The Questioning Begins

[Guest MikeSC]

WASHINGTON -- John F. Kerry's tour of duty in Vietnam, distinguished by Silver and Bronze stars and the close-range killing of an enemy fighter, is highlighted in his campaign ads and cheered on the trail. Even the campaign of President Bush, who did not see combat, hasn't tried to make an issue of his opponent's service record.

 

But as the presidential campaign heats up, some Vietnam veterans are using the Internet and talk radio to question the Democratic candidate's military record. They complain that Kerry's three Purple Hearts were for minor wounds and that he left Vietnam more than six months ahead of schedule under regulations permitting thrice-wounded soldiers to depart early.

 

A review by the Globe of Kerry's war record in preparation for a forthcoming book, "John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography," found that the young Navy officer acted heroically under fire, in one case saving the life of an Army lieutenant. But the examination also found that Kerry's commanding officer at the time questioned Kerry's first Purple Heart, which he earned for a wound received just two weeks after arriving in Vietnam.

 

"He had a little scratch on his forearm, and he was holding a piece of shrapnel," recalled Kerry's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Grant Hibbard. "People in the office were saying, `I don't think we got any fire,' and there is a guy holding a little piece of shrapnel in his palm." Hibbard said he couldn't be certain whether Kerry actually came under fire on Dec. 2, 1968, the date in questionand that is why he said he asked Kerry questions about the matter.

 

But Kerry persisted and, to his own "chagrin," Hibbard said, he dropped the matter. "I do remember some questions, some correspondence about it," Hibbard said. "I finally said, `OK, if that's what happened . . . do whatever you want.' After that, I don't know what happened. Obviously, he got it, I don't know how."

 

Kerry declined to talk to the Globe about the issue during the preparation of the Kerry biography. But his press secretary, Michael Meehan, noted that the Navy concluded that Kerry deserved the Purple Heart.

 

During the Vietnam War, Purple Hearts were often granted for minor wounds. "There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts--from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40 grenades," said George Elliott, who served as a commanding officer to Kerry during another point in his five-month combat tour in Vietnam. (Kerry earlier served a noncombat tour.) "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes." Under Navy regulations, an enlistee or officer wounded three times was permitted to leave Vietnam early, as Kerry did. He received all three purple hearts for relatively minor injuries -- two did not cost him a day of service and one took him out for a day or two.

 

The incident that led to Kerry's first Purple Heart was risky, and covert. He and his crew left the safe confines of the huge US base at Cam Ranh Bay, climbing aboard a "skimmer" boat -- a craft similar to a Boston Whaler -- to travel upriver in search of Viet Cong guerrillas. At a beach that was known as a crossing area for enemy contraband traffic, Kerry's crew spotted some people running from a sampan, a flat-bottomed boat, to a nearby shoreline, according to two men serving alongside Kerry that night, William Zaladonis and Patrick Runyon. When the Vietnamese refused to obey a call to stop, Kerry authorized firing to begin.

 

"I assume they fired back," Zaladonis recalled in an interview. But neither he nor Runyon saw the source of the shrapnel that lodged in Kerry's arm. '`We came across the bay onto the beach and I got [hit] in the arm, got shrapnel in the arm," Kerry told the Globe in a 2003 interview. Kerry has also said he didn't know where the shrapnel came from.

 

Back at the base, Kerry told Hibbard he qualified for a Purple Heart, according to Hibbard. Thirty-six years later, Hibbard, reached at his retirement home in Florida, said he can still recall Kerry's wound, and that it resembled a scrape from a fingernail. "I've had thorns from a rose that were worse," said Hibbard, a registered Republican who said he was undecided on the 2004 presidential race.

 

The Globe asked Kerry's campaign whether the Massachusetts senator is certain he was under enemy fire and whether he recalled that a superior officer raised questions about the matter. The campaign did not respond directly to those questions. Instead, Meehan said in a prepared statement that Kerry "received the shrapnel wound early in the course of that combat engagement. " Meehan also provided a copy of a medical report showing treatment for a wound on Dec. 3, 1968. The Purple Heart regulation in effect at that time said that a wound must "require treatment by a medical officer."

 

Nearly three months later, a document was sent to Kerry informing him that he would receive a Purple Heart "for injuries received on 2 December 1968." The Naval Historical Center, which could not locate a copy of the original card for the incident, nonetheless confirmed that Kerry did receive the Purple Heart.

 

Kerry went on to earn another two Purple Hearts and he led more than two dozen missions in which he often faced enemy fire. He won the Silver Star for an action in which he killed an enemy soldier who carried a loaded rocket launcher that could have destroyed Kerry's six-man patrol boat, and he won a Bronze Star for rescuing an Army lieutenant who was thrown overboard and under fire.

 

One reason that Kerry has long divided Vietnam veterans is because of the way he led a group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War after he returned to the United States. While in Vietnam, Kerry began to question the policy of "free-fire zones," which permitted sailors to open fire on rivers where Vietnamese were violating nighttime curfews. He said in a 1971 appearance on "Meet the Press": "There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed, in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones."

