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Kerry Purple Heart Doc Speaks Out
National Review Online ^
| May 04, 2004
| Byron York
Posted on 05/04/2004 2:47:46 PM PDT by rwfok
Some critics of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have questioned the circumstances surrounding the first of three Purple Hearts Kerry won in Vietnam. Those critics, among them some of Kerry's fellow veterans, have suggested that a wound suffered by Kerry in December 1968 may have made him technically eligible for a Purple Heart but was not severe enough to warrant serious consideration, even for a decoration that was handed out by the thousands. Whatever the case, Kerry was awarded the Purple Heart, and, along with two others he won later, it allowed him to request to leave Vietnam before his tour of duty was finished.
Kerry was treated for the wound at a medical facility in Cam Ranh Bay. The doctor who treated Kerry, Louis Letson, is today a retired general practitioner in Alabama. Letson says he remembers his brief encounter with Kerry 35 years ago because "some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." Letson says that last year, as the Democratic campaign began to heat up, he told friends that he remembered treating one of the candidates many years ago. In response to their questions, Letson says, he wrote down his recollections of the time. (Letson says he has had no contacts with anyone from the Bush campaign or the Republican party.) What follows is Letson's memory, as he wrote it.
I have a very clear memory of an incident which occurred while I was the Medical Officer at Naval Support Facility, Cam Ranh Bay. John Kerry was a (jg), the OinC or skipper of a Swift boat, newly arrived in Vietnam. On the night of December 2, he was on patrol north of Cam Ranh, up near Nha Trang area. The next day he came to sick bay, the medical facility, for treatment of a wound that had occurred that night.
The story he told was different from what his crewmen had to say about that night. According to Kerry, they had been engaged in a fire fight, receiving small arms fire from on shore. He said that his injury resulted from this enemy action.
Some of his crew confided that they did not receive any fire from shore, but that Kerry had fired a mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore. The crewman thought that the injury was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar round when it struck the rocks.
That seemed to fit the injury which I treated.
What I saw was a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm. The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.
I simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.
The wound was covered with a bandaid.
Not [sic] other injuries were reported and I do not recall that there was any reported damage to the boat.
TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: attackedenemyrocks; bactine; bandaid; booboo; byronyork; crybaby; curad; fakejfkfrommass; flipflop; flipflopking; frenchrambo; jfnk; kerry; kerrymedic; kissandmakebetter; liarliarpantsonfire; losingtheelection; louisletson; lurch; lyingliars; mchalesnavy; medicalrecord; metrosexualcandidate; oops; oopshediditagain; ouchlesscurad; pt101; purpheart4splinter; purplehaze; purpleheart; putsomeiceonit; recallthemedal; recount; ricochetbooboo; servedvaliantly; skinnedknee; undeservingdemocrat; unearnedpurpleheart; warhero; zzzzzzzzz
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To: devolve; Carl/NewsMax; DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
301
posted on
05/04/2004 10:04:05 PM PDT
by
PhilDragoo
(Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
To: PhilDragoo; MeekOneGOP; Happy2BMe; potlatch; Mia T; onyx; Liz; Travis McGee; donna; jmstein7
a classic
chicken heart showing off his chicken legs
"Band-Aid Brothers" alert/bumperoo
where is that "Sam the Sham" .mp3?
Meek is up to the plate, I'm outta stuff right now!
good luck on finals
Heaven knows we need more lawyers....
some revealing info about to break in Boston the grapevine sez -
302
posted on
05/04/2004 10:39:25 PM PDT
by
devolve
(................... ...........................Hello from Sunny South Florida!..................)
To: PhilDragoo
BTTT!
303
posted on
05/04/2004 11:07:56 PM PDT
by
Travis McGee
(----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
To: Howlin
Bump!
304
posted on
05/04/2004 11:29:26 PM PDT
by
windchime
(Podesta about Bush: "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." (TIME-1/22/01))
To: rwfok
It was a self inflicted glorified splinter.
305
posted on
05/05/2004 12:28:18 AM PDT
by
A CA Guy
(God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
To: 4mycountry
>>Uh... I'm pretty sure they'd rather keep the property blood-free. ^_^;<<
Oh parents are no fun....
