Authorized Military decorations? Who can and do you wear?

[BLUEHAWK]

"Listed above are medals that a large majority of todays living veterans might, by definition be elligible for but are not listed on a DD-214. I question, can and should they be displayed as "earned" Military Decorations? Or maybe the Wannabe can just buy them at Medals of America, a pawn shop or the corner store and then brag about being a "decorated" veteran."

My take, after spending a few years composing posthumous military biographies and learning a fair amount about such matters:

Those medals can be worn on uniforms of personnel who are no longer active duty, for ceremonial reasons, or on civilian and service organization attire for the same reason.

Should they be worn? Only if one wants to and has earned them.

And, obviously, anyone can buy them in various places and wear them whether deserved or not.

Same old same old moral choice most of us make in the correct manner.

Since not more than 2% of Americans ever put on a uniform, the general public wouldn't know the difference anyway. But, even GIs have a hard time sorting out the fine points of medallic heraldry as far as that goes. I study the topic very continuously and still make mistakes now and then...