Parade marshal pulls out over Navy Cross claim

FERNLEY -- A new grand marshal led Fernley's annual Fourth of July parade after organizers' first choice withdrew because he could not prove he had received a top military medal.

Andrew "Andy" LePeilbet, who has earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, Bronze Star and nine other medals, replaced Arthur Yonkey as honoree in the town about 30 miles east of Reno.

Parade organizers said Yonkey bowed out Wednesday after he didn't provide documentation that he had received the Navy Cross, the second highest medal for valor behind the Medal of Honor.

Officials of the Legion of Valor, which tracks people who are awarded military honors, contacted organizers after failing to find Yonkey's name as a Navy Cross recipient.

Sheila Nicol, advertising and publicity chairwoman for the parade, said organizers were trying to give the community a hero to honor. "It's our 40th year ... and once in 40 years this happens, and we're hearing from the world."

Yonkey was selected grand marshal after two members of the parade's planning committee brought him to a meeting earlier this year, Nicol said.

She said he was believed to be in his late 20s, and was represented as having earned the medal in the war in Iraq.

"Of course we said 'yes,' because one of the things Fernley always does is honor the military," Nicol said.

Yonkey wouldn't comment except to say, "I've already dealt with that. I do not want to be involved with this."