Chaplain charged with wearing unauthorized medals, insignia

[thedrifter]

December 15, 2003

Chaplain charged with wearing unauthorized medals, insignia

By Bryant Jordan
Times staff writer


A Navy medical service corps captain and Episcopal priest who was made an Honorary Marine will be arraigned Dec. 16 on a charge of wearing unauthorized medals and insignia, including the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.
Capt. Roger D. Edwards will be arraigned at Quantico, Va., on one count of violating Article 132 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Marine Capt. Tanya Murnock, a base spokeswoman.

In the one charge, however, Edwards will be accused of wearing the Silver Star ? the nation?s third-highest award for valor ? the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, the parachutist?s qualification badge and the Special Forces Medical Corps insignia, among other decorations and badges, Murnock said.

Article 134 is a general provision that covers a wide range of crimes, including wearing unauthorized insignia, medals and badges.

Edwards, 54, was the executive assistant to Rear Adm. Robert D. Hufstader Jr., the Corps? top medical officer, when officials began looking into his personal decorations. He had been scheduled to retire Aug. 31 and was on terminal leave when officials put those plans on hold.

He was charged in September with unauthorized wear of personal decorations, pending the Article 32 hearing to decide whether he would go to a court-martial.

Murnock said Edwards has been returned to duty while the process goes forward.

Edwards was one of four people made Honorary Marines in an Oct. 31, 2002, ceremony presided over by then-Commandant Gen. James Jones.

Edwards claims to have served as an Army Special Forces medical specialist in Vietnam before joining the Navy and to have earned awards that include the Silver Star, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor (with three oak leaf clusters), the Purple Heart (with three gold stars), the Army Special Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab and the Basic Parachutist insignia, according to his biography.

While Edwards? Army records note he earned an Army Commendation Medal with ?V? device and an oak leaf cluster, they show no record of a Silver Star or any Purple Hearts, nor any training for Special Forces or jump school.

Edwards also was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in Maryland on May 31, 2002, and in September ? one month before the Honorary Marine ceremony ?became the rector of St. Andrew the Fisherman Church in Mayo, Md.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/sto...925-2482249.php


Sempers,

Roger