I just read the report on Kerry's first purple heart. Something very unusual stands out dramatically, at least to me. He had a shrapnel wound, even he admits that. If he was on a boat when he received a shrapnel wound how could that have come from the enemy on shore. The only way to receive a shrapnel wound on a boat is if some explosive round (RPG, Mortar round, etc) hits the boat. I am going to assume the enemy on shore was not launching mortar rounds at themselves, so if the shrapnel came from a round exploding on shore it had to come from what was being fired FROM the boat. A mortar round hitting the boat from shore would have done a whole lot more than scratch his arm. Seems obvious to me, but perhaps I am missing something.
A lot of us who were in Vietnam got scratches and cuts from fleks of shrapnel. A buddy of mine even had some in his back that didn't know about till he got x-ray'd back in the States. It never occured to any of us we should get a purple heart for that. Most of the time we had to be talked into going for a tetanus shot lest we become the butt of jokes. Kerry was the kind of Commanding officer we absolutely detested: self serving, out for his own glory, and didn't speak the language of men.
This is exactly why I refer to Kerry as a FRAUD! He is a liar too, desperate to win, but Bush will rise above!
It was called "getting your ticket punched" then and today. That's all it was. Anyone who had to write their own medal recommendations isn't a hero.