Kerry saved life of Oregon man

Democrat Herald.com ^ | Tuesday, January 27, 2004 | EUGENE (AP)

[restornu]

EUGENE (AP) - When Florence resident Jim Rassmann offered to volunteer for the John Kerry presidential campaign he was thinking along the lines of answering phones and licking envelopes.

The retired sheriff's deputy is a political junkie, but hardly a zealot. And he's a registered Republican.

But Kerry's campaign strategists whisked him straight to Iowa for a tearful public reunion with the senator, who almost 35 years ago dragged him out of a river in Vietnam in a hail of enemy gunfire.

Rassmann moved to Florence from Los Angeles a decade ago. But the emotion welled up a few days ago when Rassmann, a former Green Beret lieutenant, saw a copy of "Tour of Duty," which details Kerry's experiences in the Navy piloting a swift boat in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

"As chance would have it, I opened it at random to the page that talked about this particular incident," he recalled Monday in a telephone interview from Iowa with the Eugene Register-Guard.

"The memories were suddenly overwhelming. I got all choked up," he said.

Last Friday, he called Kerry's campaign headquarters.

Rassmann has followed Kerry's Senate career, especially his time on the Senate Intelligence Committee and the POW/MIA Committee that worked to re-establish ties with Vietnam.

"It put him head and shoulders above the rest of the candidates, and I include Wesley Clark in that," Rassmann said.

Rassmann was a windfall, said John Hurley, director of the Veterans for Kerry campaign.

"It was just thrilling to get this phone call out of the blue," Hurley said Monday from Iowa. "Normally I'm a calm guy, but I was dancing and shrieking."

Rassmann recommended Kerry for his Bronze Star.

"The reunion they had was very, very emotional," Hurley said. "Jim was broken up and John Kerry was teary-eyed."

Since the public reunion on Sunday, Rassmann and Kerry have had some private time for reminiscing.

They recalled the time Rassmann wouldn't let any soldiers near three earthenware jars whose lids were tied down.

He shot them up and the jars exploded, not because they were booby-trapped but because they were full of fermenting fish sauce, which drenched him.

"The stench was indescribable. I've had nightmares about that smell. ... We laughed like fools remembering," Rassmann said.

Rassmann said he will change party affiliations when he gets back to Oregon so that he can vote for Kerry in the May primary.

"People should examine the candidates closely, see what their political philosophy is and how that meshes with their own ideas," he said, adding he believes President Bush comes up short.

"I have absolutely no trouble with the reasons why we went to Afghanistan and I'm immensely proud of the job special ops troops did there. ... But I was not comfortable with Iraq. I wasn't adamantly against it, but I believed what the administration said about the reasons for going. I truly believed what they said, and it's obviously been total nonsense," he said.

He'll be back in Eugene and Florence this week for a presentation to a local orchid society - he's an avid grower - but on Friday he'll head for New Hampshire to help Kerry there.

http://supportthevets.com/youmansJAN04.htm

[SpinyNorman]

Well, I think we need to consider something, that the weak link in the American conservative movement today is That Guy in the White House. Folks, while John Kerry was out serving this nation, Dubya was ticketed for drunk driving (off the road and into a hedge, and not merely 'too slowly' as Karen Hughes implied), and then failed to show up for his Air National Guard duty. And while Kerry may have married into a fortune (hey, who wouldn't), Dubya built his fortune by peddling the influence of His Father the President and milking the taxpayers of Houston for a publicly-subsidized sports stadium.

Ask yourself honestly, who has the better character here?

Is that all you've got?! Hmmm, just as an aside, compare and contrast the President's driving record with the of Ted Kennedy. That aside, there are plenty of stories about Kerry's drunken exploits around Boston, mostly between gigolo gigs. And Kerry married into two fortunes, not to neglect the "Forbes" in his middle name, or his aristocratic upbringing.

Let's see what other Vietnam vets (not stooges for Kerry) say in the book "Stolen Valor:" "Many veterans believe these protests led to more American deaths, and to the enslavement of the people on whose behalf the protests were ostensibly being undertaken. But being a take-charge kind of guy, Mr. Kerry became a leader in the VVAW and even testified before Congress on the findings of the Investigation, which he accepted at face value.

"In his book 'Stolen Valor,' B.G. Burkett points out that Mr. Kerry liberally used phony veterans to testify to atrocities they could not possibly have committed. ...

"Mr. Kerry hasn't given me any reason to trust his judgment. As co-chairman of the Senate investigating committee, he quashed a revealing inquiry into the POW/MIA issue, and he supports trade initiatives with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam while blocking any legislation requiring Hanoi to adhere to basic human rights. ...

"Just as Mr. Kerry threw away medals only to claim them back again, Sen. Kerry voted to take action against Iraq, but claims to take that vote back by voting against funding the result. So I can understand my former comrade-in-arms hugging the man who saved his life, but not the act of choosing him for president out of gratitude. And I would hate to see anyone giving Mr. Kerry a sympathy vote for president just because being a Vietnam veteran is 'back in style,'" Sherman concludes.

Wow! Dubya would have to "drive drunk into a lot of hedges" to catch up to this self serving gem!!

Then you have to wonder just how much Kerry has taken "diversity" to heart: is he Irish, Jewish, or French?

Let's see how Massachusetts ultra liberal Kerry does in the rest of the country, shall we?

[Mo1]

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=6040

IOWA SURPRISE
If Sen. John Kerry fails in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, he always has a future in Hollywood, to judge by his performance over the weekend in Iowa. In that time Kerry belittled President Bush for his landing on an aircraft carrier while himself spending time flying about Iowa in a helicopter, taking control on occasion in front of reporters along for the ride and then feigning ignorance when asked if he wasn't doing exactly what Bush had been doing.

