Book reopens Kerry's war wounds ( New Book questions Kerry's Nam injuries, etc)

sunday times via theaustralian.news.com.au ^ | 02/23/04 | sunday times vis theaustralian.news.com.au

[KQQL]

VIETNAM has been the defining issue for John Kerry. His status as a decorated war hero has helped to propel him to the front of the pack of Democrat candidates seeking to evict George W.Bush from the White House. Conservative critics believe he has been given a free ride for too long on his war record, however, and are planning a fightback.

Support for their case is expected to come from a book to be published next month by reporters from The Boston Globe in Kerry's home state of Massachusetts. The book, JF Kerry, the Complete Biography, will question the extent of his injuries in Vietnam and whether he was entitled to an early release from the war.

Vietnam, The Washington Post opined at the weekend, "is a double-edged issue" for the 60-year-old Democratic frontrunner. Kerry has not authorised the release of his war records - a strange omission, say his political foes, given the ferocity with which his supporters have demanded to see every last document of Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard.

"Vietnam is such a crucial part of his background and his campaign, you would think he would want people to see them," said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, a conservative journal. "There is going to be pressure on him to release them."

Kerry, who is surrounded on the stump by the "band of brothers" who fought with him in the Mekong Delta, became a fierce public critic of the Vietnam War after he left the navy.

A faked photograph of Kerry sharing a microphone with Jane Fonda was a warning of how his opposition to the conflict would be used against him. There also has been much criticism of the way he threw away another man's medals rather than his own during a 1971 protest demonstration.

Kerry's conduct during the war, however, was until now thought to be sacrosanct. Unlike many of his generation, he volunteered for service in Vietnam. He went on to perform heroically as the skipper of a Swift boat patrolling Vietcong-infested waters, and won a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for bravery.

Kerry served only four months of a year-long tour of duty after he received three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action. The injuries were not serious; by his own account, one shrapnel wound laid him off for two days and the other two did not interrupt his duties.

Five of his friends died in action and his medals show that, at the very least, he had several brushes with death. The future senator then invoked what he insists was a "three and you're out" rule enabling a soldier with three Purple Hearts to be sent home.

He requested a transfer and was given a plum job as an admiral's aide in Brooklyn. He returned to the US a bitter opponent of the war and was released from the army early.

In response to an inquiry from The Sunday Times, Kerry's campaign staff gave the newspaper a copy of naval regulations stating that "all naval personnel" who are "wounded three times, regardless of the nature of the wound or the treatment required for each wound" may be reassigned.

A spokesman for the US Navy said, however, that such redeployment was not automatic: "It would depend a lot on the nature of the injuries."

Ted Sampley, who runs Vietnam Vets Against John Kerry, said if a soldier could be sent home for minor wounds, "there would have been a lot of people claiming scratches, getting their Purple Hearts and getting out of there".

Sampley believes that the well-connected Kerry - photographed with president John F.Kennedy as a young man - simply received favourable treatment. "How many other people were able to get out of Vietnam early and be reassigned to a cushy post?" he said.

[CedarDave]

Though he served two tours, there was a big difference between serving on coastal/river patrol and being on a big ship at sea which is not in harm's way.

I served as XO on a coastal patrol boat for a year based in both Vung Tau and Da Nang during the year of the Tet offensive. While on patrol for five to seven days at a time, we lived for the chance to come up beside a big ship on a Sunday afternoon (weather and duty permitting) and put a few crew members on board to enjoy a good meal with steaks, fresh fruit and milk. The big ships never ventured closer than several miles from shore and served mainly as fire support vessels and to stop sea-going cargo from North Viet Nam. One of the big ships was the battleship New Jersey (IIRC) and I got to see her big guns in action a couple of time.

[mac_truck]

I wish Kerry would spend as much time discussing his recent bout with prostate cancer as he does his military record.

[FairOpinion]

So why don't you give the link?

Was this from the "Kerry for President" website?

More info and more accurate info is in the article Hon posted from the Boston Globe.

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

[jackbill]

cynicom, Kerry served 2 tours as well. A full tour and four months into the next. This article is incorrect.

He served only 6 months on his first tour (U.S.S. Gridley). The sentence that you object to is not incorrect.

[xone]

The fact is I don't want to call it hand to hand combat because it ISN'T hand to hand combat. Happy he killed some commies. Then he came back and made more of them in the US. Holy Moby!!!

[roylene]

OK I am confused - why do you feel inferior because you have the mistaken idea that President Bush did not serve his country honorably?

[KQQL]

We won in Vietnam

No we didn't.....

[cajungirl]

I think calling Kerry shooting a wounded fleeiing VC "hand to hand combat' is doing a bit of guilding the lilly. BTW the Dems have been assaulting PresBush for weeks with lies. why are you defending that treasonous POS? What is your stake in this?

[NRA KAREN]

That would be very scary. I have no confidence in the Democrats to protect this country.

[Seeking the truth]

Thanks!

[stylin19a]

Forget the wounds. I want to know who first cited him for the Silver & Bronze Stars. It might be the reason he wont release the records.

[Hon]

I'm speaking in the larger sense, in that it was a battle in the war against Communism.

Or do you think we lost the war against Communism?

[NRA KAREN]

Did your brother get a much deserved purple heart?

[Keith in Iowa]

>>Did I understand this article to mean the book was written by REPORTERS?

These reporters must think Kerry isn't liberal enough for them, otherwise they'd be writing a smooch-arse tome...

[Hon]

There were 21,000 Silver Stars given out in Vietnam.

[KQQL]

Cry Baby Kerry says, because he served in Nam, no one has right to question his Anti War Activities or his Anti Defense and his Liberal Voting record.!

[JamesA]

What does your brother say about Kerry?
Well I don't know about your brother but I bet my Hemorrhoids bled more than Kerry did....He was your a typical Jr. Officer trying to make a name for himself at others expense. These dillweads were dispised by many and in fact often blindly walked into frag. gernades.

[cajungirl]

I think he wrote up his own commendations. And I seriously doubt he had anything in mind other than getting his ass out of there. Nothiing wrong with that in my opinion, hardly anyone wanted to be there. The difference is that Kerry wants to simultaneouly be a war hero and above reproach as well as a war protestor who gave aid and comfort to the enemy while painting his beloved "band of brothers" as criminals, all the while maintaining his "viability" as a political figure. Not a pretty pic.

[PattonReincarnated]

>> Why didn't Kerry release his service records?!

It's obvious Kerry has something to hide.

"I committed the same kinds of atrocities as thousands of others, in that I shot in free-fire zones, fired .50-caliber machine bullets, used harass-and-interdiction fire, joined in search-and-destroy missions and burned villages."

John F. Kerry, on Meet the Press, May 6, 2001

[AlbionGirl]

After returning stateside, with 12 years service, a grateful Navy told him they did not want him anymore.

What a disgrace! I would support, even today, the full court-martial of any and all involved in such absolute despicable activity.

And I'm willing to bet that your brother-in-law, obviously a man of serious will and character, doesn't even hold it against them. And if so, I hold it against them for him.