306
posted on
05/05/2004 2:33:05 AM PDT
by
netmilsmom
(For Tali Hatuel, her son & daughters Tehila, 11; Hadar, 9; Roni, 7; and Meirav, 2 - Kill Arafat)
To: 4mycountry
>>Uh... I'm pretty sure they'd rather keep the property blood-free. ^_^;<<
Oh parents are no fun....
307
posted on
05/05/2004 2:33:19 AM PDT
by
netmilsmom
(For Tali Hatuel, her son & daughters Tehila, 11; Hadar, 9; Roni, 7; and Meirav, 2 - Kill Arafat)
To: Howlin
308
posted on
05/05/2004 3:27:55 AM PDT
by
MeekOneGOP
(There is ONLY ONE good Democrat: one that has just been voted OUT of POWER ! Straight ticket GOP!)
To: SAMWolf; tet68
I know of no current navy brownwater platform that carries a mortar. Like you said, not very stable, plus the boat would be moving too fast to aim a mortar properly. BUT.....
1. I'm way young, so it coulda happened in NAM.
2. People augment all sorts of shit, so it may not have been standard issue.
309
posted on
05/05/2004 4:10:15 AM PDT
by
jjm2111
To: rwfok
some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." This just reinforces my suspicion that Kerry only went Vietnam so it would look good on his resume and future campaign commercials.
He did four months of duty, got the required three Purple Hearts (from self-inflicted scratches), and got out of Dodge ASAP.
What a fraud.
310
posted on
05/05/2004 4:54:04 AM PDT
by
tdadams
(If there were no problems, politicians would have to invent them... wait, they already do.)
To: jjm2111
It was not a mortar round, it was most likely a M240 Grenade launcher. I have a friend who had a similar experience with a grenade launcher. He was a LT in the infantry basic course at Ft Benning and the class was shooting the grenade launcher at night on a range. He aimed his weapon to high in the air and when he fired he hit tree limbs. The round went off and a small piece...a sliver of metal hit him in his privates. He bled some and they took him to the medic. There was no damage done other than this small piece of metal lost some where in his sack. It was never removed and sometimes when he crosses his legs he gets a get a sudden stick like a needle prick to his privates. He later had two boys so all still functioned properly.
To: \/\/ayne
"Kerry: 'I meant to say that small fiery arms with tiny hands were reaching out to me from shore...from where I fired the morter'."
Actually, he didn't say "small fiery arms", what he really said was "tall fire ants."
To: devolve
Heaven knows we need more lawyers.... ![](http://mrgrumman.home.comcast.net/TexasTrialLiarsAssoc1.JPG)
313
posted on
05/05/2004 6:39:50 AM PDT
by
MeekOneGOP
(There is ONLY ONE good Democrat: one that has just been voted OUT of POWER ! Straight ticket GOP!)
To: rwfok; newgeezer
My 8 yearold stubbed his big toe last week and it sounds like it was bronze star material. My Daughter burnt her hand and had a 3 sq cm blister, there's another medal. My foot slipped off my bike and I racked my nards and skinned my shin which should be good for a letter from the president. All of this was in service of my country as a tax paying, ahem, citizen.
314
posted on
05/05/2004 6:48:39 AM PDT
by
biblewonk
(No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.)
To: biblewonk
All of this was in service of my country as a tax paying, ahem, citizen."Tax paying"? Since when?
315
posted on
05/05/2004 6:58:18 AM PDT
by
newgeezer
(America, bless God.)
To: newgeezer
"Tax paying"? Since when? Um...They hold my money all year...if I dint work they'd give me back even more.
316
posted on
05/05/2004 7:00:09 AM PDT
by
biblewonk
(No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.)
To: rwfok
Johnny Boo Boo Kerry shouldn't have gotten a Purple Heart, he needed to be awarded the Purple Patch...
Purple Barney Bandaid
317
posted on
05/05/2004 7:44:24 AM PDT
by
carlo3b
(http://www.CookingWithCarlo.com)
To: Lady In Blue
FYI ~ Lady.
318
posted on
05/05/2004 8:02:24 AM PDT
by
blackie
(Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
To: rwfok
My son has had splinters in his foot that required more medical attention than that!
319
posted on
05/05/2004 8:06:49 AM PDT
by
drq
To: Pukin Dog
We owe you much for your well-trained service to America - Thanks! Sorry not to see you on Fox anymore.
320
posted on
05/05/2004 11:30:37 AM PDT
by
CyberAnt
(The 2004 Election is for the SOUL of AMERICA)
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