Former Rolleston RSA president Bruce Blackburn accused of medal cheating

Bruce Blackburn is accused of wearing medals that he is not entitled to. Photo/Facebook

New Zealand’s foremost expert on military medals, Ian Martyn, has used his Facebook page to accuse a former RSA president of medal cheating.

Bruce Blackburn was president of the Rolleston Returned and Services Association (RSA) until last year, and Martyn has accused him of wearing several medals he isn’t entitled to wear, including the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), NZ Army Long Service & Good Conduct Medal and the Rhodesia Medal.

“There are four photographs and in each of the four photographs he’s wearing a different set of medals,” Martyn told the Herald.

Martyn has dedicated the past 30 years to reuniting military medals with families or close descendants of their original recipients.

Recently he’s also spent time exposing those who wear service medals they haven’t earned.

The little-known criminal act of medal cheating is an “abhorrent practice” he told the Herald, and “a national shame”.

“It undermines the value of the medal, why it’s awarded in the first place and the mana that it implies,” said Martyn.

He told the Herald that in his experience only a few offenders have been civilians.

“With the cases that I have dealt with over the past 30-odd years, the majority of offenders have been veterans.”

Bruce Blackburn is a former president of the Rolleston RSA. Photo / Facebook

Traditionally medals belonging to relatives are worn on the right side, whereas the left side displays medals awarded to the wearer.

Blackburn could not be reached by the Herald, but in an apology on his private Facebook page, he said that “embellishment of any type is unacceptable in any field. I have made a grave error of judgement + unreservabley [sic] apologize for my stupidity”.

A spokesperson for the Rolleston RSA confirmed they were aware of the allegations and disciplinary action against Blackburn was pending.

Bruce Blackburn's apology from his private Facebook page. Photo / Facebook

“Mr Blackburn has already been stood down as an executive committee member pending disciplinary action regarding the effect of the allegations on the integrity of the Rolleston RSA and its members”, the spokesperson said.

They said they consider the matter to be serious and are following their constitutional process.

“The outcome of the disciplinary process will be published once completed” the spokesperson said.

Bruce Blackburn is accused of wearing medals he is not entitled to wear. Traditionally medals belonging to relatives are worn on the right side, whereas the left side displays medals awarded to the wearer. Photo / Facebook

Blackburn is not the first former RSA president to face such accusations. In 2017 the Herald reported that Bill Kerr (Hakaru RSA) of Mangawhai was convicted under the Military Decorations and Distinctive Badges Act 1918. He was fined $250 for presenting himself as a Vietnam veteran having never served there. The maximum fine under the act is $500 per offence.

Martyn, a veteran of 36 years’ service over several armed forces, believes the current penalties are inadequate.

“They’re completely ineffective. For the odd individual, a prosecution is probably sufficient. But the likelihood of prosecution is remote, and that’s evidenced by the number of prosecutions we’ve seen brought.”

Under Australian law, the maximum penalty for fraudulently wearing a medal is a fine of A$5400 ($5867) or six months imprisonment – or both. In France, the maximum penalty is even higher, a fine of €15,000 ($26,500) and one year in prison.

Martyn would like to see a more severe punishment here.

“I think it should be aligned with Australia – because there are a large number of [NZ] veterans that live in Australia. Australians are particularly vocal about medal cheats.”, says Martyn.

At the other end of the scale is Britain, where it’s no longer an offence to wear medals you’re not entitled to. That could change, however, with newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently suggesting he believes there should be sanctions for “stolen valour”.

While Martyn says he would prefer official organisations to police the practice and prosecute, he’ll continue to call out medal cheats on social media.

“The public have a very fixed view of the military veterans and they respect the fact that veterans wear medals. For them to be disrespected and disgraced by people that add junk medals or medals that they’re not entitled to – to their rack, makes a complete nonsense of that,” said Martyn.