Wes Moore receives Bronze Star 2 decades after Army service in Afghanistan

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore received a Bronze Star on Friday night for his military service in Afghanistan nearly two decades after he was deployed overseas.

The governor received the belated honor at a private ceremony at the governor’s mansion on Friday, during what The Washington Post reported was an emotional ceremony.

Moore’s former commander, Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, pinned the Bronze Star on the governor at the ceremony and said, “I’m so happy to be in a position to right a wrong,” according to the Post.

The ceremony came just a few months after The New York Times reported that Moore, in 2006, had written on an application that he received a Bronze Star for his service when, in fact, he never received it.

Moore said after the revelation in August that he made an “honest mistake” for not correcting the application. He said, however, that his deputy brigade commander had recommended him for the Bronze Star — and told him to include the award on his application “after confirming with two other senior-level officers that they had also signed off on the commendation.”

Fenzel said Friday that the Times report in August was the first time that he learned Moore never ended up receiving the Bronze Star, according to the Post, which reported that Fenzel recommended Moore again for the honor and walked the paperwork through the necessary steps himself this time around.

In an interview with the Post, Fenzel pushed back against the suggestion that Moore received special treatment, saying Moore spent “months in the combat zone putting himself at risk. So, if this is special treatment, it is the treatment that he deserves.”

“He’s earned it. It should have happened 20 years ago,” Fenzel said.

The governor’s office confirmed the Bronze Star in an emailed statement but declined to provide further comment.