Maryland Gov. Wes Moore received a Bronze Star on Friday evening for his military service in Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the governor confirmed, months after Moore admitted to incorrectly claiming 18 years ago that he had received the award.

Friday’s ceremony was held at the governor’s mansion in Annapolis, spokesperson Carter Elliott IV confirmed. The award was first reported by The Washington Post, which attended the private ceremony.

Lt. Gen. Michael R. Fenzel, Moore’s friend and former commander, awarded Moore the medal for his nearly yearlong deployment in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Spokespeople for the Army did not immediately return requests on Sunday to confirm details about Moore’s newly awarded medal. Fenzel, who now serves as the U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, did not respond to a request for comment.

The belated honor follows years of scrutiny of Moore’s military record, starting during the Democrat’s 2022 campaign for governor, when videos came to light showing that he had failed to correct television interviewers in the past when they said he was awarded the Bronze Star.

The controversy boiled over again late this summer, when The New York Times obtained and published an application Moore had submitted in 2006 for a White House fellowship, claiming that he had received the award during his military service.

The governor said in a statement at the time that he had mentioned the award based on instructions from a superior officer, Fenzel, who had recommended him for the medal and confirmed with other senior officers that they had signed off on the commendation.

Moore said he learned toward the end of his deployment that he hadn’t received the Bronze Star after all. He said that mentioning the award on the application was “an honest mistake” that he regretted.

Fenzel told the Times this summer that he had urged Moore to include the honor on his application and that he didn’t know until August that Moore had never received the medal. He said that he would resubmit the paperwork.

The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to Armed Forces service members who distinguish themselves through “heroic or meritorious achievement or service.” Moore, who served as a paratrooper in the Army and was listed as a top 1% officer in Operation Enduring Freedom, received his specifically for “meritorious service.”

A poll taken in the immediate aftermath of the Times report indicated that 46% of voters polled believed Moore was attempting to take credit for an accomplishment he didn’t earn, as opposed to 34% of voters who thought the governor made an honest mistake. The controversy didn’t seem to impact Moore’s overall approval rating, which rose to 60% in the same poll from The Washington Post and the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.

Claiming military honors one did not earn is a serious violation of protocol in military tradition as well as federal law, though veterans were divided on how serious of an ethical breach Moore’s 2006 claim was.

Some said his exemplary performance was more important than the situation with the medal and that Moore including it in his application was a reasonable fluke. Others said that Moore had violated basic rules that any soldier should know.

“As a veteran, I’m happy for him,” said Republican Maryland Sen. Johnny Ray Salling, who served in the Army as a combat engineer.

“I look at it for what he has done,” said Salling, who represents a portion of Eastern Baltimore County. “When I see him next time, I will say, ‘Thank you for your service.’ ”

Kurt A. Surber, a district commander with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in an email that he was “glad to hear” Moore had finally received the award he was “nominated for — and deserved — for his service.”

Surber, who spent 24 years in the Army, said earlier this year that he felt Moore made a mistake that was understandable given the military’s complex bureaucracy. He noted Sunday that he had received an award almost two years after retiring because it had been misplaced in someone’s desk. It was eventually found by their successor.

“I guess you could say that it’s one of those ‘if you know, you know’ types of things,” he wrote. “For people who haven’t experienced it, it seems very strange, but for our veterans, we just have learned that that’s part of dealing with the system.”

Maryland Sen. J.B. Jennings, a Republican who serves in the Maryland Air National Guard, agreed, noting that he had seen many service members get nominated for awards and it taking “forever.”

“I congratulate him,” said Jennings, who represents parts of Baltimore and Harford counties. “It’s an honor for anybody who’s been in combat to get” the Bronze Star, he said, noting it was up to a commander to nominate service members they feel are deserving of the award.

Other Maryland Republicans offered a less congratulatory tone. Kimberly Klacik, the conservative commentator who recently lost a bid for U.S. House, compared the award to a “participation trophy” in a public Facebook comment Sunday, noting that she would “love to know how our actual Bronze Star recipients feel about this.” In another, she asked “Why the Bronze Star? Give this man the Purple Heart & I will buy him an eye patch.”

Moore has forcefully pushed back on allegations concerning his military record that have arisen during his time in politics. He said during his 2022 campaign that stories about him failing to correct two interviewers about the Bronze Star were fueled by “desperate attacks” by unspecified political opponents.

While saying earlier this year that he regretted not correcting his claim in the 2006 application, Moore noted that he was setting “the record straight, as people hunt for new ways to undermine my service to our country in uniform.”

The controversy over the medal became a blemish on Moore’s rise as a Democratic star starting when he ran for governor in 2022. Moore, who is seen by top Democrats to have presidential potential, has described his military service as a major influence from his upbringing since long before his foray into politics.

His 2010 bestseller “The Other Wes Moore” largely fixated on his mother’s decision to enroll him in Valley Forge Military Academy as a key turning point in his life. He entered the Army Reserve after receiving an associate degree from Valley Forge and was appointed a second lieutenant of military intelligence. He transferred to the Johns Hopkins University in 1998 and was a wide receiver on the school’s football team.

Fenzel, who Moore has described as a mentor, had been the Blue Jays’ captain roughly a decade before.

After graduating from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, Moore was activated from the reserves and saw combat during his deployment to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2006. Moore said that while he was overseas, Fenzel encouraged him to apply to the White House Fellowship and helped him edit his application.

He ultimately received the fellowship with then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Moore left the Army in 2014, having achieved the rank of captain.

Have a news tip? Contact Dan Belson at dbelson@baltsun.com, on X as @DanBelson_ or on Signal as @danbels.62.