desantnik]

Originally Posted by slava1stclass

No Legions of Merit were awarded to U.S. Army personnel for combat-related operations in El Salvador.

D'oh! And kiwiussr and his buds got some...

[PaulR]

Why would someone lie about awards like that? What is the gain? Pension does not go up any higher? We do not get a longer life nor to they even cause hotter girls to come our way. What is the point of lying about something like this?

Granted, I am proud of my lower in awards because they represent experiences, but I do not see the need for someone to exaggerate or lie about their career. All service is noble and is something to look up to.

[CtahhR]

Just remember until the stolen valor act more American citizens pretended to have a MOH than the number of true living recipients.

One of my favourite "Stolen Valour" moments if you could call it that is from the BBC documentary "Once A Soldier" where an elderly veteran is stripped of an award he had been falsely wearing for 60+ years. As this was a campaign Medal (and he was entitled to and wearing 3 others) he was just told to remove it from his uniform but not relinquish ownership.

[shotgun01]

Originally Posted by PaulR

Why would someone lie about awards like that? What is the gain? Pension does not go up any higher? We do not get a longer life nor to they even cause hotter girls to come our way. What is the point of lying about something like this?

reminds me of the guy who pretended to be a high ranking SAS member & attended vet marches.(he made the news)

he had every medal under the sun & they were incorrectly mounted

SAS fake Roger Day sells his 17 bogus medals on eBay for £386 | Mail Online

[Pobeda45]

Originally Posted by kiwiussr

in regards to the LOM was awarded to myself and 7 other members of my unit for work with American forces and operations in the late 80,s as part of joint operations in parts of central amercia

To me the "7 other members" part casts an additional shadow on this claim. I didn't think the Legion of Merit was awarded "in bulk."

[desantnik]

Originally Posted by Pobeda45

To me the "7 other members" part casts an additional shadow on this claim. I didn't think the Legion of Merit was awarded "in bulk."

It wasn't and isn't. The only thing approaching "in bulk" were WWII awardings to allies. The Soviet ones I've seen were signed by President Truman or the most senior U.S. general officers.

[EricFG]

Originally Posted by PaulR

Why would someone lie about awards like that? What is the gain? Pension does not go up any higher? We do not get a longer life nor to they even cause hotter girls to come our way. What is the point of lying about something like this?

It's all about machismo. Being able to prove that you're better than the rest via acquisitions. I think it's partly genetic, that you have to prove yourself to advance. And partially an indicator of the current culture. Take for example viagra and it's ilk; you're told for just a small sum you could be rewarded with unending hotties and you believe it.
Back in the day the Neanderthal who had the biggest, uh, 'club', or who provided the most for the group got all the hotties/attention. In the 21st Century it's those with the biggest collections shown on the internet who get from the masses. It is desire for attention and that's all.
Same goes for me. I've got plenty of sexy GPW awards but I just had to get a screwpost base RS. I'm sinfully proud of it and it makes me feel able to help take on a (smallish) panzerarmy. And it helps keep me connected to the group I want to hang with.
But I don't claim I earned it, only it's purchase. That's the rub here, methinks.

[slava1stclass]

Gents,

The WW II award criteria for the then newly instituted (1942) Legion of Merit were often loosely interpreted for both American as well as foreign recipients. As an example, for a period of time immediately after its introduction, it was not uncommon to see the Legion of Merit awarded to senior U.S. Army noncommissioned officers (e.g. Master Sergeant) for meritorious service while in the combat theaters.

As desantnik correctly notes, Legion of Merit awards to Red Army personnel largely involved Red Army field grade and general officer ranks and most often occurred at war's end. The medals were accompanied (usually quite some time after the fact) by large award certificates and letters on White House stationery which detailed the individual's award citation and included President Truman's autopen signature. I'm unaware of any Legion of Merit awards to Red Army soldiers.

That said, however, stranger things did happen as was the case with the award of the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal (higher in precedence than the Legion of Merit) to Red Army Senior Sergeant Polyakov (see attached image).

In the end though, these liberal WW II DSM and Legion of Merit awards to a wide range of Red Army/Allied ranks were unique to that time and should not be construed as being representative of contemporary U.S. Army award policy.

Regards,

slava1stclass

[CtahhR]

Whenever a British (or Commonwealth) service member is awarded a LOM it is announced in the London Gazette. If you do a quick search of it by putting in "legionnaire" and "merit" you can see who has (or not) been awarded. I'm sure someone here will be able to conduct such a search and report back the millions of results over the last 30 years.

[medals73]

Originally Posted by CtahhR

Whenever a British (or Commonwealth) service member is awarded a LOM it is announced in the London Gazette. If you do a quick search of it by putting in "legionnaire" and "merit" you can see who has (or not) been awarded. I'm sure someone here will be able to conduct such a search and report back the millions of results over the last 30 years.

In general, yes. IF it is Gazetted. Many foreign awards are not and require actual research in the archives and, even then, some of those files have been emptied.