About Kerry's Purple Hearts And Reassignment

[I thought it would be of interest to highlight some passages from an article in the series "A Candidate In The Making" from the Boston Globe. Given Kerry's charges about Bush's National Guard duty, I think it is appropriate that Kerry's own record should be given some similar scrutiny.]

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.

Kerry initially hoped to continue his service at a relatively safe distance from most fighting, securing an assignment as "swift boat" skipper. While the 50-foot swift boats cruised the Vietnamese coast a little closer to the action than the Gridley had come, they were still considered relatively safe.

"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."

But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous.

Kerry experienced his first intense combat action on Dec. 2, 1968, when he "semi-volunteered for, was semi-drafted" for a risky covert mission in which he essentially was supposed to "flush out" the enemy, using a little Boston Whaler named "Batman." A larger backup craft was called "Robin."

Unfortunately, Robin had engine trouble, and Batman's exit was delayed until the boats could depart in unison. The Batman crew encountered some Viet Cong, engaged in a firefight, and Kerry was slightly wounded on his arm, earning his first Purple Heart on his first day of serious action.

"It was not a very serious wound at all," recalled William Schachte, who oversaw the mission and went on to become a rear admiral.

In any case, Kerry said he was appalled that the Navy's ''free fire zone'' policy put civilians at such high risk. So, on Jan. 22, 1969, Kerry and several dozen fellow skippers and officers traveled to Saigon to complain about the policy in an extraordinary meeting with Zumwalt and the overall commander of the war, General Creighton W. Abrams Jr. ''We were fighting the [free fire] policy very, very hard, to the point that many of the members were refusing to carry out orders on some of their missions, to the point where crews were starting to mutiny, [to] say, `I would not go back in the rivers again,''' Kerry recalled during a 1971 television appearance on the Dick Cavett Show.

But Kerry went back in the rivers. Indeed, it was after this meeting that he began his most deadly round of combat. Within days of the Saigon meeting, he joined a five-man crew on swift boat No. 94 on a series of missions in which he won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and two of his three Purple Hearts. Starting in late January 1969, this crew completed 18 missions over an intense and dangerous 48 days, almost all of them in the dense jungles of the Mekong Delta.

The most intense action came during an extraordinary eight days of more than 10 firefights, remembered by Kerry's crew as the "days of hell."

On Feb. 20, 1969, Kerry earned his second Purple Heart after sustaining a shrapnel wound in his left thigh.

A couple of weeks later, on March 13, 1969, a mine detonated near Kerry's boat, wounding Kerry in the right arm, according to the citation written by Zumwalt.

Kerry had been wounded three times and received three Purple Hearts. Asked about the severity of the wounds, Kerry said that one of them cost him about two days of service, and that the other two did not interrupt his duty. "Walking wounded," as Kerry put it. A shrapnel wound in his left arm gave Kerry pain for years. 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.

"There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts -- from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40 grenades," said Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception."

But Kerry thought he had seen and done enough. 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."

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.

"I never once in any way thought my decision was wrong," Horne said. "To get three Purple Hearts and not be killed is awesome."

Kerry, asked whether he is certain a rule enabled him to leave Vietnam after three Purple Hearts, responded: "Yep. Three and you're out."

For the past several weeks, Kerry's staff said it has been unable to come up with a Navy document to explain that assertion. 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.

Despite the democrats claims, fighter pilot duty IS dangerous just on its own.

This is the USAF squadron accidentis flying a series of ONLY 8-12 F-89, F-102, and F-106 fighters from Iceland (admittedly, more difficult than from the drier, warmer TX area!).

So, for an average of only 10 jets on duty in peacetime, they this number of crashes and accidetns:

Accidents and mishaps.

1) April 6, 1956. Northrop F-89D Scorpion, 54-199. 1st Lt. John N. Sexton was practising CGA approaches, and had just retracted his gear after his first approach, when a violent explosion in the engine section rocked the aircraft and smoke filled the cockpit. Lt. Sexton noted his position over the runway, and immediately decided to land wheels up. He touched down at the 4500 foot marker so gently that the aircraft just slid down the runway on its tanks and came to rest. Airframe damage was restricted to the pylon tanks and the rear lower section of the tailpipes. The aircraft was photographed with the unit in 1960. Photo: available

2) April 18, 1956. A Scorpion went down into the harbour off the end of runway 12, after a malfunction of the left engine. The pilot maneuvered his aircraft away from the fishing village of Ytri-Narðvík, and avoided collision with a fishing vessel. The aircraft stalled into the harbour and the pilot lost his life. The radar operator was saved. The pilot received a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross for is valiant action in avoiding the loss of civilian life on the ground.

