Here is a question about Kerry's Service I want answered.

[DOGS THAT BARK]

"Nearly a year ago, the Kerry campaign said it would not provide the senator's military medical records, saying Kerry would not cross what he considered to be a line of privacy. Kerry said Sunday that his military records were available and invited inspection of them at campaign headquarters. But the campaign reversed course Monday, saying no new records would be released. Following GOP criticism, the campaign has been releasing records since Tuesday."

I am eagerly awaiting the posting of these records on Kerry's site however I doubt we see them.

There have however been several testimonys and statements removed from his site after being proven inaccurate and for other obvious reasons of late.
--for same reason they have put damper on his crew doing live interviews recently.

For some interesting reading note the medical dispostion in these after action combat reports :142lmao:

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Spot_Kerry.pdf

 

[djv]

Not sure what were missing from his record. Now Bob Said Kerry is not even on compensation. Wow now we need to make Purple heart only count if your drawing money. Well there goes half the hearts. I guess Kerry should have never joined. Seems there trying to make it look like those who did were dumb as hell. And those that ducked are somehow great Americans. No wonder Vets get pissed and throw there medals in the basket.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

"No wonder Vets get pissed and throw there medals in the basket."

What they get pissed at is they are shot-lose limbs and receive legitamate purple hearts and come back to U.S. to be spit on,rejected ect as result of bullshit claims from Kerry-Fonda and others while Kerry ducks out of Nam as result of scratches and bruises--none needing medical attentions(see above medical reports) some of which his side is now admitting may have been "unintentionally selfinflicted".
Then proceeds to keep his own journal of accounts,make his own movies of recounts and run for president proclaiming he is some hero.
Without speaking for other vets THATS what I am pissed off at---and for the life of me can't figure why none of these concern you.
Explain to me how on one hand you can hate Fonda for her remarks and let Kerry slide.

 

[Chanman]

Vietnam Boomerang

Vietnam Boomerang

John Kerry's "war crimes" libel returns to haunt him.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

--John Kerry, questioning President Bush's
military-service record, February 8, 2004.
A good rule in politics is that anyone who picks a fight ought to be prepared to finish it. But having first questioned Mr. Bush's war service, and then made Vietnam the core of his own campaign for President, Mr. Kerry now cries No mas because other Vietnam vets are assailing his behavior before and after that war. And, by the way, Mr. Bush is supposedly honor bound to repudiate them.

We've tried to avoid the medals-and-ribbons fight ourselves, except to warn Mr. Kerry that he was courting precisely such scrutiny ("Kerry's Medals Strategy," February 9). But now that the Senator is demanding that the Federal Election Commission stifle his opponents' free speech, this one is too rich to ignore.

What did Mr. Kerry expect, anyway? That claiming to be a hero himself while accusing other veterans of "war crimes"--as he did back in 1971 and has refused to take back ever since--would somehow go unanswered? That when he raised the subject of one of America's most contentious modern events, no one would meet him at the barricades? Mr. Kerry brought the whole thing up; why is it Mr. Bush's obligation now to shut it down?

Simply because some rich Bush-backers are funding Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is hardly an adequate answer. Some rich Kerry-backers are spending far more to attack Mr. Bush's record, and the Senator was only too happy to slipstream behind Michael Moore's smear that Mr. Bush was a Vietnam-era "deserter."

In any case, anyone who spends five minutes reading the Swift Boat Veterans' book ("Unfit for Command") will quickly realize that their attack has nothing to do with Mr. Bush. This is all about Mr. Kerry and what the veterans believe was his blood libel against their service when he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the spring of 1971 that all American soldiers had committed war crimes as a matter of official policy. "Crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command" were among his incendiary words.

Mr. Kerry has never offered proof of those charges, yet he has never retracted them either. At his recent coronation in Boston he managed the oxymoronic feat of celebrating both his own war-fighting valor and his antiwar activities when he returned home. This is why the Swifties are so incensed, and this is why no less than World War II veteran Bob Dole joined the fray on the weekend to ask that Mr. Kerry apologize for his unproven accusations.

As Bill Lannom of Grinnell, Iowa, one of the Swifties, told the Washington Post last week: "He's telling untruths about us and his character. He's talking about atrocities that didn't happen. And then he's using that same experience to promote himself. He can't have it both ways."

