Evidence Shows Crewmate Rev. Alston Never Served Under Sen. Kerry

August 10, 2004 | The Bandit

[The Bandit]

For years now we have been lead to believe that both Sen. Kerry and the Rev. David Alston had served together on the PCF-94 in Vietnam, and therefore, making David Alston an eyewitness to Kerry's actions and heroism. The fact that Sen. Kerry has used a famous photo of himself together with David Alston and other crewmates while serving on swift boats in Vietnam, left little reason to believe anything differently. As with most anything having to do with Sen. Kerry -- nothing is ever as it first appears to be.

There can be little doubt that Sen. Kerry and David Alston wanted to deceive people into believing the two served together on the PCF-94 swift boat by the following statements:

David Alston  said of Kerry, "We were in a lot of firefights," Alston said. "You learn a lot about people. After a firefight, John would come up to me and he would put his hand on me and he'd say, 'David, are you all right?'"  And Kerry added: "I didn't know then that I had a man of God on my boat. That's probably why I'm here today." (Orlando Sentinel, 1/31/04)

"I stand here before you only because almighty God saw our boat safely through those rivers of death and destruction, by giving us a brave, wise, and decisive leader named John Kerry." (David Alston in a speech before the Democratic Convention, and the world.)

Rev. David Alston says, "When the bullets started to hit the side of the ship, we found out that John Kerry [could] lead. (Kerry for President Campaign Ad that aired early February '04)

Only problem with the above statements is that the are flat out false because David Alston was never a crew member under Sen. Kerry nor could he had ever participated in combat operations with Sen. Kerry because they were from two different boats. From December to January 29, 1969 Sen. Kerry commanded the PCF-44 while David Alston was the Gunner onboard the PCF-94 under Lt.(jg) Peck. On January 29, 1969 both Peck and Alston were wounded and hospitalized. We know Alston was wounded on that date because his causality report was made available briefly by the Kerry Campaign before they removed it. Here is what it said:

AWFA: GMG2 DAVID MARION Alston, USN, 99T 57 46
BRAVO: ACTIVE DUTY, ATTACHED TO COASTAL DIVISION ELEVEN AT AN THOI, RVN
CHARLIE: INJURY, HOSTILE FIRE
DELTA: 29, JAN 69, 1030H, SONG CUA LON - SONG BO DE, WHILE SERVING AS FORWARD GUNNER ABOARD PCF 94, ENGAGED IN CORDON AND SEARCH OPERATIONS IN THE ABOVE RIVER, GMG2 Alston RECEIVED SHRAPNEL WOUNDS TO HIS HEAD WHEN PCF CAME UNDER INTENSE HOSTILE ROCKET AND A/W FIRE.
ECHO: CONDITION GOOD, PROGNOSIS GOOD. PRESENCE OF NOK IS NOT MEDICALLY WARRANTED AS REPORTED BY CORPSMAN.
FOXTROT: MRS. IDA MCQUILLAR Alston, MOTHER
GOLF: NOK NOT OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED. REQ NOK NOT REPEAT NOT BE NOTIFIED.
HOTEL: SERVICEMAN TREATED BY CORPSMAN AND MEDEVACED TO 29TH EVAC HOSP. BINH THUY.
2. PATIENT ABL TO COMMUNICATE WITH NOK.
3. NO FURTHER INFO WILL FOLLOW.

This confirms the date of David Alston's wounds, but it does not tell how seriously wounded David Alston was. There is no military medical records available for David Alston, and you cannot go by the causality reports description of good and prognosis is good because they will always say that even if you had both legs shattered -- and then there is the fact no medical doctor had yet evaluated him. But we can today see the severity of the wound Alston suffered as shown below from as Rev. Alston stood before recent Democratic Convention delegates.

As one can see, it was a sever wound indeed, and Alston most likely lost tissue and scalp from this injury. This is important evidence for dating another picture of him with Sen. Kerry below.

 

Now let's take a closer look at Alston.

 

No signs of a serious head wound, or the treatment of such a wound, which would had required visible head shaving that still  would have been visible weeks later if this picture was taken in early March as sometimes suggested by writers. Thus, we can be confident that the picture in question was taken prior to January 29, 1969 when Sen. Kerry was still skipper of the PCF-44 and Alston was the gunner on the PCF-94. How did Sen. Kerry get in this picture then? We know Coastal Division 11 and 13 were participating in joint operations in January of 1969 from the Command History of Division 11 released by the Navy, and no doubt that the crews from each division shared the same faculties and socialize among themselves.

