HONORING OUR VETERANS
Historic Medals of Honor restored to Place of Honor

05/28/04

It was May 2003 when a Congressional Medal of Honor was put on ebay.com to be auctioned by a man who styled himself "Redlancer."

"Hey, isn't it illegal to sell a Medal of Honor?" our undercover agent asked.

"Oh, no problem," said Redlancer, "I'm outside the United States," indicating that to his mind U.S. laws in this area were a foolish product of people "emotionally tangled up" with sentiment.

Tell that to U.S. Army First Sergeant George Washington Roosevelt, who received an extremely rare dual citation Congressional Medal of Honor in 1862 for heroic acts performed during the 2nd Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Gettysburg.

Tell that to U.S. Navy Seaman Robert Blume who was awarded his Congressional Medal of Honor in 1898 while serving aboard the USS Nashville near Cuba during the Spanish-American war.

Needless to say, the "emotionally tangled up" investigators of our Buffalo Cyber Task Force pulled out all the stops. And they were enthusiastically assisted by "emotionally tangled up" investigators in Redlancer's native Canada. In the end, some 15 agencies proudly offered their services. With the outstanding cooperation of ebay.com, these Medals of Honor were recovered unharmed and Edward "Redlancer" Fedora of Mississauga, Ontario, was arrested in July. He pled guilty and this year was sentenced to prison.

A proud ceremony to restore the Medals. We only wish 1st Sgt. Roosevelt and Navy Seaman Blume could have been there.

Yesterday, on May 27, the FBI was deeply honored to host 27 Medal of Honor winners who served in World War II, all in town for this weekend's unveiling of the World War II Memorial. Imagine that amount of heroism and courage in one room. These 27 heroes and their families graciously took part in our American Legion Post 56 Memorial Day wreathlaying ceremony, and they presided as Director Mueller/Deputy Director Gebhardt presented a total of three precious Medals to Gary Littrell, President of the Medal of Honor Society: 1st Sgt. Roosevelt's Medal from the Civil War, Navy Seaman Blume's Medal from the Spanish-American War, and an unidentified Medal presented to a Navy Seaman for his heroic actions in World War II that had been recovered this past March by our Newark agents from an unwitting seller on ebay.com.

Still "emotionally tangled up," we'd like to close by saluting the men and women of our Armed Forces this Memorial Day weekend, and thanking the veterans of all U.S. military actions for their service to the country.

Links: Event press release | Case press release | Cybersweep