 

Thirty-three years later, that statement still rankles some veterans, apparently including those who have formed a group called Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, which has a website devoted to what it calls Kerry's association with the "radical pro-communist" antiwar movement.

 

The statements of that group have been circulated widely over the Internet and picked up on conservative radio talk shows.

 

But some historians said Kerry is being unfairly criticized over his antiwar effort, which is best remembered for his Senate testimony in which he asked why soldiers should be asked to die for a mistake. "Thirty-three years later, his testimony has really proved to be prescient," said historian Stanley Karnow, author of "Vietnam: A History." "The war was a mistake. Nobody knew better that the war was a mistake than the poor grunts out there fighting it."

 

Indeed, some of Kerry's crewmates who were aghast that Kerry had led them into battle and then came home to protest the war now say Kerry was ahead of his time in seeing the mistaken policy. Crewmate James Wasser, who originally felt "betrayed" by Kerry's antiwar leadership, said, "Knowing what I know now, I would have totally agreed with him."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles...r_purple_heart/

Well, the questions are beginning to get asked. Kerry is going to learn what a competitive election is like --- seeing as how he never faced one.

-=Mike

[Some Guy 0]

This stuff doesn't really matter tome. I don't care if he got a paper cut or what, the guy did volunteer to go to war. I respect that. His post war behavior I don't like, but that is already well known. This is kind of silly.

 

The guy is disingenuos (sp?), uncapable of making and stickign with a decision, and gets X-Pac heat from most people. He'll lose with or without questions about the validity of his purple hearts.

[tommytomlin 0]

Kerry went on to earn another two Purple Hearts and he led more than two dozen missions in which he often faced enemy fire. He won the Silver Star for an action in which he killed an enemy soldier who carried a loaded rocket launcher that could have destroyed Kerry's six-man patrol boat, and he won a Bronze Star for rescuing an Army lieutenant who was thrown overboard and under fire.

 

 

Yeah, what a FRAUD!

[Vyce 0]

This shit doesn't matter to me.

 

However, I will say this: if the left can question Bush about his National Guard service, then people should be allowed to question Kerry if his service in Vietnam was 100% what he claims it was.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I still don't see what's wrong with a guy serving in a war, then coming home and protesting it. Wouldn't the soldiers themselves have the most right to do so?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I know if my president sent me off someplace to get shot at, I'd be annoyed with him as well as the ones shooting at me. This is why I'm not in the military.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Wasn't the ex-Marine who shot Kennedy a vet?

[Guest hunger4unger]

Bush and Kerry's service record can be argued all day. Fact are, Kerry did his duty and Bush didn't.

[Styles 0]

Bush and Kerry's service record can be argued all day. Fact are, Kerry did his duty and Bush didn't.

No, that's a lie, and you know it...

[Guest MikeSC]

Bush and Kerry's service record can be argued all day. Fact are, Kerry did his duty and Bush didn't.

That'd be news to, well, the U.S military, which states that he served for about 5 years. The "questionable year" (the year he went "AWOL") was AFTER 4 years of intensive service.

Wasn't the ex-Marine who shot Kennedy a vet?

As were both the President of the Confederacy (heck, Lincoln's military record PALED in comparison to Jefferson Davis') and the man synonymous with treachery in American history.

-=Mike

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Kerry is going to learn what a competitive election is like --- seeing as how he never faced one.

 

That must be news to William Weld and Paul Cronin

[Guest MikeSC]

Kerry is going to learn what a competitive election is like --- seeing as how he never faced one.

 

That must be news to William Weld and Paul Cronin

This is MA where a hardcore liberal can win running as a hardcore liberal.

 

He's never had to run a campaign where his liberalism would be such a major detriment to him. He also hasn't run a campaign where his opponent will nail him as badly as Bush can on so many issues.

-=Mike

[Guest thebigjig]

Wasn't the ex-Marine who shot Kennedy a vet?

No... Oswald didnt shoot Kennedy

 

 

I think questioning Kerry's service is silly... he's a war hero, get over it

 

That being said, he should shut the fuck up about it and stop wearing it on his sleeve...

 

and this shouldn't even factor into the election... I dont give a damn about what my candidate did more than 30 years ago

[Vyce 0]

and this shouldn't even factor into the election... I dont give a damn about what my candidate did more than 30 years ago

Just personal curiosity - does this apply as well to Bush and his National Guard service?

[Guest thebigjig]

and this shouldn't even factor into the election... I dont give a damn about what my candidate did more than 30 years ago

Just personal curiosity - does this apply as well to Bush and his National Guard service?

Yes it does... infact, when that entire controversy came about a few months ago, I made it known that I didnt give a damn... I made fun of him dancing around the issue and the dental records, but in reality, that wouldnt change my vote either way. Bush could've gone to Vietnam and rescued an entire platoon from a surprise Charlie attack and I wouldn't give a damn... I would praise him for being a hero, but it wouldn't change my opinion of him politically

[Guest thebigjig]

oh, and I've also defended Bush from the constant "drug addict, coke head" attacks... I dont know if I have here because I cant recall it being discussed, but I often laugh at the stupidity of some democrats who use his past drug use as an attack, because it has nothing to do with what he is doing now, or has done in the last decade