Now that we know when and how Alston was wounded, we can see how Alston could not have been part of Sen. Kerry's crew on the PCF-94 because he had been replaced, just as the wounded Lt. Peck had been replaced by Kerry after the January 29th incident that lead to both Alston and Peck being hospitalized. Was David Alston able to return to the PCF-94 during anytime between February 1 and March 13, Kerry's last combat mission? No evidence that he did or even the suggestion he physically could have with the injury he had suffered,  because we know that on February 28, 1969, Fred Short was onboard and described as an replacement for a wounded David Alston. We Know David Alston was not onboard for Kerry's last combat mission on March 13, either. Therefore, we can confidently say David Alston was never part of Kerry's PCF-94 crew from February 1 through March 13, 1969 because he was still recovering from his head wounds.

Now we need to answer whether David Alston could had been able to participate in combat missions with Kerry from a different swift boat? Looking at the daily combat missions for Coastal Division 11 we do not find both the PCF-44 (Kerry's boat) and the PCF-94 (Alston's boat) involved in any joint missions together. This conclusion is further supported by the fact David Alston or any other Kerry supporter has ever ventured to describe specific missions that Alston and Kerry could have participated in. All discussion of Alston and Kerry together is vague, generalized and non-specific.

Everything we were told by David Alston, Sen. Kerry and his people are clearly false about in regards to Kerry's relationship with David Alston. This is not a mere little slip of the tongue, but an orchestrated scheme over the last few years to outright deceive people about Sen. Kerry's military service. Why did the Rev. David Alston put himself into this position of deception and lies?

"I owe John Kerry my life,"  the Rev. David Alston was quoted as saying, "But John Kerry owes his life to me, too." This just might be true, but not in the sense that Kerry saved Alston's life during Vietnam, but for what he may have done for Alston after Vietnam and what Alston is doing for Kerry now for his run for the White House.

After both Kerry and Alston departed Vietnam, the two stayed in contact and Kerry had invited Alston to his first wedding, to Julia Thorne in 1970, and sent Christmas cards to Alston's parents' house. Kerry aides contacted Alston in 1996, after a story in a Boston paper "accusing him of being a killer," Alston told the Charlotte Observer.

"That was just false, and I was happy to tell people that," Alston said. "In Vietnam, killing an enemy soldier meant saving men's lives. It was something that had to be done." The incident in question here was on February 28, 1969, for which Alston was not part in because he was recovering from a head wound.

David Alston's mother-in-law, Beulah Lowery, has said: "He didn't like to talk about it [Vietnam], so we didn't press him," Lowery said. "But David always appreciated what he (Kerry) did for them. He talked real nice about him." Was Sen. Kerry so good to the Rev. Alston that Alston would do anything for him, like mislead voters on his behalf? Only David Alston can answer this question.

Another troubling question arises from this disclosure -- why haven't the rest of Sen. Kerry's supporting "Band of Brothers" stepped forward and correct the record of the Kerry/Alston relationship, something they know firsthand cannot be possible? Perhaps we will be find Kerry has been very good to them as well.

[Bob]

Are you telling me there is no law to prevent a senator from speaking on the floor of the senate and knowingly misleading congress?

I don't know if there's a specific law about that or not. IANAL but I believe that he would have had to make the statement while under oath to be prosecuted for perjury. My only point was that he wasn't giving sworn testimony when he gave that speech.

As I said, I don't know that kerry has ever made any of his statements when he was legally under oath.

[hawkaw]

Interesting and thanks

[maggief]

This account seems to confuse Alston with Michael J. Givens:

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:LTlqxgcsYp8J:www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/politics/9251042.htm%3F1c+%22david+alston%22+kerry&hl=en

Kerry took over command of Alston's boat, PCF-94, after a battle in which the boat's previous lieutenant had been injured. Alston was also wounded in that fight, a clean gunshot through the arm.

------

http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/archives/K/2/pub2117.html

29 JAN 1969 Cua Lon Rivers

Early in the morning seven swift boats embarked on a mission to destroy enemy installations along the Cua Lon River. While Kerry's boat and another (PCF72) were probing a canal along the river, Kerry's boat came under heavy fire and was hit by a B-40 rocket in the cabin area. One member of Kerry's crew -- Forward Gunner David Alston - suffered shrapnel wounds in his head. His injuries were not considered serious and he was sent to the 29th Evac Hospital at Binh Thuy.

(snip)

27 FEB 1969 Bay Hap River

On an evening patrol with two other swiftboats, PCFs 23 and 43, about 26 miles south of Ca Mu, the patrol took heavy fire, including five rockets. Three rockets narrowly missed Kerry's boat, and exploded on the opposite bank. Another rocket exploded near PCF 94, and the fifth exploded near PCF 23, wounding a crewmember on that boat. The boats suppressed the fire and withdrew. During the battle, a sailor on Kerry's boat, Crewmember/Trainee Michael J. Givens was shot in the upper right arm. Givens injuries were not serious and he was sent to the 79th field hospital in Can Tho.

