Following controversy, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore receives Bronze Star for Army service 18 years ago
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Governor Wes Moore received a Bronze Star 18 years ago for his efforts in Afghanistan, just months after a controversy arose when a newspaper reported that he had claimed to have received it on a 2006 White House grant application. while the paperwork had not yet been fully processed.
The private ceremony at the governor’s residence in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday was confirmed by the governor’s office.
Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, the governor’s close friend and former commander who recommended Moore for the medal, pinned the Bronze Star for “meritorious service” to the governor’s chest during the ceremony, The Washington Post reported.
“I am so happy to be in a position to right a wrong,” Fenzel said at the ceremony, the newspaper reported.
Moore, a Democrat, had been recommended for the medal while deployed by his superiors, including Fenzel, and Fenzel encouraged Moore to include it in the application because it had received the necessary approvals, both men said.
Moore, then 27, questioned it but said Fenzel assured him it would be awarded by the time fellows were selected. Yet the paperwork for the award never came through. Around the time Moore finished his 11-month deployment, he won the White House grant.
The New York Times reported in August that Moore had prematurely claimed the Bronze Star on the scholarship application.
Fenzel said Friday that the controversy was the first time he had heard that Moore, a former Army captain, had never received the Bronze Star. When Fenzel learned of this, he said he immediately called the Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormouth, to let her know that he planned to re-recommend Moore for the award and rearrange the paperwork, including obtaining approval from Moore’s old chain of command. .
The citation was signed on November 19. But Moore learned he received the medal on Dec. 14, when Wormouth told him in person at the Army-Navy football game, the governor’s staff said.