We don't pretend to know the truth about how Mr. Kerry won his medals. There's no doubt that he pulled Jim Rassmann from the water (as Mr. Rassmann described recently in The Wall Street Journal), and that he put himself in harm's way and deserves respect for it. There's also little doubt that he has exaggerated some of his exploits--especially that Christmas in Cambodia sojourn we now know never happened--even to the strange extent of restaging events while in Vietnam so he could film them for political posterity. Modesty is not one of his virtues, in contrast to Mr. Dole and other modern veteran candidates (George McGovern, George H.W. Bush) who did not flaunt their noble service. But whatever doubts still exist could probably be put to rest if Mr. Kerry simply released all of his service records.

 

[shamrock]

dtb, I just want to get this straight. Kerry did serve 2 tours, was fired at, fired back, enlisted, indeed saved peoples lives, sustained wounds (I don't think anyone disputes metal in his leg) to a man everyone on his boat says he fought bravely & saved lives with his decisions. Probably exaggerated or even lied about being in Cambodia & possibly 1 Purple Heart injury.

You would prefer to be in any fox hole with Bush who was not interested & probably to drunk or high anyway, or Cheney who himself said "he had better things to do".

Any sane person would choose the guy who at least volunteered to serve, and all accounts served bravely even if he lied about Cambodia or a particular injury.

This isn't about injuries or Cambodia, its solely about his post war words and actions. So why don't they stop beating around the Bush and just admit what there problem with Kerry really is.


And Kerry looks weak complaining about these ads, he should seriously make some ads himself with Bush accepting Saudi Arabia money etc. etc.

 

[StevieD]

The ads are designed to get the focus off of Iraq and what a failure Bush has been as Commander in Chief. Kerry does look weak in complaing about it but when he said nothing all of Murdoch/Bush was saying the smear must be true because Kerry doesn't repute it. Then when he does Murdoch/Bush is all over him for bringing it up.

 

[shamrock]

Steve, agreed 100%. Kerry should fight fire with fire. I totally think things would be better if politicians spoke about the issues and forgot about negative campaigning. But public reacts to the negatives, sad and pathetic as it is it works. Again Kerry has to exploit Bush skeletons.

 

[The Quan]

Is there any wonder who stirred up this Vietnam dabacle in the first place. The republicans have the whole country in termoil trying to figure out the truth about Kerry's Vietnam service. This keeps everyone's mind off the real issues and Bush's track record or lack there of. Highest trade deficit in history, highest deficit in history, thousands of jobs outsourced, middle class slowly being eliminated, overtime pay being lost for thousands, unemployment at record highs,a healthcare problem that they have no plan, and oh ya, invading Iraq with poor intelligence from within your own administration. I could go on and on but why bother. Anyone voting Bush in November are either rich, uninformed, or just dont care. If your basing your vote on who will keep our country safest from terrorism, I think it's a muted point because both will do their equal best to prevail...

 

[djv]

The Rebs started it 4 years back against there own brother John MC Cain. Bush has no record to stand on so throw dirt to avoid attention on yourself. A very old trick.
Yes to who ever asked Kerry did join on his own and did two tours. Last tour was shorten to do his wounds. Yes he was there more then 4 months. Who would I go into a fox hole with. Well That's easy. The guy that didn't run and hide. The one that jump into the river and helped his brother. Not the one that sat there chit faced for 7 minutes while we were under attack.

 

[I LOVE WR]

well put djv.

why do you honestly think people would vote for bush.

is the democrat/republican thing really etched into family history or something.

i mean bush sr was terrible and laughable at the same time. jr wins thanks to the scam in florida. while he's pres we get 9/11. he lies about iraq 3 times.

what the hell would possess anybody to vote for him other than greed or ignorance to facts and common sense or family voting history.

thanks djv

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Shamrock To answer your question on who I would rather be in a foxhole with--I would probably give the edge to kerry simply because he has experience under fire.

Yep 2 tours of duty really "sound" heroic--but the FACT of the matter is it equated to bout 4 months in country.

"Kerry served six months aboard the USS Gridley, which supported aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, before a four-month tour in the Mekong Delta that repeatedly brought him close to gunfire. After Kerry got three Purple Hearts for injuries from enemy fire, he was reassigned out of the combat zone and got his requested assignment to be a personal aide to an admiral in New York."

