Posted on 07/29/2004 6:16:06 PM PDT by wagglebee
(AgapePress) - A former U.S. Air Force pilot and one-time military attaché to President Bill Clinton says he wants to set the record straight about Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War activities.
During this week's Democratic National Convention, several speakers have touted John Kerry's character and distinguished military service during the Vietnam War. In the keynote address, Illinois State Senator Barack Obama remarked on Kerry's record, describing him as a Vietnam War hero and a leader who has consistently made "tough choices when easier ones were available."
Other Democrat speakers took advantage of the forum to attack President Bush for his perceived mishandling of the war in Iraq, but heaped lavish praise on their presidential candidate, characterizing him as a heroic, decorated war veteran. And when her turn came, the Massachusetts senator's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, told the convention crowd her husband "earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line."
But retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Buzz Patterson has a different perspective to offer on John Kerry's military record. For one thing, he points out that the young Naval officer was only in Vietnam four months before he returned to the U.S. and joined the anti-war movement.
"[John Kerry] came home and immediately started protesting the war while still on active duty in the Navy," Patterson says. "He then went to Paris and met with Communist officials in May of 1970 -- having just gotten out of the Navy a couple of months prior to that -- and did his own personal negotiation for peace, which, of course, is also against the law."
Then there is the issue of the Massachusetts senator's military decorations, which the former attaché also questions. "He was only in Vietnam for four months, and he came home with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts," Patterson says. However, he notes that Kerry put himself in for the Purple Hearts, "without really receiving any kind of war wound or injury -- most of what he received were cuts and scratches -- and then, when he got his third Purple Heart, that allowed him to petition the Navy to come home early."
The retired Air Force pilot says Kerry was the only member of his Navy unit to come home early. By doing so he cut what would have been a year-long tour in Vietnam by eight months. Then, Patterson says, "he immediately started protesting the war while still on active duty in the Navy."
Patterson contends that if an American naval officer did that today, he would be thrown in jail and subjected to a court martial. But in those days, the military expert says, when officers acted as Kerry did, people often just looked the other way.
The retired Air Force pilot says Kerry was the only member of his Navy unit to come home early."
Kerry's two favorite movies: PT109 and Catch-22?
On the subject of Kerry's Vietnam service, I am much more interested in John O'Neill's book, coming out in September.
There is something horribly wrong with this picture just past the reaches of my ability to explain.
Four months in country....4 months in country....4 months...
My uncle (4 years older than me) was killed in the Tet Offensive. He was in about his 9th month in country when he died.
My son has been in Iraq now for over 5 months.
I spent a 20 year career in the military and I never, ever heard anyone brag about coming home early when others spent the entire tour where they were supposed to be.
Ever.
I simply do not understand how this 4 months is overlooked by those parts of America that were touched by the Vietnam War....by any of our wars.
It simply doesn't smell right.
SCREAM THIS FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!!
BTTT
Does getting injured by our own hand-grenades which might have been unintentionally set off make you a hero or what is the true story behind Max Clelan's unspeakable injuries? I certainly would appreciate hearing it!
Moreover, if we're going to start delving into exactly who did what back then, maybe Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero who lost his limbs taking enemy fire on the battlefields of Vietnam.
Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman – or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.
>> I don't know about that. According to Swift Boat Website the six months that Kerry served in the boats was around average. William Shumadine, author of "Unfit for Command", only lasted 2 months.
I read just the opposite, that it was rare for a swift boat crew member to come home with less than 12 months in-country, unless he was killed or seriously wounded.
JN, those are really great points that would make a great article if you do any writing.
Some are easy to want gone....I like it.
Four Months
actually, it was three months and three weeks
Are you sure? I thought it was late November 1968 to end of March 1969.
If you have exact dates it would be appreciated
PT 109 vs. Catch 22...
As I remember the two,
Heller was closer to the truth.
Posted by Intolerant in NJ to Zeroisanumber On News/Activism 06/17/2004 10:01:44 PM PDT #41 of 41
In any event it was sufficiently heroic to earn him a Silver Star, which they don't give out for a mere Coup de Gras, so there must have been some kind of mortal danger involved...a problem is that we have two very dissimilar editions of Kerry's "heroic" war record. One is his own self-serving story as echoed by shills like Douglas Brinkley and the conventional-wisdom press. The other comes from those such as the hundred or so former officers who served with Kerry and signed that letter calling him unfit to serve as commander-in-chief, and the likes of Admiral Zumwalt, who's been quoted as saying that Kerry was a "loose cannon" who almost had to be straightjacketed to keep him out of trouble while in 'Nam.
Because of the way he betrayed the cause he fought for and those he fought with by his antiwar activities after returnig to the states, I believe the "loose cannon" version. In fact I think that Kerry was probably such a problem - questioning orders, telling superiors they should adopt other methods for attaining their goals, apparently misinterpreting "free fire zones" to mean "open-season on civilians" - that his superiors wanted him gone from their command. Since because of his political connections they couldn't ship him out as the foul-up he really was, it could be they went the other way and quickly allowed him the hero status he seemed to be seeking (ala his hero, the first JFK) and approved medals and purple hearts which otherwise might not have been awarded to see him on his way within four months - sort of the military version of "kicking him upstairs".........
He had to come home...he got scratched (ouch!).
From here, it looks as though Kerry signed up for the military version of Coastguard, so he could swan up and down the Vietnam coast collecting a suntan, or maybe fighting the Vietcong navy,.....oh wait, they didn't have a navy.
It must have come as a shock to him when his unit was re-assigned to fight inland waterways, and that he was actually going to get shot at.
Maybe thats why he was in such a hurry to leave, even though he doesn't appear to have spent a day in hospital as a result of his "wounds".
Don't be too sure of it. Bookstores have a tendency to "prominently" display only liberal titles (e.g. Bill and Hillary's books). They hide conservative books somewhere near the back wall, in the "political philosophy for nuts" section. It's too bad for them, because there are plenty of people who would buy the books if they were aware of their existence.
I just about want to scream at how many contradictions there seems to be. I hear 4 months all the time, I have read Kerry people saying 6 months.
This gets a bit old. We need to have our facts straight when we say stuff.
I WAS IN CHAT ROOM LAST NIGHT AND ASK LIBERAL IF KERRY WAS SUCH A BIG HERO WHY WILL NOT RELEASE HIS MILITARY RECORDS? BUT THEY EITHER CHANGED THE SUBJECT OR DID NOT ANSWER AT ALL.
ZELL MILLER WAS ON FOX NEWS AND SAID WHEN KERRY WAS INTELLIGENCE COMM. THERE WAS 49 MEETING AND KERRY MISSED 39 OF THEM WHY HAS MEDIA NOT BROUGHT THIS OUT.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.