State Rep. Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake), a U.S. Army veteran, introduced legislation earlier this month to strengthen laws against impersonating a veteran for gain, known as stolen valor. The “Master Sergeant Orlando Dona Valor Act” is being introduced in honor of Orlando Jose Dona, MSgt, United States Air Force (Retired), who passed away last June at 91. His son, Jack Dona, MSG, U.S. Army (Retired), leads The CONELRAD Group, a team of mostly former intelligence and military officers located primarily in southern Arizona that investigates illegal election activity.
The younger Dona (pictured above, right) told The Arizona Sun Times, “It is a great honor to our family to have the Arizona Legislature name this bill in honor of my father. On 17 April, 1949, at the age of 16, Dad immigrated here to the United States from the Panama Canal Zone. From the moment he disembarked at the port of San Francisco, he embraced this nation with all his heart, and dedicated his life to service to the country, first in the military, and then in academics as a computer engineer for different university school systems. From the moment he set foot on U.S. Soil, Dad was 100 percent an American at heart.”
In a statement released on Thursday, Blackman, who chairs the House Government Committee, said, “We cannot allow the honorable service and sacrifice of our military men and women to be undermined by deceitful actors. By holding individuals accountable for misrepresenting their military status for personal, political, or financial gain, we uphold the integrity of our veterans’ contributions and the trust of our citizens.”
HB 2030 will create a new statute, A.R.S. 13-2414, that specifically makes it a Class 4 felony to impersonate a veteran. The penalty rises to a Class 3 or Class 2 felony depending on the value obtained by the impersonation. Local and state officials caught violating the law will be required to step down from their positions.
Currently, there are only state laws against impersonating law enforcement or public officials. The proposed law would go beyond the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2013.
The elder Dona was born in Nicaragua, which he fled due to the communist takeover in 1937. He enlisted in the United States Air Force as an enlisted navigator on C-46 Commando and C-47 Sky Train Aircraft. He flew in transport aircraft across Europe, North Africa, and Korea. Dona survived two plane crashes, once having to bail out over the Mediterranean Sea, and spent several hours alone at sea with just his flotation vest to keep him alive. Later, while flying in North Africa, his aircraft suffered catastrophic hydraulic failure, and his aircraft crash landed in a forest, narrowly missing an ammunition dump by 100 yards.
He entered the intelligence services to work at the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency as a computer engineer. He worked on one of the first mainframe computers ever built, the Defense Calculator, known as the IBM-701. His singular achievement was he was one of the key engineers that calculated the bombing runs for the B-52 aircraft in Vietnam. Dona had a very decorated career in the Air Force with combat service in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He is a recipient of numerous awards and decorations including the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal.
He became a citizen in 1954. After honorably retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 1973, he began a career in computer engineering, which included heading up major computer centers like the new University of Hawaii Computing Center in 1974 and San Diego State University’s University Computing Center in 1982.
The younger Dona told The Sun Times, “Dad was a lifelong Catholic who always picked up the elderly that could not drive to church services. He was an avid lover of animals, and regularly donated to the ASPCA and Humane Society.”
Florida enacted a similar law last year, Pennsylvania passed one in 2017, and New Jersey a version in 2016.
One of the most contentious accusations of stolen valor occurred during the presidential race last year, with Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, a veteran of the Marines, accusing Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz of lying about serving in combat, lying about his record with the National Guard, and abandoning his unit in order to avoid deployment to Iraq. Two retired command sergeant majors published an open letter on Facebook in 2018 alleging that Walz inflated his rank during his race for governor of Minnesota.
There will be a press conference at the state capitol Wednesday at noon to announce the bill and honor the elder Dona.
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
