Kerry's PCF (Swift) Boats Records [Where Is He?]

Swift Boats Net ^ | Composite

[Hon]

Kerry commanded his first swift boat, No. 44, from December 1968 through January 1969. He received no medals while serving on this craft.

Kerry experienced his first intense combat action on Dec. 2, 1968. He was slightly wounded on his arm, earning his first Purple Heart.

In late January 1969, Kerry joined a five-man crew on swift boat No. 94 completing 18 missions over 48 days, almost all of them in the Mekong Delta.

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

---

February 28, 1969: When Kerry's Patrol Craft Fast 94 received a B-40 rocket shot from shore, he hot dogged his craft beaching it in the center of the enemy position. To his surprise, an enemy soldier sprang up from a hole not ten feet from Patrol Craft 94 and fled. The boat's machine gunner hit and wounded the fleeing Viet Cong as he darted behind a hootch. The twin .50s gunner fired at the Viet Cong. He said he "laid 50 rounds" into the hootch before Kerry leaped from the boat and dashed in to administer a "coup de grace" to the wounded Viet Cong. Kerry returned with the B-40 rocket and launcher. Kerry was given a Silver Star for his actions.

---

Kerry and crew stand together in An Thoi, Vietnam, on February 28, 1969, after presentation of Kerry's Silver Star. He also received a Purple Heart for a minor wound. From left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Kneeling from left, Mike Medeiros, Fred Short.

---

On March 13, 1969, a mine detonated near Kerry's boat, slighting wounding Kerry in the right arm. He was awarded his third Purple Heart. PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) 94 crew in March 1969, from left, Gene Thorson, David Alston, Thomas Belodeau, Del Sandusky, and John Kerry.

PCF 44
Crew	e-mail Address	Dates	Base	Comments
		17 April 1966	Cam Ranh Bay	first arrived in South Vietnam
Leland M. Mills, LT, OinC		4/66-??	Cam Ranh Bay	??Glenview, IL??
George Hoover, BM2		4/66-??	Cam Ranh Bay
David Franklin Parsons Jr, RM3	brenda.parsons@version.net	4/66-??	Cam Ranh Bay	Lakeland, FL
Francis Joseph "Sonny" Buchta, EN3		4/66-5/66	Cam Ranh Bay	Dayton, TX
Cox, GMG3		4/66-??	Cam Ranh Bay
Wayne Watkins, SN		4/66-??	Cam Ranh Bay
Lucian Gale Jewell, EN1		5/66-1/67	Cam Ranh Bay	Dawson Springs, KY
James A. Colombo, LT, OinC	Midnightvette@cs.com	??-6/67	Cam Ranh Bay	Hagerstown, MD
James Stephen Matheny, RMSN	jsm4914@peoplepc.com	3/67-6/67	Cam Ranh Bay	Granite, IL
Michael Gene Cosper, GMG3		??-6/67	Cam Ranh Bay
Gary Earl Nolan, RM3		??-6/67	Cam Ranh Bay
Ralph E. Duerre, LTJG, OinC		?/67-12/67	Cam Ranh Bay	was from Ithaca, NY
Joseph R. LaVoie II, QM1	JLavoie101@.aol.com	67-68	Cam Ranh Bay	Kent, WA
W.P. "Sonny" Taylor, RD2	tnfayette@aol.com	5/67-3/68	Cam Ranh Bay	Oakland, TN
		12/27/67-4/30/68		overhaul in Sasebo, Japan
Robert T. Grace, LTJG, OinC		5/68-??	Cam Ranh Bay	Virginia Beach, VA
MacKinnon, QM2		5/68-??	Cam Ranh Bay
Goss, BM3		5/68-??	Cam Ranh Bay
Anthony, EN2		5/68-??	Cam Ranh Bay
Donald J. Shaw, RD2		5/68-7/68	Cam Ranh Bay	Northbrook, IL
Robert Allen Kreyer, GMG2	bkreyer@egcrc.net	5/68-8/68	Cam Ranh Bay	Novoto, CA
John Everet Repshire, EN1	russpr@st-tel.net	6/68-??	Cam Ranh Bay	Russell Springs, KS
Peter V. Carey, LTJG, OinC			Cam Ranh Bay	was from Farmington, CT
Thomas Williams Wright III, LT, OinC	twright3@hotmail.com	11/68-4/69	An Thoi	Savannah, GA
James T. Thompson, EN2		11/68-4/69	An Thoi
George E. Bobb III, RD3		11/68-4/69	An Thoi	Westerville, OH
William J. Newman, BM3		11/68-4/69	An Thoi
Donald Eugene Kinser, BMSN		11/68-4/69	An Thoi
Frederick  J. Nastasuk, GMGSN		11/68-4/69	An Thoi
Michael A. Adkins, LTJG, OinC		6/69-5/70		La Mesa, CA
		31 October 1969	Saigon	transferred to South Vietnamese Navy
PCF 3851

