Kerry has shrapnel in left thigh from Vietnam War injury

AP ^ | 4/24/4 | NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

[SF Republican]

John Kerry has a piece of shrapnel in his left thigh from an injury he suffered in the Vietnam War, his doctor said Friday during a review of 36 pages of the Democratic presidential candidate's military medical records.

[Miss Marple]

1. No one is denigrating a true Purple Heart. However, Kerry goes around acting like he got three bullet wounds, which is what most of the general public thnks a Purple Heart signifies. It is significant if they were three "technical" medals and were really simply scratches.

2. His behavior prior to going to Viet Nam leads me to believe that he enlisted in the Navy because he thought it was safer than the Army. There is no doubt that until the swift boat mission was changed, he wasn't any where near combat.

3. Please remember that HE is the one who has chosen to bring this issue front and center.

4. His testimony before the Senate is the worst part of this whole episode. I do not believe it was done because he was demoralized. He FIRST attempted to run for Congress as a war hero. When that didn't work, he THEN became anti-war.

The guy is a phony. If you wish to disassociate yourself from people who are pointing this out, so be it. But no one is denigrating Viet Nam vets, nor Kerry's service. I certainly won't criticize shrapnel wounds. BUT, at least let the guy be honest and say that they WERE shrapnel wounds, rather than acting like he took bullets and kept on fighting.

[Chad Fairbanks]

The counter culture was trying to SAVE these men--not denigrate them.

Ahhh... so, those hippie freaks at the airport who tossed bags of blood and piss at my father did it because they loved him, right?

Go sell your crap to someone else, because I ain't buying.

[The Green Goblin]

On both sides of the issue, apparently. I mean "Bush didn't serve"? That is dung-flinging, too...

That's certainly true, and many around here have now proven that they are little better than the Democrat extremists when it comes to honor and decency.

[Texasforever]

Doyle noted that if the shrapnel had hit Kerry in the eye, it could have blinded him

Note that it would only have blinded him. Now I would have said it could have killed him if I was talking about "shrapnel". It sounds to me like it was a sliver at best and the reason it is still there is that is so small it couldn't be found. The other possibility is that Kerry just made the diagnosis himself.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

I dont blame you for being angry and resentful but you are talking about an extreme, minority fringe of the counter culture population back then. I wish I could continue this discussion, but I have to go to bed....zzzzzzz

[Chad Fairbanks]

I just want facts. THere are many inconsistencies, embellishments, and oddities regarding Kerry and his service, and I just want the record clear and the facts aired.

If it turns out everything is on the up and up, great.

[Miss Marple]

Hey, I was an Air Force wife then, and Kerry didn't speak for me, nor for any of the guys from my high school who served in Viet Nam!!! Quit accepting the media's interpretation. He did NOT speak for a generation! I want no part of his claptrap and lies! I never did!

He was not noble; he was self-serving! AND he LIED!!!!

[Conservababe]

Really, not self serving? He asked for a deferment for the draft to study in France. It was denied. He then joined the Navy before he would be drafted. His number was a lot higher than George Bush in the lottery, did you know?

[willyboyishere]

A piece of shrapnel no bigger than a coffee ground could probably blind you for life if it landed in the right place in your eye. I once got a microscopic piece of metal in my eye and it watered for a half hour straight so much it wet my entire shirt front before I could make it to an opthalmologist who had to remove it with surgical tweezers.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I dont blame you for being angry and resentful but you are talking about an extreme, minority fringe of the counter culture population back then.

And it was that"extreme, minority fringe of the counter culture" that Kerry was courting when he became anti-war - ya know, the types that wanted to kill senators etc...

Anyway, have a good night...

[Howlin]

He was injured several times and saved at least one person's life.

Don't you think it's odd that there is not one person who can back any of that up except John Kerry?

[Destro]

Kerry had metal put into his body from the commies - I am sorry the metal did not go deep enough inside of Kerry's body to satisfy you. It satisfied the military authorities that awarded the medals. Bush also had metal put into his body while in service - he had 2 cavities filled.

[spokeshave]

"We need to be sure that David Letterman and Jay Leno pick up on this. The nickname of Klapper Kerry would devastate him at the polls"

And all those jokes about the No. 2 pencil

[Destro]

Howlin?? The man Kerry saved - A Green Beret and a Republican is alive and tours the country with Kerry telling audiences how Kerry saved his life - are you for real???

[The Green Goblin]

But no one is denigrating Viet Nam vets, nor Kerry's service.

A quick perusal of merely the first page of this thread will quickly show you 50 such persons who are in fact doing just that.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Bush also had metal put into his body while in service - he had 2 cavities filled.

What a hateful remark, mocking someone's service to this country. I'm ashamed to be associated with the likes of you. I think I'll become an independent. Enjoy the Clintonian Republican Party!

[Cvengr]

Pay no attention to that implant, it's merely a shrapnel wound....

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

Well I was there too. And I am not accepting a narrow viewpoint of a faction of some branch of the media, as I have lived, discussed and thought about all of this for many years with many different types of people. May I assume you were not part of the counter culture? Gotta go to bed...

[Stentor]

Martin Luther still worshipped Christ when he left the Catholic Church.

Like, that's heavy man.

[AnAmericanMother]

1. I don't see Bush avoiding service. Many NG pilots went to VN, and if his plane had not become obsolete his unit would most likely have. Folks who were trying to avoid service didn't sign up for flight training, they would be counting socks in a QM company somewhere in the Midwest.

2. Nobody objects to Kerry's using his service in his campaign. What I object to is what appears to be undeserved decorations that he put himself in for, and apparent doctoring of his records over time to improve them. That's dishonest and hypocritical, and it has nothing to do with his actual service.

3. I was almost 20 in '71, my husband-to-be was in ROTC, and I beg to differ. Kerry wasn't speaking for "an entire generation" - he was speaking for a small group of liberals who were determined to destroy American morale and undermine the troops at home and abroad. And I don't care if he was "self serving" or not (even if I think he was) - false accusations of atrocities including torture and indiscriminate slaying of civilians and burning villages, etc. is just wrong. Even if you suppose that his aim (undermining American resolve) was "noble," no end justifies such fundamentally evil means. And you'll note that he is STILL at it - encouraging our enemies by undermining the country while our soldiers are being shot at.

When you add all the facts together - Kerry's Kennedy connection, his short tour via the sea-lawyering dodge of "three ouchies and you're out", his attempt to run as a war hero before running as an anti-war candidate (reminiscent of George Wallace running as a moderate, getting whipped, then deciding nobody would ever run to the right of him again on the race issue . . . ) - it does look self serving to me.

It's not about his service - it's what he did afterwards that smells.