Moore claimed the military “awarded me the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Action Badge” on an application to join a prestigious White House fellowship in 2006, according to a New York Times report that broke Thursday. 

In a statement issued shortly after the report was published, Moore explained his superior officer told him “to include the award on my application for the Fellowship because he received confirmation with the approval authority that the Bronze Star was signed and approved by his senior leadership.”

Gen. Michael Fenzel confirmed he had advised Moore to add the award to the application in comments to the outlet.

“You’ve got to include it,” he recalled telling Moore. “If you are selected as a White House fellow, you’re going to be wearing it whenever you’re wearing your uniform.” Moore is an Army combat veteran who retired from the military in 2014.

The Maryland governor wrote Thursday that he was later “disappointed” to learn that he did not ultimately receive the promised Bronze Star. He admitted he never issued a correction to the application. 

“I sincerely wish I had gone back to correct the note on my application. It was an honest mistake, and I regret not making that correction,” Moore reflected.

He also apologized in comments to the outlet for failing to correct two interviewers in 2008 and 2010, as well as a newspaper columnist in 2013, who referenced him as a Bronze Star recipient.

Moore’s comments came after his gubernatorial campaign claimed in 2022 that during “hundreds of interviews and speeches about his military service, Wes Moore has never claimed to have a Bronze Star.”

Moore, who was elected Maryland’s governor last year, stepped into the national spotlight after a cargo ship lost power and plowed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed critical infrastructure in his state. Months after the shocking incident, Moore was rumored to be among the contenders vying to become Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. Instead, she tapped Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), an Army National Guard veteran, who has also come under fire for misrepresenting his military record. 

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who is former President Donald Trump’s running mate, led the charge of critics earlier this month who relentlessly attacked Walz for framing himself as a retired command sergeant major. Although the title was bestowed on the Minnesota veteran at one point, it was later rescinded after he failed to complete the necessary paperwork. Walz also made a remark saying he had carried weapons “in war,” despite never having served in combat, which earned him the insult of “stolen valor garbage” from Vance. 

Unlike Moore’s swift statement on his military debacle, the Harris-Walz campaign defended the Minnesota governor’s comments about his military record for days before admitting he “misspoke.”

Moore was among Walz’s ardent defenders during the controversy and argued that he deserved the nation’s “utmost respect.”