[sonofatpatcher2]

Well, we are getting the questions about John eFing Kerry's Vietman service out there, slowl but sure...

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I had the idea that higher level medals had to be seen and
written up by someone else.

[SAMWolf]

[squarebarb]

My husband got a purple heart for a .30 cal. machine gun bullet wound in the upper thigh (Mekong Delta). He said if it had been a .50 cal. it would have taken his leg off.

He also got a silver star for voluntarily joining an ARVN unit he had been with and, with them, standing off an NVA attack from a dry pond all night. He was shot trying to drag a wounded ARVN officer to safety --- purple heart and silver star for same incident. Somebody was there to record it when they were airlifted out the next morning. Although wounded, he remained there the entire night until they were rescued the next morning. He deserved it. Later won a Bronze star for valor, another action.

Kerry's thing seems a little different.

[Starve The Beast]

You know, this is starting to bother me... the closer you look at Kerry, the easier he looks to beat in November. Could it be that he's the DNC's straw man? The Democratic convention isn't until the end of July, and a lot can happen before then. Say Bush spends $80 million campaigning against Kerry between now and May 30'th, then the RATS announce Hillary as the party pick? We've wasted that much political and monetary capital on the wrong candidate, and Hil goes that long without facing tough questions...

You gotta admit, it's a nightmarishly realistic scenario.

[plain talk]

Well, these accusations are serious and sound deserving of a full investigation. Did Kerry play games with the 3 purple hearts rule and you're out? Sounds like his war record is now "controversial". Kerry needs to prove he's innocent - just like Bush had to.

[PISANO]

The only thing that bothers me is that, HE put himself in for this award as well as the others that he received. All are based on HIS write ups at debriefings at the end of a specific mission. He may well deserve EVERY ONE he has, but chasing a wounded and dying VC and administering the cus de gras is hardly worthy of our Nations 3rd highest award. IMHO

[billb]

I find it sad that Mr. Kerry's 120 days of brave service to our country while he was in Vietnam has made him unfit to hold the office of President. I believe his actions after returning from that service are the result of his feelings of guilt about that experience. His denunciation of the war after returning to the U.S. and his votes against modernizing the military throughout his time in public office are nothing more than self-flagellation. And his recent rant about having his patriotism challenged when it in fact was not to being shell shocked. For these reasons, I believe he can not be trusted to use the military properly in the defense of our country. And again I say it is sad that his weeks of service over there have now precluded him becoming President. He doesn't need a campaign contribution, he needs a analyst

[deport]

snopes.com on John Kerry's medals from Vietnam (lots of details)

[tuesday afternoon]

Bump.

[bray]

If he were a Republican PravdABDNC would be wanting witnesses for his Purple Hearts and Silver, Bronze Stars???

Pray for W and The Truth

[OldEagle]

I don't have any idea if Kerry's decorations were deserved or not. Something about it just doesn't pass the smell test and the fact that he refuses to document his record only adds to the smell.

[OrioleFan]

I keep hearing that "in 4 months Kerry earned...". I thought Kerry only spent 2 of the 4 months on the River. Wouldn't than make it a shorter time for him to have collected all of these medals?

[OrioleFan]

The other thing I have a question about: Did the guy he fished out of the water fall out of his boat, one of the other boats, or was he tossout of the boat that hit the mine?

[driftless]

I don't think it will be worth the effort to question whether Kerry deserved his medals or not. What I'm upset about is why Kerry is considered to be outstanding prez material on account of his war record by the same people who voted for Bill (I hate the military) Clinton over decorated war vets Bush I and Bob Dole. In fact Kerry is spectaculary unsuited to be cinc given his post-war actions. I'm not even counting his disgraceful actions impugning the integrity of Vietnam-vets like my older brother who served two full terms of duty including one where he came back with two purple hearts, a few medals for heroism, and recurring malaria.

But the attack on Kerry's war record will not be fruitful. His backers will just count it as malicious spite for political reasons and many Americans will only know that he was a decorated vet. Let's attack him on what he did post-war. There's plenty of ammunition there.

[sonofatpatcher2]

The Left had replied at
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/022504dnedicyberletters.29754.html

Do right-wing trashers get slime from same place? Re: "Kerry's Vietnam service deserves a look," by Danny Lee, yesterday's Cyberletters.

I found similar statements from a supposed Vietnam vet who claimed to have been in the same type of combat. Do the right-wing trashers all get their information from the same place? I find it deplorable that people who avoided Vietnam at all costs to be trashing the service of people who served there.

The man who trashed Max Cleland in Georgia managed to escape all together with deferments. This trash picked up from Ann Coulter is stupid. The last time that I checked the Army was not handing out the Silver Star for accidents. This commendation states his deed.

These same people – while Mr. Bush pretended to stand above the fray – slimed John McCain. Apparently when it comes to election politics from the far right there is no shame.

It seems that president who lied is preferable to one who lied about sex.

J. Austin Horn, Fort Worth, Texas

Guess the Left visits Free Republic...

But they just can't handle the truth. Can they?