Newly published documents reveal that “American Sniper” Chris Kyle was not part of the elite group of U.S. fighters to earn one of the nation’s top three combat medals on more than one occasion during the global war on terrorism, as he claimed in his bestselling autobiography.
Kyle, a former Navy SEAL who was murdered by a disturbed fellow veteran in 2013, wrote that he had received two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars. The Silver Star, the third-highest combat decoration, is awarded for gallantry in action. Being recognized for exhibiting the highest levels of battlefield heroism more than once is rare.
“Receiving two Silver Stars would have put him in a very unique and small group,” said Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and author of “Restoring Valor: One Couple’s Mission to Expose Fraudulent War Heroes and Protect America’s Military Awards System.”
Sterner, who is also a longtime investigator and archivist of military valor awards, said he suspected for several years that the medal count former Navy SEAL Kyle wrote about in