Posted on 08/04/2004 12:33:23 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
WASHINGTON – Two of John Kerry's Purple Hearts were for self-inflicted wounds, charges a new book by two of the presidential candidate's Vietnam comrades.
In "Unfit for Command," scheduled for release Aug. 15, John O'Neill, who took over Kerry's swift-boat command, and his co-author Jerome Corsi say two of Kerry's three Purple Heart decorations resulted from self-inflicted wounds, not suffered under enemy fire, according to the DrudgeReport.
All three of Kerry's Purple Hearts were for minor injuries, not requiring a single hour of hospitalization, as O'Neill has previously explained.
The book reportedly relates how Kerry turned the tragic death of a father and small child in a Vietnamese fishing boat into an act of "heroism" by filing a false report on the incident.
During the Vietnam War, a searing image in the anti-war movement was one of American GIs torching huts with cigarette lighters. It turns out, according to "Unfit for Command," that Kerry did just that – entering an abandoned Vietnamese village, slaughtering domestic animals and burning down their homes with his Zippo lighter.
As O'Neill has reported on Joseph Farah's WorldNetDaily Radioactive in several appearances recently, it was Kerry's reckless behavior that convinced his colleagues he had to go – becoming the only Swift Boat veteran to serve just four months.
O'Neill tells of a joke circulated among his colleagues that Kerry "left Vietnam early not because he received three Purple Hearts, but because he had recorded enough film of himself to take home for his planned political campaigns."
The book charges "Kerry would revisit ambush locations for re-enacting combat scenes where he would portray the hero."
Kerry ended up playing some of that film at the Democratic National Convention last week.
O'Neill, an attorney, is spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a coalition of more than 200 vets familiar with Kerry's service who oppose his candidacy for president based on their judgment of his character. As WorldNetDaily reported, O'Neill's organization stated last month Kerry was a "loose cannon" in Vietnam and is unfit to be commander in chief.
Most of the veterans in this 1969 photo don't want John Kerry to use it in his presidential campaign.
The group includes the entire chain of command above Kerry during his tenure in Southeast Asia, as well as enlisted men.
The group has called on Kerry to stop unauthorized use of their images in national campaign advertising.
Only two of 20 officers in one photo Kerry has used support him, they say.
The Mainstream media are going to totally ignore the book and the vets.
Reason Numero Uno why the "mainstream" media is increasingly irrelevant ;-)
G'evening, friend.
bump
The buggy factory is going to ignore that new Ford plant being built across town.
Neal Boortz mentioned he'll have the doctor who treated Kerry's first "wound" on his show later this morning. Supposedly the first time this doc has made a public statement.
Say it isn't so...that Kerry could have scratched himself here and there in order to achieve his purple heart awards, several of which he wrote up, himself, and it's none of your business that that's no kosher. In the immortal words of the candidate: Shut up and sit down!
Note that "self-inflicted" doesn't necessarily mean that he purposely injured himself. I've read several accounts of his first "Purple Heart" injury which said that what happened was that Kerry & Co. had used grenade launchers to sink a boat, and that some of the shots were done from too close a range and Kerry got a splinter of shrapnel from one of his own rounds (or the rounds of his boatmates). And that since there was no enemy fire, this wouldn't have qualified for a Purple Heart no matter how serious the wound, if it was a "work accident".
I point this out so that we don't get egg on our faces overstating the charges by accident. We should say that Kerry injured himself on purpose unless that's what the book actually says. But the phrase "self-inflicted" is ambiguous, and can include "injured himself by accident".
The following is from another FR thread. Are M-79 and PCF-94 grenades American? If so, this would make sense with reports of "self inflicted" wounds. One guy said Kerry was practicing and shot at the nearby river bank and it exploded a bit too close (perhaps the injury on his first full day in country!?)
Timeline:
Feb 18, 1966: Kerry enlists.
Aug 22, 1966 reports for duty at OCS in Newport, RI.
Oct 19, 1966 receives notice that he is considered on active duty.
