[Kenton]

I too have a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Service Cross that I never earned. They were passed down to me when my Mom died, along with the flag that covered my uncle's coffin, and the letters dated 1944 that came with them.

The citations described how my uncle single handedly wiped out a German machine gun nest, though gravely wounded, and refused evacuation until the men in his squad were safe. The awards were posthumous.

I hold them in such reverence that misrepresenting them as something I earned is unthinkable. There are just some things that are simply too dishonorable to even consider.

[OldFriend]

Your reverence is so admirable and in stark contrast to what John Ketchup did with his medals (not really) which makes it even lower than low.

[San Jacinto]

I am glad that you honor the memory of your uncle the way you do. He was a hero for all Americans.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I used to wear my father's flight jacket from time to time.  He was a Marine F-4 driver in Vietnam....the coat's plastered with the patches from the air groups he flew in and carriers he landed on.

I stopped wearing it because people kept thinking it was mine.  I didn't mind explaining to people who asked that it was my dad who was the ass-kicker - not me - but I realized that there were all those people who didn't ask and thought it was my coat. 

Made me feel like a fraud even though it was just a flight jacket:  I couldn't imagine wearing one of his metals.