According to Vo Nguyen Giap and Bui Tin, Kerry and VVAW were key to Communist victory.
Communist defeat was obvious after Tet, but the antiwar demonstrators turned that defeat into victory.
Kerry slandered his "band of brothers" as "war criminals, murderers, rapists".
While he himself self-cited five awards (three Band-Aids, being there, and murdering a wounded combatant) so he could bug out.
After all, he had the Communists' work to do back in the world.