THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996              TAG: 9610200072
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS 
DATELINE: HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.                   LENGTH:   78 lines

MEDALS OF DISHONOR OFTEN THE PRICE FOR ONE OF THESE AWARDS IS ONE'S LIFE. BUT THE NEW YORK COMPANY THAT MAKES THEM ADMITTED TO SELLING 300 TO A BROKER FOR $75 EACH.

George Lang paid a steep price for the Congressional Medal of Honor - he lost the use of his legs when he took out enemy bunkers in Vietnam in 1969.

It cost a less heroic figure only $75 apiece when the Long Island company that has been the sole producer of the medal for years sold 300 to an individual from 1991 to 1994.

The company reportedly knew that the medals would be resold to collectors and memorabilia shops.

H.L.I. Lordship Industries of Hauppauge will plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., on Nov. 4 to misdemeanor charges of selling an unauthorized military medal, said Fred Hafetz, a New York City attorney representing the company. It is part of a sealed plea agreement that has yet to be finalized with the U.S. attorney's office in Newark.

By pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, the company will likely avoid further criminal charges, a source close to the investigation said. Instead, the company, which could have faced a maximum fine of $200,000, will likely be fined between $40,000 and $80,000, Hafetz said.

``Persons involved have been removed, and an outside board of directors has been brought in,'' Hafetz said. He described the plea agreement as an arrangement that will allow a respected company with about 120 employees to put an unpleasant episode behind it.

But medal-winners weren't satisfied.

``At $75 per medal, what could have induced them to prostitute the public trust they have been given,'' said Paul Bucha, president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a national group organized in 1958. ``They've prostituted themselves for a pittance.''

``I'm beyond anger. They are obscene,'' said Bucha, of Somers, N.Y., who wears his medal in memory of 11 men under his command who died the night he earned it in Vietnam. ``This is an affront not only to recipients, but to everyone who has served in the American military.''

The plea agreement stems from an investigation that came to light last November, with the arrest of Robert S. Nemser, a New Jersey dealer in war memorabilia.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Lordship had admitted selling 300 unauthorized medals for a total of $22,500 between 1991 and 1994, with the understanding that they would be resold to collectors and memorabilia shops.

Federal agents say the sale of unauthorized or bogus Medals of Honor has been growing recently with such medals priced as much as $500 each at memorabilia shows around the country. Thirteen companies and individuals in 10 states came under investigation.

Nemser, 58, was accused of selling two ``illegally manufactured'' Medals of Honor to an undercover agent at a military memorabilia show in Totowa, N.J., on April 8, 1995. Prosecutors said they believed he was the first person ever arrested for selling the Medal of Honor.

Nemser has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanors and is free on $25,000 bail awaiting trial.

The minting of bogus medals has so enraged veterans groups that they successfully lobbied Washington for higher penalties for forging them.

Last year, Congress doubled jail sentences for forgery convictions to one year, and increased the maximum fine to $100,000 for an individual and $200,000 for a company.

It wasn't the first time. After the Civil War so many fakes sprang up that Congress took steps to protect the integrity of the award.

The medal - created by Congress in 1861 - is awarded by the president to recipients who must meet the highest standards, which involve risking one's life in an act of bravery under such daunting circumstances that the recipient would not have been subjected to criticism for refusing.

The medals sold by Nemser did not originate with any medal recipients or their families, U.S. Attorney Faith S. Hochberg has said. They are not imitations, however, as they are identical to authorized medals except that they lack the engraved name of a recipient on the back, she said.

There have been roughly 3,400 of the medals awarded in the nation's history, and only 186 recipients are alive today, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by Newsday, The New York

Times and The Associated Press. by CNB