3) February 6, 1957,F-89D, 54-194 lost a nose wheel sliding off an ice coated runway while landing. Photo available

4) March 20, 1957, F-89D, 54-241 lost a wheel sliding off an ice coated runway during taxiing out for a scramble take off. Photo available.

5) April 20, 1957, F-89D, 54-198 suffered a flame out at 2000 ft (610 m), 24 km (13 NM) out of Keflavik. A wheels up landing was made but after sliding 3000 ft (914 m) down the runway it weered of onto the rocky shoulder and began shedding parts. The aircraft lost both engines, tail and all the lower fuselage. As it came to stop the left pylon tank began throwing burning fuel into the cockpit and the pilot elected to eject from the stationary wreck, thus becoming one of the first to actually save his life in this manner. Photo available

6) June 27, 1957. T-33A, 53-5077 was doing touch and go landings on runway 12 when suddenly after power was applied to go around, the nose settled to the runway, and then the whole aircraft. The aircraft slid down the runway on its belly, and came to a stop just off the edge of the runway on what is now called Charlie taxiway. There was no fire and no injury to the aircrew.

7) F-89D, 54-235 landed outside the runway most likely in 1959. The aircraft was written off, but the crew escaped. Another aircraft was lost without injury to the crew during the same year.

8) December 31, 1959, Lt. Ross (Pilot) and Lt. Slussar (R/O) were returning from a normal training mission and crashed in the traffic pattern, just short of the runway. Both were killed. Serial not known.

9) September 11, 1961, F-89D, 54-244 suffered an explosion in the left engine. The aircraft was landed safely.

10) March 21, 1962, F-89D, 54-248 suffered an explosion in the right engine while over Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe. The pilot did not want to eject over this icefield, and turned the aircraft towards Keflavik. The cockpit cleared of smoke in ten minutes, and the left engine kept going, although all communications were lost. The pilot brought the F-89 in to land without being able to contact the tower, and succeeded in landing even though a De Havilland L-20 Beaver was sitting on the approach end of the runway, waiting for take off clearance to search for the crippled F-89. The aircraft was written off bot was to be seen on the firedump even in 1965.

11) March 1. 1965. T-33A, 53-5470 suffered an hydraulic failure. Capt. John Turner was forced to land with the nose gear in partially extended position. He landed very softly and was able to ease the nose down so that the damage was confined to scratched plates on the nose underside. The a/c was operational two days later.

12) On the night of March 25, 1966, Capt. Cliff McCluney showed exceptional flying abilities, when he was leading a flight of "Deuces". When about 130 km (70 NM) out from Keflavik he experienced a failure of the oil system. He was able to keep his engine running until he was over the field. Then he was forced to shut it down and make a deadstick night landing, saving his aircraft and also averting possible loss of civilian life from a crashing aircraft.

13) On September 15, 1966, F-102A, 56-1403 crashed during a routine practice fly-by for a base open house. The aircraft nose over and dived into the ground.

14) On March 25, 1968, F-102A, 56-1396 suffered an engine failure about 185 km (100 NM) east of Keflavik. The pilot successfully ejected after gliding approx. 75 km (40 NM). He was picked up by a rescue helicopter. During this time two Selfridge based HC-97s were stationed at Keflavik on a trial basis, and one of those was overhead within 20 minutes, and directed the rescue helicopter to the site.

15) On January 22, 1973, F-102A 56-1321 crashed into the ocean about 30 km (17 NM) from Keflavik. This brought an end to 58 months of accident free flying for the 57th.

16) January 27, 1975. F-4C 63-7475 could not get the gear to lower after a routine training flight. The aircrew jettisoned the centerline fuel tank and made a gear up landing on the main tanks. The pilot Major Martindale was commended for his professional landing. The only damage was to the underwing tanks and the underside of the nose. The aircraft was repaired on site in just 39 days.

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