- PCF 44 and 6 other swifts were delivered to Cam Ranh Bay, from Subic Bay, PI, onboard the USS Tortuga, LSD-29 on 17 April 1966.   While offloading, at night, from the LSD, one (1) boat suffered a damaged screw and four (4) others damaged skegs.

- PCFs 43, 44 and 47 stopped an infiltration attempt by taking an enemy arms trawler under fire and destroying it, 29 February 1968.

- In August 1969, a ceramic gunshield was installed on mount 52 for evaluation.   The disadvantages of restricting the movement of the .50 caliber mount, with the after pin removed, the restricted viewing area, due to the height of the shield, and the fact that it was a one shot item, that would have to be replaced after any damage, ruled out any further installations.

PCF 94
Crew	e-mail Address	Dates	Base	Comments
		October 1966	An Thoi	first arrived in South Vietnam
Thomas S. Winslow, LTJG, OinC		5/67-5/68	An Thoi	Oakland, CA
Quint, RM1		5/67-5/68	An Thoi
Carlyle John Brown, EN2	johnbrown578@aol.com	5/67-5/68	An Thoi	Watervliet, MI
Guraltemo, GMG2		5/67-5/68	An Thoi
James L. Brookshire, BM3	jbrook1029@aol.com	5/67-12/67	An Thoi
Mike ????, SN		5/67-5/68	An Thoi	Navajo Indian
Thomas M. Herritage II, OinC		3/68-3/69		Novi, MI
Larry James Balok, OinC	seascow@msn.com	7/68-11/68	An Thoi	Bradenton, FL
James L. Miller, RD1	jlmiller@tscnet.com	7/68-11/68	An Thoi
Kenneth Poole, EN2		7/68-11/68	An Thoi
Vern Radcliff, GMG3		7/68-11/68	An Thoi
		11/9/68-1/17/69		overhaul at NSF Cat Lo
Edward Robert "Tedd" Peck, LTJG, OinC	tpeck49@cableone.net	1/69-1/69	An Thoi	Santa Rosa, CA
Delbert Sandusky, QM1		1/69-1/69	An Thoi
Eugene Kenneth "Thor" Thorson, EN2		1/69-1/69	An Thoi	Ames, IA
Michael Richard Eugene Medeiros, QM2		1/69-1/69	An Thoi	San Leandro, CA
Stanley E. Jenereski, RD2	Jenereski@aol.com	1/69-1/69	An Thoi	Southborough, MA
Daniel Salinas II, LTJG, OinC		1/69-??	An Thoi
Joseph Edward Muharsky, RD2	ndc@mwwed.com	1/69-4/69	An Thoi	Mentor, OH
Larry G. Potter, QM2		1/69-??	An Thoi
James Barry Bogart, EN3	bogey67401@yahoo.com	1/69-8/69	An Thoi	Salina, KS
Dalmas K. Coates, BM3	dalyeame@midusa.net	1/69-??	An Thoi	Wamego, KS
Chris Whalen, GMGSN		1/69-??	An Thoi
Henry "Buddy" Berman, QM2	buddyb@atlantic.net	5/69-7/69	An Thoi	DeLeon Springs, FL
Alfonso Abrego Garza, RD3	algarza@earthlink.net	6/69-6/70	An Thoi/Cat Lo	Richmond, TX
John Ellis O'Neill, LTJG, OinC	oneilljohn@copn.com	9/69-3/70	An Thoi/Cat Lo	Houston, TX
Harry George McConnell, LTJG, OinC	hmcconnell@daytonalaw.com	12/69-11/70	Cat Lo	Ormond Beach, FL
Bradford Miles Slepicka, RD3	ElbowG97@aol.com	9/70-10/70	Cat Lo/Sa Dec	Katy, TX
		1 October 1970	Cat Lo	transferred to South Vietnamese Navy
PCF 3915