Metal in his leg--Why was it not removed??--major reason most carry small fragments is it worth the operation to remove it--and by Rassmans account he got in the "back side of the thigh" though thigh does sound better--while he and Rassman fraged a rice bin and Kerry was a little slow getting away. Definately purple heart material
Read below and tell me what you think of his---I'm still carrying scrapnel in my thigh testimony--

" Kerry's third Purple Heart was his ticket home. It also was much of the basis of his Bronze Star, repeating "his bleeding arm" and shrapnel wound from the mine story. The problem is that his operating report was a total lie since Kerry's shrapnel wound "in the buttocks" came not from a mine at all as he falsely reported, but at his own hand. Larry Thurlow, an officer on shore with Kerry that day, recounts that Kerry's shrapnel wound came not from any mine, but from a self-inflicted wound when Kerry (with no enemy to be seen) threw a concussion grenade into a rice pile and stayed too close. See Exhibit 10, ? 3. This "brown rice" incident with rice/shrapnel lodged in Kerry from his own grenade is also recounted by James Rassman, a Kerry supporter and "the no man left behind" on page 105 of John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best, by Michael Kranish, Brian C. Mooney, and Nina J. Easton (New York: Public Affairs, 2004) (the "Kranish book"). See Exhibit 21.

Most surprisingly, John Kerry himself (while falsely reporting to the Navy and public that he suffered a shrapnel wound from a mine explosion so as to get a third Purple Heart and go home) reflected in his own journal that his buttocks' wound came, not from any mine but, rather, from a grenade tossed into a rice cache by himself or friendly troops (in the absence of any enemy fire). "I got a piece of small grenade in my ass from one of the rice bin explosions." Exhibit 15, Tour, at 313; see also Exhibit 15, Tour, at 317. "Kerry . . . also had the bits of shrapnel and rice extracted from his backside." See also the sworn statement of participants that there was no hostile fire (Exhibits 6, 7, and 10). It also should be noted that the rice extracted from Kerry's backside could hardly be the result of an underwater mine, as Kerry claimed in his operating report--The conclusion is inescapable: that Kerry lied"


and DJV
"The one that jump into the river and helped his brother."

I might inform you that you are quoting on of his crewman(now with Chicago Tribune) that has been proven "a Lie"--Rassmans report and others say Rassman climbed on netting of boat and Kerry pulled him in.
Thats OK though as I understand there have been so many contadictions from his crew it's hard to seperate fact from fiction.

 

[Chanman]

