Veterans Dressing Up their Medal Groups; Sean Bruyea and Ernie Hughes

Thankfully most veterans follow the rules of how to wear their hard earned medals, however there seems to be an increased propensity for some veterans of the First Gulf War to embellish their group with unauthorized medals from foreign lands. Here we have Sean Bruyea wearing his Gulf and Kuwait War Medal and Canadian Forces Decoration along with two totally unauthorized medals for service in the First Gulf War; the Kuwait Medal for service in the war and the Saudi Arabian Medal for serving in the war. So this fellow is wearing three medals for the same conflict. Can you imagine what those who served in the Second World War would have looked like if they dressed up their groups with medals from the various countries they helped to liberate; France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and more than a dozen others. 

Sean Bruyea -- doubled his group with unauthorized medals. 

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and a number of other gulf nations sought to recognize Canadians who served in the conflict and Canadians were permitted to accept these medals as "mementoes" -- with the explicit understanding that they would never be worn Alas, Instant Dictator Syndrome seems to effect even those fighting for veterans' rights. So much for following the rules when it comes to foreign honours.

Next we have a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Mr. Ernie Hughes. Before we go any further it is worth noting that the Royal Canadian Legion has been at the forefront of ensuring that its members do not wear phoney medals, and the Legion has long been and example to other organizations in that it only allows internal awards (ie. the various Royal Canadian Legion Medals and Awards) to be worn on the right side -- not mounted with official national honours. Nevertheless, here we have a conspicuous offender in the form of the El Presidente of the Barrhaven branch of the Legion Ernie Hughes. At the neck Mr. Hughes appears to be wearing the Order of St. George and on the breast he has his mounted set of medals (nicely displayed and properly done) but a breast star -- perhaps as a Knight Grand Templar of the Order of St. George?? Neither of these awards are given out by a recognized government or are they in any way official honours. Again, it is against the rules for wearing Canadian Orders, Decorations and Medals to wear these outlandish insignia along side official national honours.

A note on deportment -- one never wears breast stars while in a sports jacket, blazer or business suit (lounge suit); at the very least Mr. Hughes should be in morning dress if he is going to wear a breast star during the day. Nevertheless here we have Mr. Hughes looking like the dictator of a small less developed European potentate. 

If you are going to become the poster child for a veteran's cause then you had best not go around sporting medals you aren't authorized to wear -- unless you want to haemorrhage credibility and legitimacy. 

El Presidente Ernie Hughes, Supreme Ruler of Barrhaven