Navy officials Wednesday said an investigation is underway after a report published this week raised questions about late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s claims of honors he was awarded for heroism.
Lt. Jackie Pau, a Navy spokeswoman, said the military is trying to get to the bottom of alleged discrepancies in Kyle’s own claims about his military service, first reported by The Intercept.
Kyle, who was killed at a Texas shooting range in 2013, boasted in his bestselling 2012 autobiography “American Sniper” of earning “two Silver Stars and five Bronze [Stars], all for valor.”
The book was later turned into a movie that earned six Academy Award nominations.
But internal Navy documents and military officials confirmed the SEAL was only awarded one Silver and three Bronzes, The Intercept reported.
Kyle had been warned at least once about his claims before they were published in his autobiography, according to a current Navy official who spoke to the news site.
Lt. Pau said investigators are trying to determine the source of the disparity and acknowledged that “inevitably some errors may occur” in record-keeping.
“The Navy considers the individual service member’s official military personnel file and our central official awards records to be the authoritative sources for verifying entitlement to decorations and awards,” she told The Washington Post.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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