Oct 20, 2014 2 min read

Probably as long as men have been marching off to war, they have been exaggerating their feats on the battlefield.

With no disrespect to the Greatest Generation, we’re willing to bet there are more people who claimed to have stormed the beaches of Normandy than were actually there on D-Day. Maybe some were in the vicinity, but they were back on the ship peeling potatoes rather than dodging enemy fire.

In Massachusetts, though, a story has emerged about a congressional candidate who, in man-bites-dog fashion, has actually kept his bravery under fire a closely guarded secret – so secret, in fact, that his parents weren’t even aware of it.

An investigation by The Boston Globe found Seth Moulton, a Democrat who is running for a seat in the Massachusetts delegation, has been concealing the fact he received a Bronze Star and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation for valor for his service as a Marine in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. When asked why he held the medals so close to his chest, Moulton cited “a healthy disrespect among veterans who served on the front lines for people who walk around telling war stories” and that he is simply uncomfortable bragging about the honors.

We don’t know enough about Moulton to know whether he would be an effective congressman or not, but we can assert confidently that his humility is indeed impressive. If only there were more like him on Capitol Hill.