- On 29 January 1969, PCFs 5, 72, 93 and 94, together with units of COSDIV 13, conducted operations in the Cua Lon river.  PCFs 72 and 94 came under fire while probing a side canal resultings in 3 USN WIA and light damage to PCF 94.

- PCF-94, in company with PCFs 22, 35 and VNN PCF-3806, 14 January 1970, were supporting a troop sweep when PCF-94 was hit by a claymore mine resulting in two (2) friendly WIA and damage to the hull and one engine.

- While patrolling on the Rac Giang Thanh, 25 April 1970, PCFs 3 and 94 came under heavy AK-47 and B-40 rocket attack.  Three (3) B-40 rockets detonated close aboard PCF-94, causing shrapnel damage, the starboard bow was also hit by 9 AK-47 rounds.  One crewman on PCF-3 was wounded.  The PCFs suppressed the fire and then spotted for a SEAWOLVES strike on the surrounding area.

[johnb838]

Phoney Medals, Phoney Ribbons, Phoney Political Hack. J. Effing Kerry, Esq., Traitor

[archy]

I wonder how many of these guys are now going to get emails, asking about their impressions of Kerry--if they even can remember him.

*** Kerry? Kerry? Oh yeah, the L-T who was only with us a couple of months. Don't remember much about him....***

I'd wonder about the two guys [3?] out of the 5-man crew who transferred off the 94 boat [or maybe DEROSed] between the short time Kerry took over and he left....

[Krodg]

The first report I read said Kerry's team contacted the GOP guy. When the guy was interviewed he said he volunteered...when questions were raised both sides claimed the guy called Kerry's team and left a message, they returned the call. Bunch of hooey...

[sonofatpatcher2]

E-mailed to friends@foxnews.com

CCs to brenda.parsons@version.net, Midnightvette@cs.com, jsm4914@peoplepc.com, JLavoie101@.aol.com, tnfayette@aol.com, bkreyer@egcrc.net, russpr@st-tel.net, twright3@hotmail.com, johnbrown578@aol.com, jbrook1029@aol.com, seascow@msn.com, jlmiller@tscnet.com, tpeck49@cableone.net, Jenereski@aol.com, ndc@mwwed.com, bogey67401@yahoo.com, dalyeame@midusa.net, buddyb@atlantic.net, algarza@earthlink.net, oneilljohn@copn.com, hmcconnell@daytonalaw.com, ElbowG97@aol.com

Hey,
something's fishy here. You at "Fox & Friends" have the resources to check this out. Ask a few of the military folks you have and see if they agree with the following:

The Essex Soapbox ^ | February 17, 2004 | Mike Morrison


Posted on 02/18/2004 10:06:40 PM CST by Bubba_Leroy


I've long thought that John Kerry's war record was phoney. We talked about it when you were here. It's mainly been instinct because, as you know, nobody who claims to have seen the action he does would so shamelessly flaunt it for political gain.

I was in the Delta shortly after he left. I know that area well. I know the operations he was involved in well. I know the tactics and the doctrine used. I know the equipment. Although I was attached to CTF-116 (PBRs) I spent a fair amount of time with CTF-115 (swift boats), Kerry's command.