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com
Diary refutes Kerry claim
By Stephen Dinanand Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published August 25, 2004
John Kerry's own wartime journal is raising questions about whether he deserved the first of three Purple Hearts, which permitted him to go home after 4? months of combat.
The re-examination of Mr. Kerry's military record, prompted by commercials paid for by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the book "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry" by two of the group's members, continued even as Mr. Kerry stated that voters should judge his character based on his anti-war activities upon returning from Vietnam.
A primary claim against Mr. Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans is that Mr. Kerry's first Purple Heart -- awarded for action on Dec. 2, 1968 -- did not involve the enemy and that Mr. Kerry's wounds that day were unintentionally self-inflicted.
They charge that in the confusion involving unarmed, fleeing Viet Cong, Mr. Kerry fired a grenade, which detonated nearby and splattered his arm with hot metal.
Mr. Kerry has claimed that he faced his "first intense combat" that day, returned fire, and received his "first combat related injury."
A journal entry Mr. Kerry wrote Dec. 11, however, raises questions about what really happened nine days earlier.
"A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky," wrote Mr. Kerry, according the book "Tour of Duty" by friendly biographer Douglas Brinkley.
If enemy fire was not involved in that or any other incident, according to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, no medal should be awarded.
"The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy," according to the organization chartered by Congress. According to regulations set by the Department of Defense, an enemy must be involved to warrant a Purple Heart.
Altogether, Mr. Kerry earned three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.
A Kerry campaign official, speaking on background, told The Washington Times yesterday that the "we" in the passage from Mr. Kerry's journal refers to "the crew on Kerry's first swift boat, operating as a crew" rather than Mr. Kerry himself.
"John Kerry didn't yet have his own boat or crew on December 2," according to the aide. "Other members of the crew had been in Vietnam for some time and had been shot at and Kerry knew that at the time. However, the crew had not yet been fired on while they served together on PCF 44 under Lieutenant Kerry."
Mr. Kerry's campaign could not say definitively whether he did receive enemy fire that day.
The newly exhumed passages were first reported by Fox News Channel in a televised interview with John Hurley, national leader of Veterans for Kerry.
"Is it possible that Kerry's first Purple Heart was the result of an unintentionally self-inflicted wound?" asked reporter Major Garrett.
"Anything is possible," Mr. Hurley replied.
The Swift Boat Veterans say that means Mr. Kerry is now backing off of his first Purple Heart claim, just as he has apparently changed his claim that he spent Christmas 1968 on an operation in Cambodia.
"It's a house of cards," said Van Odell, one of the veterans. "What he wrote in 'Tour of Duty' and how he used that is nothing but a house of cards, and it's exposed."
At a fund-raiser last night in Philadelphia, Mr. Kerry defended his anti-war activism upon his return from Vietnam, which also has come under attack by the Swift Boat Veterans, as "an act of conscience."
"You can judge my character, incidentally, by that," he said.
"Because when the time for moral crisis existed in this country, I wasn't taking care of myself, I was taking care of public policy," Mr. Kerry told his audience. "I was taking care of things that made a difference to the life of this nation. You may not have agreed with me, but I stood up and was counted, and that's the kind of president I'm going to be."
The Swift Boat Veterans' claims and the political storm that surrounds them has dominated the presidential campaign for the last two weeks.
The Center for Media and Public Affairs said that from Aug. 9 to 15, the first week after the group's ads were released, there were 92 mentions in major papers and 221 mentions in all news reports. By last week, Aug. 16 to 22, there were 221 mentions in major papers and 696 mentions in all news reports the center tracks.
"The Swift Boat veterans commercial is the 'Blair Witch Project' of campaign ads -- an enormous return on a small investment," said Matthew T. Felling, media director for the center. "Everyone is talking about it, and no one can agree on where the line between fact and fiction exists."
He said the commercial has become "a national player in its own right," nearly equaling Vice President Dick Cheney's 733 mentions in all news reports last week.
Mr. Kerry himself is making personal phone calls trying to stamp out the controversy.
On Monday morning, a day after former Sen. Bob Dole questioned Mr. Kerry's Purple Hearts on CNN, Mr. Kerry called the former Republican presidential candidate.
"There's respect there. We were in the Senate together," Mr. Dole told interviewer Wolf Blitzer on Monday. "But we're talking about the presidential race, and I tweaked him a little on the Purple Hearts."
And on Sunday, Mr. Kerry called Robert Brant, one of the members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
A source associated with the veterans group and familiar with the 10-minute conversation said Mr. Kerry asked whether Mr. Brant knew about the group. When Mr. Brant said he was part of it, there was "kind of a silence" on the line before Mr. Kerry continued the conversation.
The source said Swift Boat Veterans is considering sending a cease-and-desist letter to Mr. Kerry asking him not to contact their members anymore because it might be a violation of campaign-finance laws.
In a speech at the Cooper Union school in New York yesterday, Mr. Kerry said the "Bush campaign and its allies have turned to the tactics of fear and smear."
Asked by reporters about the Swift Boat furor later yesterday, Mr. Kerry said he's trying to focus on "the economy, jobs, health care -- the things that matter to Americans."
Asked specifically if he has been calling Swift Boat veterans, Mr. Kerry said, "I am talking about the things that are important to Americans -- jobs, health care, how we are going to fix our schools."
In last night's Philadelphia speech, even while defending his activities with Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Mr. Kerry called the criticism of his service "so petty it's almost pathetic in a way."
But the issue is not likely to go away, in part because Mr. Kerry's defenders want their full say.
A new documentary, "Brothers in Arms," will be released in a theater in New York and on DVD everywhere on Friday that highlights Mr. Kerry and the veterans who served with him, and filmmaker Paul Alexander said he found the veterans' stories very convincing.
"What's remarkable to me is when you see the interviews in the movie, how consistent they are on what happened," said Mr. Alexander, who said he interviewed all the men who served on PCF 94, and interviewed them several times over several months. Mr. Alexander previously wrote "Man of the People: The Life of John McCain."
He said the movie particularly sheds light on the incident for which Mr. Kerry earned his Bronze Star, for rescuing a Special Forces officer from the water under what he and his crew said was enemy fire.
The Swift Boat Veterans, including Mr. Odell, say there was no enemy fire, but Mr. Alexander said after making the movie and talking with crewmates Mike Medeiros, Del Sandusky and David Alston, he believes there was enemy fire.
"Mike described the mortar rounds that were going over the top of the 94, and David and Del described the sound effects -- specifically down to what kind of machine gun it was -- the AK-47," Mr. Alexander said. "Their description is so specific they're not mistaken."

