These Marines Were Falsely Accused Of War Crimes. Twelve Years Later They Have Vindication.

(Washington Post) Andrew deGrandpre January 31 6:15 PM A Marine veteran who fought the Pentagon for 12 years over a war-crimes case brought against him and six others will have his permanent record wiped clean an extraordinary affirmation of his claim that their reputations were destroyed by the militarys effort to imprison the men. The Marines were members of an elite commando force expelled from Afghanistan in 2007 amid unproven allegations that they massacred innocent bystanders in the frantic minutes following an ambush. They were cleared of wrongdoing more than a year later after the case was heard by a military court but have maintained that senior leaders did little to set the record straight and consequently fostered the stigma that has dogged them ever since. A report approved in January by the Navy Department is a major victory for retired Maj. Fred Galvin the Marines commanding officer. Its conclusions he says are a rebuke of those who condemned his men before the facts were clear the investigator whose work was shown in court to be sloppy and the generals who refused Galvins pleas for public absolution. In its ruling the Board for Correction of Naval Records said Galvin 49 should be considered for a retroactive promotion. If granted he would be entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in back salary and future government pension benefits as he was forced to retire in 2014 after his superiors relied on inequitable and unjust" performance appraisals the report states to prevent him from advancing in rank. Of the seven swept up in the case Galvin is the only one to pursue such vindication.