Dec 16, 1966 receives commission.
Jan 3, 1967 training begins at Treasure Island, CA
Mar 22, 1967 begins extra session of training.
June 8, 1967 Assigned to USS Gridley.
Feb 9, 1968 USS Gridley leaves Long Beach, CA for West Pacific.
Feb 9, 1968 - May 26, 1968 USS Gridley tours Pacific, stopping in Philippines, NZ, and Gulf on Tonkin. USS Gridley sees no combat.
May 27, 1968 USS Gridley leaves Vietnam.
June 6, 1968 USS Gridley arrives in Long Beach, CA
June 16, 1968 Kerry promoted Lt. JG
June 20, 1968 Kerry reports to Coronado, CA for training.
Nov 17, 1968 training completed.
Dec 1, 1968 Kerry reports for duty as Swift Boat 44 skipper in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.
Dec 2, 1968 Kerry grazed by shrapnel from an M-79 grenade. Navy doctor treats with disinfectant and a Band-Aid bandage. Kerry will later receive first Purple Heart.
January, 1969 Kerry transferred to Swift Boat 94. Unclear whether this is his request or routine reasignment or what precise day this occurred.
Feb 20, 1969 Kerry hit with shrapnel fragment from PCF-94 grenade in left thigh. Wound is sutured closed. Kerry will later receive a second Purple Heart.
Feb 28, 1969 Kerry kills VC with B-40 rocket launcher after ordering his boat to ground. Kerry will later receive Silver Star.
March 13, 1969 Kerry hit with several shrapnel fragments from an unidentified enemy source in the left buttock. Treated with a tetanus shot and bandage. Kerry will later receive his third Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf cluster.
March 17, 1969 Commodore Home requests Kerry's transfer to a rear area.
April, 11 1969 arrives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jan 1, 1970 promoted full LT.
Jan 3, 1970 requests discharge to Reserve.
April 29, 1970 discharge to Reserve.
Even if these allegations are true and fully provable, the leftist media will respond with an indignant, "How dare you question the military service of this brave man!" I wish questioning his character during and after Vietnam was permitted, but somehow it isn't. He is immune. The contrast with the left's ability to criticize Bush's military record with impunity is striking.
If four months in Viet Nam qualify you to be President, aren't there thousands of qualifiers? What makes Kerry special? Certainly not his Senate voting record, on which the MSM has been curiously silent.
It's down to one as of last week.
Why now? Why wasn't it important enough when kerry set his eyes on the Senate?
Better late than never. But, I HOPE it's not too late. President kerry is simply unthinkable.
Thanks for saying that. The search for the truth should be the goal and not some wild claims which blow up in our faces. We don't need our own self inflicted wounds.
But even then the media could not cause their side to win.
In the spring and summer of 1980 they made REagan out to be a dumb stupid warrior who would start World War III and get us all killed. They could not stopp painting Reagan as a dumb dunce who had to have "handlers" control him.
They told us Jimmy Carter was a Brilliant Genius who would destroy Reagan in the Debates. Folks tuned in to the debates with one set of expectations and left with a whole new reality.
The post debate public did not think Jimmy Carter was very smart. They thought him to be a pompous ass. The public thought of Reagan as a bright an caring fatherly grand dad... who would take care of his chilren and his grand chilren.
Since Reagan had ben portrayed as a dunce, when he came off as bright, the public turned 180 degrees and decided for Reagan. By the same token Carter did not come close to meeting expectiations, and his stock with the voters went way down.
The meida never learns. By putting Dubya down, they make it easy for him to appear to be much more than the media says. By boosting Kerry they make him out to be much more than he is.
When people observe debates that do not turn out as they expect... they change their minds about whom they are going to vote for.
The secret to changing minds is exceeding expectations. Candidates lose support by not being able to live up to expectations. The media shoots themselves in the foot and they never learn. ... Thank goodness.
Hmmm, it took F'in exactly one day to almost blow himself up? Too bad he didn't get THAT on film...
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