Website slams medal mistake

A vigilante online group known for exposing alleged military imposters has launched what has been called an ‘‘unfair’’ attack on a Wairoa RSA member.

Pictures and detailed information about former Wairoa district councillor Denys Caves recently appeared on the Australia and New Zealand Military Imposters Group (ANZMI) website, along with an allegation that he had broken an important medal protocol.

The claim, that Caves had worn a decorative, self-bought medal on his left breast, was confirmed by Wairoa RSA president Selwyn Lilley who said it was a one-off mistake that had been dealt with at the time.

‘‘I went through my district president and my local Napier president and we had discussions about it and talked to Denys so, as far as we were concerned, it was all resolved. But then this pops up.’’

‘‘These guys [ANZMI] are beating it all up quite largely. Denys, who’s my [RSA] secretary, simply no longer wears the medal.’’

Caves, who opted to have Lilley answer Stuff’s questions, had also stopped wearing his family member’s medals.

‘‘He’s disgruntled to the point where, on his right-hand side where he’s entitled to wear family members’ stuff, he doesn’t do that now,’’ Lilley said.

The medal that Caves wore incorrectly was the New Zealand Army 150th Anniversary Medal – a commemorative medal that RSA national president BJ Clark said had never been awarded officially, so could not be displayed on the left breast.

‘‘It’s a celebration medal, not a formal one. However, it’s not anywhere near in the same league as campaign medals being worn incorrectly,’’ he said.

Clark said he was aware of the ANZMI website but had not paid it much attention, as most of the posts related to Australian veterans.

‘‘We don’t really have that sort of site running here in New Zealand. However, we do take very seriously reports of anyone who is incorrectly wearing campaign medals.

‘‘Would I get upset if someone was wearing campaign medals that they didn’t earn? Yes, to the extent that I would be very angry.

‘‘But in this case, I’m not upset about it because [Caves] is not trying to say that he is something that he’s not.’’

Clark said medals worn on the left always indicate they were earned by the person wearing them, whereas those worn on the right could belong to deceased relatives.

While protocols were important, most instances of medals being worn incorrectly could be solved by having a conversation rather than dragging a person through the mud online, he said.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand Defence Force said the organisation had been aware of the ANZMI website since ‘‘at least’’ 2009 but noted that the wearing of unofficial commemorative medals was not a criminal offence.

As of June 12, the anonymously-run website appeared to have been taken down but still appeared in Google searches.