On this document: Thrice Wounded Reassignment [pdf: 112kb], I enalrged it trying to see what the date of this was. I know it was March '69, but I'm wondering if anyone who is familiar with military memos and how they are written can tell me if the date of this memo is March 17th, 1969. I see the "17" then another group of numbers, and then March '69. If this was written on the 17th, then it was written four days after he received his third Purple Heart.
I bet Kerry wrote it. It sounds like a newspaper ad:
Available for Position: Naval Lieutenant thrice wounded, seeking formidable position in New York, Boston or Washington, but will accept reassignment to any area for position I am qualified for. It should be noted however, that I am prone to papercuts.
The date is written military style as a date/time group.
It says: 170730z Mar 69.
This means it was written on 17 mar 1969 at 0730 Zulu time (Eastern Standard Time +6hours).
Now look at the citations for the Purple Hearts:
#1 is dated: 28 Feb 1969 for injuries on 2 December 68
#2 is dated: 5 Mar 1969 for injuries on 20 Feb 1969
#3 is dated: 17 APR 1969(or 68: looks like a typo since it would put wound three behind wound one) For wounds received on 13 March 1969. Kerry seems to forget to duck, but still has a VERY fast recovery time!
Thrice Wounded letter: 17 Mar 1969. Our "hero" Kerry wasted no time in trying to get out of theater vs soldiers today begging to go back to the fight while they are in the hospital.