Posted on 07/30/2004 7:57:33 PM PDT by Philistine
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 In a videotape from 1971, obtained exclusively by ABCNEWS, Vietnam veteran John Kerry said he gave back his medals in order to "wake the country." ABCNEWS.com |
Discarded Decorations
Videotape Contradicts John Kerry’s Own Statements Over Vietnam Medals
By Brian Ross and Chris Vlasto
ABCNEWS.com
April 26— Contradicting his statements as a candidate for president, Sen. John Kerry claimed in a 1971 television interview that he threw away as many as nine of his combat medals to protest the war in Vietnam.
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| "I gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine medals," Kerry said in an interview on a Washington, D.C., news program on WRC-TV called Viewpoints on Nov. 6, 1971, according to a tape obtained by ABCNEWS. Throughout his presidential campaign, Kerry has denied that he threw away any of his medals during an anti-war protest in April 1971. Calling it a "phony controversy" instigated by the Republican party, Kerry said on Good Morning America today that he has always accurately said what took place. "I threw my ribbons. I didn't have my medals. It is very simple." He also said he — and the military — didn't make a distinction between medals and ribbons. "We threw away the symbols of what our country gave us for what we had gone through," he said. And in an interview with ABCNEWS' Peter Jennings last December, he said it was a "myth." But Kerry told a much different story on Viewpoints. Asked about the anti-war veterans who threw their medals away, Kerry said "they decided to give them back to their country." Kerry was asked if he gave back the Bronze Star, Silver Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for combat duty as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam. "Well, and above that, [I] gave back the others," he said. The statement directly contradicts Kerry's most recent claims on the disputed subject to the Los Angeles Times last Friday. "I never ever implied that I did it, " Kerry told the newspaper, responding to the question of whether he threw away his medals in protest. "I'm proud of my medals. I always was proud of them," he told Jennings in December, adding that he had only thrown away his "ribbons" and the medals of two other veterans who could not attend the protest. The disputed incident happened 33 years ago this past weekend, on April 23, 1971, when Kerry led the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War in a protest against the war they fought. Many veterans were seen throwing their medals and ribbons over the fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. The Boston Globe and other newspapers reported that Kerry was among these veterans. "In a real sense, this administration forced us to return our medals because beyond the perversion of the war, these leaders themselves denied us the integrity those symbols supposedly gave our lives," Kerry said the following day. But in 1984, when he first ran for the U.S. Senate, Kerry revealed he still had his medals. According to a Boston Globe report on April 15, 1984, union officials had expressed uneasiness with Kerry's candidacy because he had thrown his medals away. Kerry acknowledged the medals he threw away were, in fact, another soldier's medals. He reportedly invited a union official home to personally inspect his Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, awarded for his combat duty as a Navy lieutenant. In the 1971 Viewpoints interview, he made no mention of the ribbons or the medals belonging to another veteran. And in 1988, Kerry again clarified his statement by saying he threw out ribbons he had been awarded for three combat wounds, but not his medals. "I was proud of my personal service and remain so," he told the National Journal. Eight years later in 1996, Kerry said while he did throw out his ribbons, he didn't throw out his own medals because he "didn't have time to go home [to New York] and get them," he told The Boston Globe. Kerry's campaign Web site says he "is proud of the work he did to end the war. The Nixon Administration made John Kerry one of its targets and Republicans have been smearing him ever since. John Kerry threw his ribbons and the medals of two veterans who could not attend the event, and said, 'I am not doing this for any violent reasons, but for peace and justice, and to try to make this country wake up once and for all.'" ABCNEWS' Madeleine Sauer contributed to this report. |
Anyway, given some of his speech and other recent remarks, it bears repeating.
Kerry was asked if he gave back the Bronze Star, Silver Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for combat duty as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam. "Well, and above that, [I] gave back the others," he said.
The statement directly contradicts Kerry's most recent claims on the disputed subject to the Los Angeles Times last Friday. "I never ever implied that I did it, " Kerry told the newspaper, responding to the question of whether he threw away his medals in protest.
I don't think ABC News understands "nuance."
Yes, it was posted.
And debated.
And then it disappeared...
But this story from all I can see got little to no play.
What media bias?
So, he is a liar. This will only serve to heighten admiration of dirtbags everywhere.
still makes you wonder why his bronze and silver award letters, as posted on his web site, were dated years later and signed by different Sec of Navys....
there is just no end to the flip-flops...
I just hope it all ends with a belly-flop in November!
everyday until december
other people's money, other people's medals
bump
I recall reading somewhere that it was Kerry's idea to throw the medals at Congress in the first place.
It's hard to believe he would suggest such a thing if all he had were his ribbons.
And as you say, it's pretty laughable that he just happened to be carrying some medals people in New York and Boston gave him to throw away.
The guy is a liar.
You know, I would think there are photos of him doing this out there somewhere. It was a public event, surely someone had a camera or videotape running?
How clintonian. There is no distinction. Medals are for formal dress uniforms, ribbons are for working dress uniforms. They mean the same thing. If you diss your ribbons; you diss the medal; and therefore you diss the meaning. The medal and ribbon both carry the same symbolic weight of the citation that distinquishes them. Wish someone would point this absurdity out.
How clintonian. There is no distinction. Medals are for formal dress uniforms, ribbons are for working dress uniforms. They mean the same thing. If you diss your ribbons; you diss the medal; and therefore you diss the meaning. The medal and ribbon both carry the same symbolic weight of the citation that distinquishes them. Wish someone would point this absurdity out.
Kerry gets bent out of shape when somebody now claims he threw away his medals--saying he only threw away his ribbons.
But when he is asked about his earlier statements about throwing away his medals he says ribbons and medals are the same thing.
Like with everything else, he wants it both ways.
He threw the medals over the fence before he didn't throw them.
Ping.
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