Here are my problems and suspicions:

(1) Kerry was in-country less than four months and collected, a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three purple hearts. I never heard of anybody with any outfit I worked with (including SEAL One, the Sea Wolves, Riverines and the River Patrol Force) collecting that much hardware so fast, and for such pedestrian actions. The Swifts did a commendable job. But that duty wasn't the worst you could draw. They operated only along the coast and in the major rivers (Bassac and Mekong). The rough stuff in the hot areas was mainly handled by the smaller, faster PBRs. Fishy.

(2) Three Purple Hearts but no limp.. All injuries so minor that no time lost from duty. Amazing luck. Or he was putting himself in for medals every time he bumped his head on the wheel house hatch? Combat on the boats was almost always at close range. You didn't have minor wounds. At least not often. Not three times in a row. Then he used the three purple hearts to request a trip home eight months before the end of his tour.. Fishy.

(3) The details of the event for which he was given the Silver Star make no sense at all. Supposedly, a B-40 (rocket propelled grenade) was fired at the boat and missed. Charlie jumps up with the launcher in his hand, the bow gunner knocks him down with the twin .50 (caliber machine guns), Kerry beaches the boat, jumps off, shoots Charlie, and retrieves the launcher. If true, he did everything wrong. (a) Standard procedure when you took rocket fire was to put your stern to the action and go (away) balls to the wall. A B-40 has the ballistic integrity of a Frisbee after about 25 yards, so you put 50 yards or so between you and the beach and begin raking it with your .50's. (b) Did you ever see anybody get knocked down with a .50 caliber round and get up? The guy was dead or dying. The rocket launcher was empty. There was no reason to go after him (except if you knew he was no danger to you - just flopping around in the dust during his last few seconds on earth, and you wanted some derring-do in your after-action report). And we didn't shoot wounded people. We had rules against that, too. (c) Kerry got off the boat. This was a major breach of standing procedures. Nobody on a boat crew ever got off a boat in a hot area. EVER! The reason was simple. If you had somebody on the beach your boat was defenseless. It couldn't run and it couldn't return fire. It was stupid and it put his crew in danger. He should have been relieved and reprimanded. I never heard of any boat crewman ever leaving a boat during or after a firefight.

Something is very fishy.

Here we have a JFK wannabe who is hardly in Vietnam long enough to get a good tan, collects medals faster than Audie Murphy in a job where lots of medals weren't common, gets sent home eight months early, requests separation from active duty a few months after that so he can run for Congress, finds out war heros don't sell well in Massachusetts in 1970 so reinvents himself as Jane Fonda, throws his ribbons in the dirt with the cameras running to jump start his political career, gets Stillborn Pell to invite him to address Congress and Bobby Kennedy's speechwriter to do the heavy lifting, winds up in the Senate himself a few years later, votes against every major defense bill, says the CIA is irrelevant after the Wall (Berlin) came down, votes against the Gulf War, a big mistake since that turned out well, decides not to make the same mistake twice so votes for invading Iraq, but oops, that didn't turn out so well so he now says he really didn't mean for Bush to go to war when he voted to allow him to go to war.

I'm real glad you or I never had this guy covering out flanks in Vietnam. I sure don't want him as Commander in Chief. I hope that somebody from CTF-115 shows up with some documented facts challenging Kerry's Vietnam record.

I know in my gut it's wildly inflated. And fishy.

This e-mail was written by Mike Morrison, who won a bronze star in Vietnam and who is now retired, but wrote speeches for Lee Iacocca for many years. It was sent to his brother Ed, who sent it to one of our readers who follows such matters. -Ed.-


Posted at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1080942/posts
See also: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1080011/posts

I've sent CCs to the members of Kerry's Boat Squadron I could find. Hopefully, one or more of them will come foward to set the record straight.

[Cold Heat]

It was up-graded from a Bronze Star,

That explains it.

[Thommas]

Did he really not know that Lyndon Baines Johnson, a Democrat, was President when he, Kerry, went to war?

Of course he knew. When he was commissioned an O-1, the order was signed by the then POTUS, LBJ. I guarantee, every Officer in the U.S. Military remembers who gave him/her the commission.

[Kenny Bunk]

On the money, Dog.