 

[Chanman]

August 25, 2004

Senator John Kerry
304 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Kerry,

We are pleased to welcome your campaign representatives to Texas today. We honor all our veterans, all whom have worn the uniform and served our country. We also honor the military and National Guard troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. We are very proud of all of them and believe they deserve our full support.

That?s why so many veterans are troubled by your vote AGAINST funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, after you voted FOR sending them into battle. And that?s why we are so concerned about the comments you made AFTER you came home from Vietnam. You accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities ? and, to this day, you have never apologized. Even last night, you claimed to be proud of your post-war condemnation of our actions.

We?re proud of our service in Vietnam. We served honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your comments when you came home.

You can?t have it both ways. You can?t build your convention and much of your campaign around your service in Vietnam, and then try to say that only those veterans who agree with you have a right to speak up. There is no double standard for our right to free speech. We all earned it.

You said in 1992 ?we do not need to divide America over who served and how.? Yet you and your surrogates continue to criticize President Bush for his service as a fighter pilot in the National Guard.

We are veterans too ? and proud to support President Bush. He?s been a strong leader, with a record of outstanding support for our veterans and for our troops in combat. He?s made sure that our troops in combat have the equipment and support they need to accomplish their mission.

He has increased the VA health care budget more than 40% since 2001 ? in fact, during his four years in office, President Bush has increased veterans funding twice as much as the previous administration did in eight years ($22 billion over 4 years compared to $10 billion over 8.) And he?s praised the service of all who served our country, including your service in Vietnam.

We urge you to condemn the double standard that you and your campaign have enforced regarding a veteran?s right to openly express their feelings about your activities on return from Vietnam.

Sincerely,

Texas State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson
Rep. Duke Cunningham
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Sam Johnson
Lt. General David Palmer
Robert O'Malley, Medal of Honor Recipient
James Fleming, Medal of Honor Recipient
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Castle (Ret.)

 

[djv]

Three trashed. What a record to be proud of. And one is in there own party.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Answer this DJV How does Kerry merit bronze star for pulling one guy in boat and on same day another pulls in 3 and gets nothing.

