Sunday, January 25, 2004
QUESTIONS ABOUT KERRY'S SILVER STAR
Kerry served as an officer on a "swift boat" in the Mekong Delta. On February 28, 1969, his swift boat came under a rocket attack. A subsequent military report about the engagement, quoted by a 1996 article in the New Yorker, stated: "Kerry's craft received a B-40 rocket close aboard. Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry ordered his units to charge the enemy positions . . . (his craft) then beached in the center of the enemy positions and an enemy soldier sprang up from his position not ten feet from (Kerry's craft) and fled. Without hesitation Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber." About the incident Kerry recalled, "It was either going to be him or me. It was that simple."
For his actions that day, Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. Some controversy would arise with concern to the incident years later though when during a close election with William Weld in 1996, the Boston Globe's David Warsh questioned the circumstances of Kerry's heroism that day. Evidence emerged that the Viet Cong who had fired the rocket was alone and had already been wounded by the gunner on the ship.
Their are questions about His silver Star- Have He or will He
release His Military Records so we can answer These questions?
They said that the Viet Cong who fired the Rocket at his Boat was Alone-Was He alone or was their other "enemy Positions"?
They said that the Viet Cong had already been wounded by the gunner on the Boat- Kerry Said "It was either going to be him or me. It was That Simple". Or was he a wounded Viet Cong trying to get away and was "Hiding" behind the Hootch and was Not a "Imminent Threat"?
Was their anyone else from Kerry's unit that was with him when He went behind the Hootch? Can we question Them?
Are their other Questions about Kerry's Silver Star?
YES-ANOTHER QUESTION FROM WESLEY PRUDEN:
He won his first Purple Heart when he was wounded slightly on an arm. But if a wound draws blood — "even shaving," as irreverent GIs often say — it's worth a Purple Heart. Three months later a piece of shrapnel pierced his left thigh and he qualified for his second. Eight days later, he won the Silver Star when his swift boat took a rocket shot from the shore and he beached the boat in the midst of several enemy positions. An enemy soldier sprang from a hidey hole and sprinted into a "hootch," or hut. A gunner aboard the swift sprayed the hootch with .50-caliber machine-gun bullets, and Lt. Kerry leaped from the boat to administer the coup de grace to the wounded Viet Cong. He returned triumphantly, holding high the rocket and launcher used to damage his boat. The beau geste was worth the Silver Star. The very next month he won his third Purple Heart when a mine detonated near his boat and a piece of shrapnel hit his right arm. He later said his wounds cost him two days' service.
Nevertheless, the three wounds were worth an assignment stateside, when he applied to take advantage of a Navy rule that entitled a thrice-wounded man to take his leave from a combat zone. He asked for duty as a personal aide in "Boston, New York or Washington," and came home to be an admiral's aide. Eight months later, he asked for an early discharge to run for Congress. Once out, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, an antiwar organization largely funded by Jane Fonda.
He served twice in Vietnam, neither time completing the regular one-year term. His first assignment lasted six months, aboard a guided-missile frigate in the Gulf of Tonkin. He returned to "the world" (as the GIs called home) and five months later, in December 1969, was assigned to command "swifts," small gunboats patrolling South Vietnamese rivers.
Kerry served as an officer on a "swift boat" in the Mekong Delta. On February 28, 1969, his swift boat came under a rocket attack. A subsequent military report about the engagement, quoted by a 1996 article in the New Yorker, stated: "Kerry's craft received a B-40 rocket close aboard. Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry ordered his units to charge the enemy positions . . . (his craft) then beached in the center of the enemy positions and an enemy soldier sprang up from his position not ten feet from (Kerry's craft) and fled. Without hesitation Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber." About the incident Kerry recalled, "It was either going to be him or me. It was that simple."
For his actions that day, Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. Some controversy would arise with concern to the incident years later though when during a close election with William Weld in 1996, the Boston Globe's David Warsh questioned the circumstances of Kerry's heroism that day. Evidence emerged that the Viet Cong who had fired the rocket was alone and had already been wounded by the gunner on the ship.
Their are questions about His silver Star- Have He or will He
release His Military Records so we can answer These questions?
They said that the Viet Cong who fired the Rocket at his Boat was Alone-Was He alone or was their other "enemy Positions"?
They said that the Viet Cong had already been wounded by the gunner on the Boat- Kerry Said "It was either going to be him or me. It was That Simple". Or was he a wounded Viet Cong trying to get away and was "Hiding" behind the Hootch and was Not a "Imminent Threat"?
Was their anyone else from Kerry's unit that was with him when He went behind the Hootch? Can we question Them?
Are their other Questions about Kerry's Silver Star?
YES-ANOTHER QUESTION FROM WESLEY PRUDEN:
He won his first Purple Heart when he was wounded slightly on an arm. But if a wound draws blood — "even shaving," as irreverent GIs often say — it's worth a Purple Heart. Three months later a piece of shrapnel pierced his left thigh and he qualified for his second. Eight days later, he won the Silver Star when his swift boat took a rocket shot from the shore and he beached the boat in the midst of several enemy positions. An enemy soldier sprang from a hidey hole and sprinted into a "hootch," or hut. A gunner aboard the swift sprayed the hootch with .50-caliber machine-gun bullets, and Lt. Kerry leaped from the boat to administer the coup de grace to the wounded Viet Cong. He returned triumphantly, holding high the rocket and launcher used to damage his boat. The beau geste was worth the Silver Star. The very next month he won his third Purple Heart when a mine detonated near his boat and a piece of shrapnel hit his right arm. He later said his wounds cost him two days' service.
Nevertheless, the three wounds were worth an assignment stateside, when he applied to take advantage of a Navy rule that entitled a thrice-wounded man to take his leave from a combat zone. He asked for duty as a personal aide in "Boston, New York or Washington," and came home to be an admiral's aide. Eight months later, he asked for an early discharge to run for Congress. Once out, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, an antiwar organization largely funded by Jane Fonda.
He served twice in Vietnam, neither time completing the regular one-year term. His first assignment lasted six months, aboard a guided-missile frigate in the Gulf of Tonkin. He returned to "the world" (as the GIs called home) and five months later, in December 1969, was assigned to command "swifts," small gunboats patrolling South Vietnamese rivers.
