Stolen valor was Re: Vietnam

[Jonathan Lighter]

G. B. Burkett & Glenna Whitley published a 1998 book on exactly this topic
titled _Stolen Valor_.  It's a fairly common phenomenon.

I knew such a prevaricator in grad school in the '70s. He was a law student,
otherwise a great guy, who suavely maintained that he'd served in combat in
Vietnam. He didn't allude to it much, just enough to be convincing.
Eventually he fessed up that he hadn't even been in the service.  I can't
remember what brought on the confession.

We thought the whole thing was weird and sad.

JL

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 8:39 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Stolen valor was Re: Vietnam
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 5/21/10 12:01 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > Date:    Thu, 20 May 2010 10:48:17 -0700
> > From:    Dave Wilton<dave at WILTON.NET>
> > Subject: Re: Vietnam
> >
> > "Stolen valor" is the term for the more extreme examples of this. It is
> even
> > a criminal statute against it (18 USC sec. 704). Although Blumenthal's
> > statements do not violate the law, which is limited to false claims
> > regarding receipt of military decorations and medals.
> >
> We just had someone nailed for this in Worcester:
>
> http://www.telegram.com/article/20100514/NEWS/5140520
>
> --
> ---Amy West
>
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