from washington times.
Kerry's report
According to the records, Kerry claimed in the casualty report that he prepared March 13, 1969, that he was wounded as a result of a mine explosion.
Within a short period, he presented his request to go home on the basis of his three Purple Hearts. By March 17, 1969, his short combat career in Vietnam was over.
Notwithstanding the fake submission for his Bronze Star after this incident, Kerry never was wounded or bleeding from his arm.
All reports, including the medical reports, make clear that he suffered a minor bruise on his arm and minor shrapnel wounds on his buttocks. The minor bruise on his arm would never have justified a Purple Heart and is not mentioned in the citation.
This leaves only Kerry's rear-end wound. This wound, like the injury received at Cam Ranh Bay on Dec. 2, 1968, for which he received his first Purple Heart, was of the minor tweezer-and-Band-Aid variety.
How did Kerry receive a shrapnel wound in his buttocks from the explosion of an underwater mine, as his report suggests? Many participants in the incident state that neither weapons fire nor a mine explosion occurred near Kerry.
Larry Thurlow, an experienced, genuine hero and Swift Boat veteran, commanded PCF 51, the boat behind Kerry on March 13, 1969.
Thurlow was on the shore that morning with Kerry and a group of Nung soldiers, who were mercenaries working with the South Vietnamese. Thurlow recalls that Kerry had wounded himself in the buttocks that morning with a grenade that he set off too close to a stock of rice he was trying to destroy.
Boston Globe's account
This rice incident is all too reminiscent of the M-79 grenade that Kerry exploded too close to some rocks on shore at Cam Ranh Bay three months earlier, causing the shrapnel in his arm that resulted in his first Purple Heart.
The rice episode also involved Rassmann, later pulled from the water by Kerry, according to the Boston Globe.
"At one point, Kerry and Rassmann threw grenades into a huge rice cache that had been captured from the Viet Cong and was thus slated for destruction," Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish, Brian C. Mooney and Nina J. Easton write in their "John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography" (PublicAffairs Reports, 2004).
"After tossing the grenades, the two dove for cover. Rassmann escaped the ensuing explosion of rice, but Kerry was not as lucky ? thousands of grains stuck to him. The result was hilarious, and the two men formed a bond."
Very probably, the incident that Rassmann described to the Globe that resulted in Kerry's self-inflicted wound also produced the very wound Kerry used to claim his third and final Purple Heart.
Indeed, Kerry's report for that day mentions the rice he destroyed. He dishonestly transferred the time and cause of the injury to coincide with the Swift Boat action later in the day and claimed the cause of the injury was the mine exploding during that later action.
By March 1969, most of Kerry's Swift Boat peers at the tiny An Thoi base were aware of his reputation as an unscrupulous self-promoter with an insatiable appetite for medals. But no one actually understood what Kerry pulled off.
When Thurlow finally realized that the sinking of another skipper's boat, PCF 3, was the same incident described by a Kerry campaign advertisement and in Brinkley's "Tour of Duty," he knew Kerry had used the mine explosion and tragedy for PCF 3's crew as his ticket home.
Thurlow was astounded by the metamorphosis that had taken place in the explanation of Kerry's wound: from Kerry's own grenade as a cause, an incident the Globe described and which Thurlow knew about; to a grenade error by friendly forces in the absence of hostile fire (Kerry's secret Vietnam journal and "Tour of Duty" ); and finally to the mine explosion (Kerry's report and Purple Heart citation).
Adding it up
Unfortunately for Kerry, he ended up telling the truth by mistake.
On page 313 of "Tour of Duty," and evidently in Kerry's secret journal written on or about March 13, 1969, quoted in that book, Kerry relates his injury from the rice stock explosion.
However, he tries to place the time and context of the incident later in the day and tries to claim that it resulted from friendly forces (the Nungs), but at a time in which there was no hostile fire:
"The Nung blew up some huge bins of rice they had found, as it was assumed, as always, that these were the local stockpiles earmarked to feed the hungry VC [Viet Cong] moving through the Delta smuggling weapons. 'I got a piece of small grenade in my ass from one of the rice-bin explosions, and then we started to move back to the boats, firing to our rear as we went,' Kerry related."
Unless one believes in the amazing coincidence that Kerry got two wounds in the same place on the same day and from the same type of incident, then Kerry's wound of March 13 was not the result of hostile fire at all but, once again, simply a self-inflicted, minor wound about which he lied to get a Purple Heart.
Whatever the facts of the March 13 incident, it seems incontrovertible that: (1) Kerry lied in the Bronze Star citation about having any arm wound other than a minor bruise; and (2) Kerry fraudulently secured a Purple Heart by falsely attributing his self-inflicted buttocks wound to the mine explosion hitting PCF 3 or to any other hostile action.
What happened
Kerry falsely described the incident in his 1969 operating report, in his campaign biography, in his advertising and on his 2004 campaign Web site.
Jack Chenoweth commanded PCF 23, the boat in front of Kerry's PCF 94. His gunner, Van Odell, had a clear view of the entire incident. Dick Pease commanded PCF 3, which was blown up by the mine that day.
None of these Swiftees recognized the incident as described by Kerry in his report, by Brinkley in "Tour of Duty" [in which, after the mine exploded under PCF 3 on his port side, Kerry recalls his right arm being "smashed" against a bulkhead when "another explosion went off right beside us"] or on Kerry's Web site. They were furious when they realized Kerry's fraudulent account.
In reality, Kerry's boat, PCF 94, was on the right side of the river when a mine went off on the opposite side under PCF 3. The boat's crewmen were thrown into the water. The officers suffered concussions.
A Viet Cong sympathizer in an adjoining bunker had touched off the mine. There was no other hostile fire and no other mines, according to Chenoweth, Odell, Pease and Thurlow. The boats had begun firing after the mine exploded, but ceased after a short time because of the lack of hostile fire.
Kerry's PCF 94 fled the scene. The remaining three PCFs, in accord with standard doctrine, stood to defend the disabled PCF 3 and its crewmen in the water. Kerry and PCF 94 disappeared several hundred yards away, returning only when it was clear there was no return fire.
Chenoweth (who received no medal) picked up the PCF 3 crewmen from the water. PCF 3's engines were knocked out on one side and frozen on 500 rpm on the other side. The boat weaved dangerously, hitting sandbars, dazed or unconscious crew members aboard.
Thurlow, commanding his own boat, sought a secure hold so he could jump across and board PCF 3. However, he was thrown into the water in his first attempt to board, and the boat hit the sandbars. Later, Thurlow brought PCF 3 to a stop, and the boat slowly began to sink.
Rassmann had fallen or been knocked off either Kerry's boat or the fifth boat, PCF 35. When Rassmann was spotted in the water, Chenoweth's PCF 23, with the PCF 3 crew aboard, went to pick him up.
Kerry's PCF 94, returning to the scene after its flight, reached Rassmann about 20 yards ahead of Chenoweth's boat. Kerry did the decent thing by going to pick up Rassmann, justifiably earning his gratitude. However, the claim that Kerry returned to a hostile fire zone is a lie, according to Chenoweth, Thurlow and others.
Meanwhile, the serious work of saving PCF 3 continued.
A sinking ship
Kerry's false after-action report, prepared to justify his Purple Heart and Bronze Star, reports "5,000 meters" of heavy fire ? about 2? miles, the same distance as a large Civil War battlefield. Not a shot of this fire was heard by Chenoweth, Thurlow, Odell or Pease.
Kerry's after-action report ignores Chenoweth's heroic action in rescuing PCF 3 survivors and Thurlow's action in saving PCF 3, while highlighting his own routine pickup of Rassmann and PCF 94's minor role in saving PCF 3.
When Chenoweth's boat left a second time to deliver the wounded PCF 3 crewmen to a Coast Guard cutter offshore, Kerry jumped into the boat, leaving the remaining officers and men the job of saving PCF 3. It was in terrible condition, sinking just outside the river.
Kerry's eagerness to secure his third and final Purple Heart evidently outweighed any feelings of loyalty, duty or honor with regard to his fellow sailors. Thurlow and the other brave sailors who saved PCF 3 and towed it out did not seek Purple Hearts for their "minor contusions." Indeed, several PCF 3 sailors did not seek or receive Purple Hearts.
Chenoweth, Odell and boatmates who fished out the sailors of PCF 3 likewise had no thought of seeking medals, but only of rescuing comrades and saving PCF 3.
continued

