Replies

One source nailed:

The Bulletin's Frontrunner June 16, 2003 Monday

SECTION: Presidential Campaign

HEADLINE: Kerry's Combat Experience Explored.

The AP (6/16) reports, "John Kerry, who was wounded three times during his time in Vietnam, asked for and received a reassignment that allowed him to leave the combat zone in April 1969, six months before his second tour of duty was scheduled to end, according to a published report. Commodore Charles F. Horne, commander of the coastal squadron in which Kerry served, said recipients of three Purple Hearts could make such a request under then-existing naval rules and it was 'above board and proper.'" The AP adds, "Kerry requested the transfer just days after a March 13, 1969 incident for which he was awarded a Bronze Star. Kerry, while under fire, rescued a Green Beret who had fallen overboard. Kerry had been wounded just moments earlier when a mine detonated near his 'swift boat,' the small vessels that made forays into the Mekong River delta."

More Sources:

Boston Globe

Heroism, and growing concern about war

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

"The Christmas Eve truce of 1968 was three minutes old when mortar fire exploded around John Forbes Kerry and his five-man crew on a 50-foot aluminum boat near Cambodia. ''Where is the enemy?'' a crewmate shouted.

In the distance, an elderly man was tending his water buffalo -- and serving as human cover for a dozen Viet Cong manning a machine-gun nest.

"Open fire; let's take 'em," Kerry ordered, according to his second-in-command, James Wasser of Illinois. Wasser blasted away with his M-60, hitting the old man, who slumped into the water, presumably dead."

"But the battles and moral dilemmas were in shades of gray, and Kerry to this day wrestles with the scenes of death he commanded.

In an intense three months of combat following that Christmas Eve battle, Kerry often would go beyond his Navy orders and beach his boat, in one case chasing and killing a teenage Viet Cong enemy who wore only a loin cloth and carried a rocket launcher. Kerry's aggressiveness in combat caused a commanding officer to wonder whether he should be given a medal or court-martialed."

"Along with Kerry's unquestionable and repeated bravery, he also took an action that has received far less notice: He requested and was granted a transfer out of Vietnam six months before his combat tour was slated to end on the grounds that he had earned three Purple Hearts. None of his wounds was disabling; he said one cost him two days of service and the other two did not lead to any absence."

"Kerry said. "But, look, the Viet Cong used women and children." He said there might have been a satchel containing explosives. "Who knows if they had -- under the rice -- a satchel, and if we had come along beside them they had thrown the satchel in the boat. ... So it was a terrible thing, but I've never thought we were somehow at fault or guilty."

"Roy Hoffmann, who commanded the coastal division in which Kerry served, worried about Kerry, at least at the beginning. He said Kerry and some other skippers initially "had difficulty carrying out direct orders. You know, they were playing the cowboy a little bit. John Kerry was one of them. You don't go out on your own when you are given certain type of patrols, and we were having difficulty with that.""

"The rules, he said, allowed a thrice-wounded soldier to return to the United States immediately. So Kerry went to talk to Commodore Charles F. Horne, an administrative official and commander of the coastal squadron in which Kerry served. Horne filled out a document on March 17, 1969, that said Kerry "has been thrice wounded in action while on duty incountry Vietnam. Reassignment is requested ... as a personal aide in Boston, New York, or Wash., D.C. area."

The document notes that Kerry was "presently on full-duty status and available for reassignment."

Horne, in a telephone interview, said the transfer request was allowed under then-existing naval instructions and was "above board and proper." Transfer was not automatic and was subject to approval by the Bureau of Naval Personnel, he said."

"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."