Then there is the mysterious case of his old Vietnam buddy Jim Rassmann, who flew into Iowa on Friday to greet Kerry warmly. Rassmann, you'll recall, was in Vietnam with Kerry and was rescued by the future Massachusetts senator after coming under heavy enemy gunfire. The men had not seen each other since that fateful day.

Rassmann told reporters in Iowa that he had contacted the Kerry campaign days before and said he was looking to speak to his rescuer. The campaign, knowing a good story when it saw it, flew the vet back to Iowa. When Kerry saw Rassmann during a rally, he approached his old chum, who was conveniently standing with a group of cameramen and reporters. Kerry claimed utter surprise at seeing Rassmann standing there, and the men warmly embraced. Yet Kerry had been tipped off to Rassmann's presence and arrival in Iowa a day before if not two days.

"It was a wonderful moving moment," says a Kerry volunteer. "We were briefed on it before the event, and told to steer cameras to a certain area. Reporters knew about it in advance, and so did Senator Kerry. We don't leave anything like this to chance."

Yet throughout the day, as the two men campaigned together, Kerry continued to act as if he'd known nothing about the planned reunion.

[arjay]

George Bush has the better character hands down.He had thecourage to reform. He did his service in the ANG. He strapped on a fighter just like all the other guys in his unit and he was prepared to go if necessary.

Just look at our guard units today.

I will put Bush's character above any Dimcrat running today and any that I could anticipate in the future.

Yes, I disagree with the immigration plan and the prescription plan, but I am not a single issue person.

[Howlin]

You do yourself no favor by showing your ignorance of the facts in a post like that.

then failed to show up for his Air National Guard duty.

An utter lie, which any good conservative would know.

The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either

Bush 'Desertion' Charge Debunked

Ask yourself honestly, who has the better character here?

I guess it doesn't bother you at all that John Kerry is a known philanderer, huh? What will you say when all the stories about him come out? Won't you look foolish?

Folks, while John Kerry was out serving this nation

Evidently your idea of "serving your nation" is a lot different than ours. He's a documented LIAR concerning his service, his medals, and what he has done to prevent real justice for those he now calls his "brothers in arms."

Conduct Unbecoming Kerry doesn't deserve Vietnam vets' support.

How can anybody who has belonged to this forum as long as you have be so ill-informed?

Frankly, I'd be embarassed if I were you.

[Howlin]

and that he got his transfer "six months before his combat tour was slated to end."

Did Kerry bug out of Vietnam sooner than Al Gore did?

[Mo1]

Did Kerry bug out of Vietnam sooner than Al Gore did?

I don't know .. I've read different reports, but from what I can tell he was over there 4/5 months ..

From different sites, there is also a question about the 3rd purple heart he received .. that was why he was eligible to leave and be sent home early

[Howlin]

4 to 5 months?

And for that we get years and years and years of blabbering from him?

[Mo1]

YEP!!

[Mo1]

Oh and that 4/5 months is time in combat .. not his service time

[Howlin]

4/5 months in country, while the rest of the "regular guys" had to spend an entire year, is that right?

What, exactly, is the difference in this man's preferential treatment and Al Gore's special treatment?

[Mo1]

Hold on .. I'll looking for the info I saved about his service time

Here is a map

[admiralsn]

At some point this has to be challenged head-on publicly.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/1/22/114343.shtml It is NewsMax, but it is a start.

[Mo1]

OK .. I was wrong .. it says here 6 months .. but also mentions something about 2 tours

I'm not exactly sure what that means

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


Kerry served two tours. For a relatively uneventful six months, from December 1967 to June 1968, he served in the electrical department aboard the USS Gridley, a guided-missile frigate that supported aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin and was far removed from combat.

"I didn't have any real feel for what the heck was going on [in the war]," Kerry has recalled. His ship returned to its Long Beach, Calif., port on June 6, 1968, the day that Robert F. Kennedy died from a gunshot wound he received on the previous night at a Los Angeles hotel. The antiwar protests were growing. But within five months Kerry was heading back to Vietnam, seeking to fulfill his officer commitment despite his growing misgivings about the war.

[Mo1]

more from that link

Kerry declined a request from the Globe to sign a waiver authorizing the release of military documents that are covered under the Privacy Act and that might shed more light on the extent of the treatment Kerry needed as a result of the wounds.

[Mo1]

On Friday, however, the National Archives provided the Globe with a Navy "instruction" document that formed the basis for Kerry's request. The instruction, titled 1300.39, says that a Naval officer who requires hospitalization on two separate occasions, or who receives three wounds "regardless of the nature of the wounds," can ask a superior officer to request a reassignment. The instruction makes clear the reassignment is not automatic. It says that the reassignment "will be determined after consideration of his physical classification for duty and on an individual basis." Because Kerry's wounds were not considered serious, his reassignment appears to have been made on an individual basis.

Moreover, the instruction makes clear that Kerry could have asked that any reassignment be waived.

The bottom line is that Kerry could have remained but he chose to seek an early transfer. He met with Horne, who agreed to forward the request, which Horne said probably ensured final approval. The Navy could not say how many other officers or sailors got a similar early release from combat, but it was unusual for anyone to have three Purple Hearts.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

My heartfelt admiration for those of you who were there!
**********

Boston Globe, 4/14/04 "Kerry Faces Questions Over Purple Heart : "

" 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 .. and that's why he continued to question him."

Kerry persisted, correspondence back and forth from Kerry to his CO and finally, the CO " to his chagrin "gave in to Kerry's harrassment and told Kerry " do whatever you want."

Two men serving alongside Kerry were Willaim Zaladonis and Patrick Runyon.

" 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."

" Thirty six years later, Hibbard 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."