Vietnam was in many ways a medals giveaway program, especially for officers who went in harms way, which the scumbag undeniably did.

As far as the Purple Hearts go, if a wound bleeds, you get it. Plenty of "band-aid Purple Hearts" out there. I got one, and I ain't givin' it back. Another half-inch in any direction and my own esteemed conservative self, as well as the the liberal scumbag Kerry would not have come home.

As far as the Silver Star goes, if the Kerry action report is true, he broke every rule in the book. However, JFK's WWII medal also came instead of a deserved court martial for losing a fast agile boat to a ramming from an enemy destroyer that "Snuck up on them.(?)"

Drop the medals inquiry, folks. It's a loser. Concentrate on his abandonment of the field to join Jane Fonda, and the despicable Tom Hayden. (Tom's worse, because he's smart. Jane is one of the stupidest women on the planet, and I include Barbara Boxer.)

[hgro]

Anyone that has an opinion on service related matters hopefully has been in the Marines, Army, Airforce or Navy.

By having served, you get a much better insight into how some few are awarded medals while real heroism is buried.

[kabar]

Kerry is listed in PCF 66.

[Robert A Cook PE]

William B. Hoole Jr, LT, OinC 4/68-4/69 Qui Nhon

But Kerry claims he was on baoard at the same time, in a different base:

John Forbes Kerry, LTJG, OinC 10/68-4/69 An Thoi

Remember, only ONE officer was ever assigned on ONE Swift boat at a time 9Here, Kerry and Hoole overlapped), and BOTH were named Officer-in-Charge!

Further, Kerry was still training in October 67 back in Mare island, CA - north of San Francisco in the Napa Valley....

and he (Kerry) was home before the end of March 68 at an admiral's position in Boston!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Is the mythical "3 PH and you're out" "policy" actually written down anywhere?

We know he applied specifically to duck and run away from Vietnam, and apparently his boss decided it was better to let a troublemaker go home rather than screw up the rest of the boats and crews.....

Kerry had already had several protest meetings in Saigon with Abrams (Army CO) and Zumwalt BEFORE he decided to ask to go home after only 90 days.

[terilyn]

Nice catch!

BTTT

[kabar]

What I also find strange is how quickly Kerry received his Silver Star. The photo seems to indicate he received his Silver Star on Feb 28, but it also appears the action took place around the same date. As someone who spent almost 8 years as a naval officer and 20 months in a combat zone, 8 months offshore and 12 months in-country, I cannot believe an award nomination and approval could be done so quickly. It took months to get medals through the approval process.

[Drammach]

Now this is bugging me - there's some round out there that is prohibited for use on human targets, but I can't recall it.

You may be thinking along these lines...
Explosive rounds, and "tracer" or phosphorus rounds are relegated to "non personnel" use.. or banned for use against troops.
When I say "explosive" rounds, I refer to "dum-dum" and, I think, hollow-point type rounds used in small arms.
This could include specialty rounds like mercury-tips, etc.. but only as it applies to pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons..

"Explosive" does not apply of course to larger, crew-served weapons, such as howitzers and artillery, although Geneva Conventions, IIRC, still placed restrictions on phosphorus rounds, and of course, gas rounds, like mustard gas or other blister agents and nerve agents.

[SwiftBoatSailor]

Paraphrasing Winston Churchill:

"Never in the field of American politics has so much been
touted by so many about so few months in Vietnam"

Only one question: Why did he REQUEST to leave after only
four months of his twelve month obligation? More than two
million Americans served in Vietnam. And they all served
their entire obligation to that conflict. I did so on Swifts.

If he would release his medical records from those short
months, maybe we would be able to form an opinion on this
question. But so far, he has refused to make disclosure of
these and other pertinent documents about his service.
.
Four versus Twelve. That is the question.
.

[dalebert]

Kerry was not on the boat on Jan. 29th.

[dalebert]

Doesn't look like he recommended the men serving under him for anything at all. And if he got guys to write letters in his behalf after the fact those same guys may be worried about the trouble they could be in for embellishing the truth. I wonder if any of the guys who recommended him actually served with him?