THE PURPLE HEART
The military award, the modern form of the original Purple Heart established by Gen. George Washington in 1782, is conferred on any person wounded in action while serving with the armed forces of the United States. It is also awarded posthumously to the next of kin of personnel killed or having died of wounds received in action after April 5, 1917. The Purple Heart is awarded for wounds or death as result of an act of any opposing armed force, as a result of an international terrorist attack or as a result of military operations while serving as part of a peacekeeping force.
Source: Air Force Personnel Center
A Cherokee County Grand Jury has indicted a former police officer accused of falsely claiming he was a Purple Heart recipient.
Shane Steven Ladner, 42, of Canton, was indicted on five charges of theft by deception and one count of making false statements, according to the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office. He’s accused of claiming he earned the medal awarded for combat wounds, though investigators claim there is no proof Ladner received it, and using the alleged honor to receive free license plates.
Ladner, a former Holly Springs police officer, made national headlines in November 2012 when he and his wife were both injured in Midland, Texas, when a train hit a flatbed trailer carrying several vets in town for a parade and hunting trip. Meg Ladner lost a leg in the crash, and the Canton and Holly Springs communities rallied to help the family in the weeks following her injury.
The following April, Fox 5 aired a report accusing Shane Ladner of being a fraud because discharge records obtained by the station did not indicate a Purple Heart. Ladner had said he was wounded in Panama in 1989 during the operation to capture President Manuel Noriega. Instead, at the time Ladner was in Mississippi in high school.
After the report, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office began a six-week investigation into Ladner. Investigators determined there was no evidence he had been awarded a Purple Heart, Lt. Jay Baker said at the time.
Ladner was arrested in June 2013 and charged with four counts of theft by deception, one count of false swearing and one count of false statement to a police officer, the AJC previously reported. Ladner allegedly received Purple Heart license plates, free of charge, from 2009 until 2012, according to the Sheriff's Office.
In an exclusive interview with the AJC after Ladner's arrest, his attorneys insisted he earned the medal. Instead of being injured in 1989, Ladner actually was wounded by shrapnel during a classified drug interdiction action in Honduras in 1991, his attorney said.
Ladner said the medal was lost when he sent it home from Central America. His lawyers also say they cannot find the citation that says he got one.
Two DD214s — the certificate given to vets as they leave the service — had no mention of the medal, which denotes being wounded in action against the enemy. Ladner was issued a DD214 in 1994 after he left active duty. It noted nearly 12 months overseas duty and a “Humanitarian Service Medal.” He returned to active duty after Sept. 11, 2001, and was discharged in October, 2002. That discharge has additional medals but no Purple Heart.
But Ladner has a yellowed DD214 dated October 2004, when he says he left National Guard service. That form lists a Purple Heart.
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