---

More interesting reading:

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/journal_day2.shtml

John Kerry's Vietnam War journal

Excerpt from a type-written journal kept by John F. Kerry during his tour of duty in the Vietnam War:

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http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml

Heroism, and growing concern about war

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 6/16/2003

[Bob J]

Nice work Bandito!

[kabar]

29 JAN 1969 Cua Lon Rivers

Early in the morning seven swift boats embarked on a mission to destroy enemy installations along the Cua Lon River. While Kerry's boat and another (PCF72) were probing a canal along the river, Kerry's boat came under heavy fire and was hit by a B-40 rocket in the cabin area. One member of Kerry's crew -- Forward Gunner David Alston - suffered shrapnel wounds in his head. His injuries were not considered serious and he was sent to the 29th Evac Hospital at Binh Thuy.

Kerry was not on the boat at this time. It was Peck I believe.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Look at the "fuzzy" (photo-edited ?) object in the background of the first photograph you referenced, and colors the boat colors and arrangement.

It appears that photo (the one with Kerry in an untucked T-shirt and no rank insignia = pretty lousy appearance for AN OFFICER in the Navy with his crew!) might have been taken on a transfer boat or small craft, where it would be reasonable to have several crews mixed together.

Going on liberty perhaps, going to the support craft upriver?

[Robert A Cook PE]

The set of enlisted in the pictures in completely different.

[antivenom]

For your reading pleasure

[Robert A Cook PE]

More evidence of an edited picture?

(You pointed out the shadows on Kerry's face and neck are different than the shadows on the other on the left side of the picture.)

The fuzzy (crane ? machine gun? bracket?) object in the middle is warped/twisted/moving) but the guy "leaning" on it is fixed - not moving.

The object could not have been bumped, but the water is visible "though it" on one side, and is covered on Kerry's side!

[Ann Archy]

If this is true, the warm and fuzzy's will be all over FR!! Lying Democrats...who knew!

[antivenom]

Black male veteran of the cloth...goint to get Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson all revved up...

[1Old Pro]

Sounds like Kerry now believes the swift boat guys who observed his lies from other boats - because they "served WITH him".

Kerry is getting worse than Klintoon with his contortions.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Look at my questions about the photograph being edited in Nbr 149.....

Not only do the shadows differ from Kerry's side of the photograph to the crew's side, but the transition in the middle has objected distorted and moving.

[Helen]

There certainly is something fishy here - matter of fact, it's downright deceptive in my opinion. It's a good blending of bodies into one picture, but the light is obviously coming from three different directions.

Great observation!

The question is - who would benefit from grouping these particular people together? Is the sole purpose to put Alston and Kerry together?

[Brian Allen]

<< Why did the Rev. David Alston put himself into this position of deception and lies? >>

Free lunch.

Free booze.

Free junketing.

And fifteen every-bit-as-unearned minutes.

[Physicist]

Ooookay...maybe my tinfoil needs adjustment, but Kerry doesn't seem to be casting a shadow in that picture.

[Grampa Dave]

Hopefully, we will hear about this from the Swift Boat Vets.

If we can get confirmation on this from them, Kerry's massive lies and spins will have taken a massive blow.

[ex 98C MI Dude]

The sun is behind the picture taker in that photo. All the subjects are looking into the sun, so the shadows are appropriate.

Kerry does look like a hanger-on in that picture, like he doesn't belong there. Interesting.

[Grampa Dave]

"It's personal for me - My father served in Viet Nam, with the 1/5 1st cavalry Division (Airmobile) 68-69. He was never the same, and afterwards he wasn't the same man my mother married."

Your father, my brother in law, several friends and Nam Vets that I barely know were assaulted, spit on and called terrible names on their return from Nam.

At LAX and SFO these creeps would get on the moving sidewalks in the airport and spit on returning GIs going the opposite direction. Throw stuff at them and yell "Baby Killers!"

We have no idea how many of these young men were scarred for their lives due to this.

Kerry, Fonda and the other anti war criminals were responsible for these vile acts.

[Physicist]

The sun is behind the picture taker in that photo. All the subjects are looking into the sun, so the shadows are appropriate.

That's exactly what I thought. The face shadows are consistent with that. Now look again: where is Kerry's shadow on the boat? The shadow of his body might be below the frame, but at least his arm must cast a shadow.