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Kerry, however, portrays himself towing the disabled PCF 3 to safety after saving it. Another lie: The damage control on PCF 3 was done by Thurlow. [Thurlow was awarded the Bronze Star as a result of his actions.]
Although Kerry's PCF 94 participated in towing PCF 3, Kerry was no longer on his boat for most of the trip. He was safely on the Coast Guard cutter.
Thurlow and Chenoweth are certain Kerry played no role in saving PCF 3 or its crew. When they, as well as several other Swiftees who were there, first saw the Kerry campaign ads they believed the events portrayed in the ads (as well as in Kerry's campaign biography and the medal citations) had to be different and involve different people. They were horrified when they realized Kerry had received medals for the incident they remembered.
Rassmann appeared for a spontaneous embrace of Kerry at a campaign event in January in Iowa, where Kerry's presidential campaign came back to life.
Rassmann was understandably grateful to Kerry for fishing him out of the river, and he was evidently happy to participate in the "no man left behind" version of the story being told by Kerry in his "war hero" mode. [Rassmann went on to help introduce Kerry when he accepted the Democratic nomination last month in Boston.]
Going home
Swiftees who learned of Kerry's fraudulent citations and ads felt betrayed.
"You've just got to make them understand," William E. Franke, a fellow commander in Coastal Division 11 and Silver Star recipient, wrote the authors. "We weren't thinking of self-promotion like him. Just survival and doing the job. We didn't want him around, and we were happy he was gone."
Kerry has implied that he volunteered for the military right after college. But he petitioned his draft board for a student deferment. His service record indicates that on Feb. 18, 1966, he enlisted in the Naval Reserves, status "inactive," not in the Navy.
These details are conveniently left out of pro-Kerry biographies. Brinkley, in "Tour of Duty," records that Kerry entered Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island; however, he fails to note that Kerry was seeking to be an officer in the Naval Reserves. The duty commitment was shorter, and a larger proportion of the period could be served stateside on inactive duty.
The repeated statements that Kerry was "sent home" by the Navy ignore the fact that Kerry requested to be sent home, invoking a regulation of which most Swiftees were unaware.
Thomas W. Wright, another PCF officer at An Thoi, discussed Kerry with other Swiftees on base after the March 13 incident. They were aware of the "three Purple Hearts" rule that sounded like "three strikes and you're out." Kerry could be sent home.
Wright approached Kerry one night and proposed to him that several fellow Swiftees felt it might be best for everybody if Kerry simply left. The next thing Wright knew, he got the exact result he hoped to achieve: John Kerry was gone.
A postscript
A central drumbeat of the Kerry presidential campaign, as in every Kerry campaign, is that it is relevant and permissible to discuss at infinite length his short Vietnam service. Any effort, however, to examine his service by seeking out the records or truth is discouraged and resisted.
The reality is that Kerry has consistently refused to disclose his Vietnam records, as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have urged. Instead, he has released only those service records he considers favorable while concealing, for example, his own journal and home movies from the period ? except for allowing friendly writers to draw from these materials and providing video clips for advertising.
There is a government form ? Standard Form 180 ? that Kerry could easily execute to permit the Department of Defense to release all his records, including the required records for receiving the Purple Heart or Silver Star.
By selectively releasing information, Kerry has tilted the record in his favor. Self-serving journal entries can be presented to "establish" events and circumstances as Kerry wishes to portray them.
A classic Kerry use of his private photographic cache, some of it self-staged, is his "Lifetime" campaign commercial. Kerry is depicted receiving the Bronze Star from Adm. Elmo Zumwalt III, commander of naval and Coast Guard forces in Vietnam, who later denounced Kerry.
The ad also includes a staged clip of Kerry as an infantryman in Vietnam, in bandoliers, stalking an unknown enemy through the forest in 1969 (and violating Rule No. 1 of the infantry by pointing his weapon down).
Who took this film? When and why? The viewer, typically unskilled in evaluating authentic military images, is left with the impression of Kerry as a fierce warrior engaged in the defense of his country.
John Kerry's name tossed around as "president" and "commander in chief" summoned many of us Swiftees from long political slumber ? from games with grandchildren or feet by the fire ? to render one last service to the nation.
That service is the hard task of informing an uninformed America ? against the wishes of a media sympathetic to Kerry and his myth ? of John Kerry's total unfitness to command our armed forces or lead our nation. We are our own small "band of brothers," resolved to sound the alarm.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

