This picture should have posted above, not sure why it didn't go through.
MKM
Posted on 03/13/2004 10:51:12 AM PST by mykdsmom
KINSTON -- Vietnam veteran Ted Sampley has his mouth locked, loaded and ready to fire.
Ask him about Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and he cuts loose. He calls the Massachusetts senator "Hanoi John" because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Kerry is a traitor, he says, not fit to be commander in chief.
It's a view that might ordinarily be dismissed as political rhetoric in an election year. But Sampley, an outspoken advocate for missing servicemen, is not easily ignored.
Tapping his extensive contacts with veterans and the range of the Internet, he has mounted a campaign against Kerry that has attracted national and international attention. He has distributed photos showing Kerry at antiwar rallies attended by actress Jane Fonda, an action that prompted threats of lawsuits. He has repeated the opinion on national news programs, radio talk shows and in interviews with journalists in Russia and Japan.
In return, he has been called a liar and a fraud who is smearing a war hero.
Sampley, a Kinston businessman, makes it clear this political firefight is far from over. A group he helped organize, Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, is planning to demonstrate and speak out until the election is over.
"I have one mission," he said. "Stop John Kerry."
It's the latest mission to land Sampley in controversy. He is a nonpartisan gadfly who has criticized Republicans and Democrats alike for not doing enough to account for prisoners of war and servicemen missing in action.
Working from a small office in downtown Kinston, he researched cases of missing servicemen and once forced the Defense Department to identify remains of a soldier that had been included in the tomb of the Vietnam War Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
White House staffers have called Sampley and his comrades "North Carolina crazies."
That is mild compared to the reaction of U.S. Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war whom Sampley has criticized. McCain, a Republican, said in a press release in February that Sampley was "one of the most despicable people I have ever had the misfortune to encounter."
Sampley shrugs it off, though he questions why McCain considers him worse than prison guards who mistreated him. He posted McCain's statement on his Web site.
It's not easy to frighten a former Green Beret who received four Bronze stars for heroism in Vietnam. Sampley joined the Army in 1963 when he was 17 and served two tours in Vietnam before leaving the service in 1973.
In 1969, after being trained as a Green Beret, Sampley was reassigned to a Special Forces unit that operated mostly along the Cambodian border. During that year, he received the Bronze Stars, the Army Commendation Medal and South Vietnam's Cross of Gallantry.
Now he is part-owner of a Kinston restaurant and works with downtown revitalization projects and the building of a replica Civil War gunboat. He published a print newspaper, U.S. Veteran Dispatch, and now runs an on-line version.
Passion and honesty
Mike Benge of Washington, who has worked with Sampley for years on POW-MIA activities, said that Sampley's confrontational style might put some people off but that his passion and honesty are effective. "He's not hiding anything," Benge said.
Benge, who spent five years in captivity as a civilian when captured by the North Vietnamese, said Sampley is not afraid to criticize prominent people. "He's got perseverance," he said.
At 57, with his hair in a short ponytail, Sampley said he is not as emotional as in his younger days.
But his experience in combat and the shock of returning to an America questioning U.S. involvement in the war helped shape views that haven't changed since the end of the Vietnam War. The core is this: The American military performed admirably and its soldiers won the war before politicians hamstrung the effort.
He blames antiwar protesters, including Kerry and actress Jane Fonda, for undermining the military. And he vigorously disputes Kerry's Senate testimony in 1971 in which Kerry raised the oft-quoted question: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
Kerry, who commanded a river patrol boat in Vietnam, was a co-founder of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Sampley argues that he is just showing the extent of Kerry's actions when he distributes photos of Kerry at antiwar rallies. Two photos of a young Kerry at antiwar rallies were removed after a lawyer for a photographer threatened to sue.
Sampley also disagrees with descriptions of Kerry as a hero. Kerry received three Purple Hearts for injuries while serving on a patrol boat.
Ridicules wounds
Sampley contends the wounds were "owie Purple Hearts," for wounds that were not serious. He said Kerry used the wounds to leave Vietnam before his tour was up, and his group is pressing Kerry to release his medical records about the injuries.
He also questions whether Kerry deserved two medals for combat actions that were part of his duties. "It's supposed to be about service above and beyond the call of duty," he said.
Kerry's campaign did not return phone calls asking for a response to Sampley's criticisms.
Sampley said his effort is not pro-George Bush. If Kerry is elected, he said, it will mean the American people support Kerry's view that the Vietnam war was unjust and that those who fought were losers.
Sampley raises money for the campaign by selling bumper stickers, T-shirts and other paraphernalia with anti-Kerry messages. Some carry the slogan "Stop Hanoi John Kerry," a reference to the "Hanoi Jane" moniker pinned on Fonda.
Sampley said that some people, especially those under 40, don't fully appreciate the depth of feeling associated with Vietnam. But it's relevant, he says, because there is a chance of a replay of Vietnam in Iraq.
"The military has won the war in Iraq," Sampley said. "Now protesters want to pull the rug out on that war."
This picture should have posted above, not sure why it didn't go through.
MKM
Ooh! I love veterans.
Where was he from 1992-2000 when the last traitor was in the White House?
Looks like it, cut and pasted this from the article.
MKM
LOL...I thought the exact same thing when I read it.
I'm going to contact him via e-mail if I can do it through his website. I'll invite him and his group to our rally.
MKM
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