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Editorial

On Sept. 17, the Web site for the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project — which has spent the past seven years collecting the oral histories of tens of thousands of combat veterans — listed the names of 24 false Medal of Honor recipients.

The site also included numerous other falsehoods, including 47 fictitious service cross recipients, an unknown number of unearned Silver Stars, and 45 false prisoners of war.

It’s unclear if these were errors, as the Library says, or lies. Regardless, after NavyTimes.com exposed the errors, the Medal of Honor listings were removed. The others remain.

“It is not the mission of this project to establish a registry,” explained Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project. “The mission is to collect the wartime memories from World War I to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

But that’s the problem. Linked to the Library of Congress and with a “.gov” Web address, the site appears to be authoritative. Because Patrick and his staff make no effort to corroborate claims, they’re an easy mark for phonies and frauds.

How hard would it have been to ask interview subjects to provide DD-214s or other documentation to support their claims? Sure, some might have forged the documents, but many would have dropped the pretense right there.

Now, unfortunately, one can’t tell the tall tales from the true stories. Fact-checking 50,000 entries may not be feasible, but the project staff should at least double-check all claims of high-level valor awards.

The Veterans History Project is an honorable undertaking, and preserving the stories of America’s heroes for posterity is a noble effort. But posterity demands an accurate accounting.

The Library of Congress should not be publishing falsehoods.