Shamrock:

I think the question should be who would you rather witness war atrocities with, Kerry or Bush. Obviously not Kerry because he may tell the truth after the war is over as to the crimes committed by fellow Americans against the Viet Nameese.

Bush of course, draped in the American flag, would lie about what he witnessed as he would not want to dispell the belief that as Americans we can do no wrong.

If we ever want to fix this country, we are going to have to start telling the truth.

Eddie

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

It's odd he spends 4 months in the Navy and witnesses all these atrocities and from personal experience in over a year in Viet Nam and Cambodia (which I can prove) the closest I saw to anything that would remotely resemble an autocities was a few cooks carrying pots and pans that got caught on trail with VC.
Never saw one pow mishandled--We gave their captured wounded medical attention same as ours however after all GI's were taken care of 1st--not shoot them as some reports indicate Kerry did.
Would be naive to think autocities did not occur but am saying as in Iraq they were the exception rather than the rule.


The real autocities arise when the press like NYT 43 days of front page prison abuse--and Fondas and Kerrys testimonials being played by the enemy to GI's are used to aid and abet the enemy--and liberals here cheering them on.

 

[djv]

DTB becarefull about those pows treatment. We didn't want to believe there was any mistretment going on in Iraq either. I believe anyone with there ears open heard the stories. But hey we heard our guys were catching hell to. Theres always some B S in wars. If we are the saviors of the world then are we expected tp act a step above. Thats what we were told were we not. I think we all know they happen. And I agree Kerry did not have to tell anyone. Does that make him a bad man. Of course not. Did he have the right to protest the war. Yes. Did many others have the same right, sure. Was the country split 50/50 against that dam nam war. Hell yes. And you can see it still is. And many fear were on the same path in Iraq. Yes fewer mia, injured and killed. But they still are hapening every week. And there is no end in sight.

 

[shamrock]

djv- did you server in Vietnam?

dtb, As a Vietnam veteran obviously you have spoken with hundreds if not thousands more of your peers than myself. Honestly you have never spoken with or heard of so called atrocities over there?

I have spoken with what would be considered certainly a limited amount of Vietnam veterans, and several have told me horrible stories about what went on over there. Not all of course, but several. Hell, I never even really thought ill of these people, war is Hell, and I would consider myself naive to think everything goes by the rules. Most said that's why drugs were such a problem over there.

Even on O'Reilly the other evening when he was speaking to the army under Secretary, Bill said he didn't go over to Vietnam for 2 reasons, 1) his buddies coming home to long island said it was absolutely horrible over there with all kinds of terrible things going on. 2) he thought he could do more being a teacher.