"But it was a really big band aid."
Posted on 08/09/2004 5:36:55 PM PDT by Howlin
SCOTTSBORO - A retired family doctor said Thursday he used a Band-Aid to treat the first of three wounds Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry received in the Vietnam War.
Dr. Louis Letson of Scottsboro, who appears in a new 60-second TV ad questioning Kerry's war record, said Kerry came into his office at Cam Rahn Bay on the morning of Dec. 3, 1968, with an injury to his upper arm.
Letson said Kerry told him he and a boat crew of about five enlisted men were on patrol that night when they began receiving small arms fire and he was injured.
But Letson said the crew told a different story after Kerry left the office. "They were kind of amused by the whole thing," he said.
The crew members denied that they had been under enemy fire, Letson said. The crew said it was about 2 a.m. when they thought they saw some people on shore and Kerry fired a M79 grenade launcher.
"He had fired it up close against some rocks on shore when the grenade exploded" and he was hit in the arm by shrapnel, Letson said. "That's what caused the injury. The fragment was not from enemy fire" as Kerry portrayed it, the crew told him.
"The fragment was about the size of a match stick," Letson said. "It was sticking out of his arm. I grabbed it out and put a Band Aid on it. It didn't require an anesthesia or sutures."
Letson is among several swift boat veterans in the TV ad who say Kerry lied about his service, exaggerated his wounds to win war medals and betrayed soldiers with his antiwar protesting after he returned from Vietnam.
Kerry campaign's headquarters in Washington did not return calls for comment.
Letson said the crew said Kerry was not in charge of the boat that night, but was in training and that they were under the command of another lieutenant who was on board that night. He said the crew had joked how Kerry had told them he wanted to be the next JFK.
The late President John F. Kennedy was injured when a Japanese destroyer collided with the small patrol boat (PT-109) he commanded in World War II.
Letson said the base's commanding officer, Lt. Commander Grant "Skip" Hibbard, who now lives in Gulf Breeze, Fla., rejected Kerry's request for a Purple Heart for his injury that night. He said Hibbard told him that Kerry did not deserve the award because the injury was not combat-related. Efforts to reach Hibbard for comment were unsuccessful.
Letson said he is member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which was organized in April. About 390 swift boat veterans belong to the group, he said.
Kerry can't have it both ways. In order to qualify for a PH, you mustmeet the following condition:
A wound is defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside force or agent sustained under one or more of the conditions listed above A physical lesion is not required, however, the wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by a medical officer and records of medical treatment for wounds or injuries received in action must have been made a matter of official record.
There was no casualty report or after action report filed on Kerry's first PH, which he somehow got approved three months from the date of the injury (Dec 2) and after his transfer to another unit.
"Somebody send this to O'Reilly. I'm sick and tired of emailing them at Fox." He won't read it anyway. He has stated anything over a couple or three lines is too much for him to read. He's his email address if you want to try:
Is it me, or is O'reilly like a camellion(sp) today. I use to worship this guy, but he's really starting to put me off. He is a really intelligent guy that prepares himself for his views, but I think he's starting to "lose it".
BUMP!
I live in the same town as Dr Letson and I consider him competent to handle this issue. We likely have not heard the last of this incident.
As I recall, the Diem family was Catholic. There were statements that President Kennedy increased US support for the Diem regime for this reason. Can anybody verify or correct my memory on this?
Somebody out there must know some of the demographics about Vietnam during that time. Like I said, I personally never saw a Catholic or christian church during my year there(not like I did a lot of sightseeing while there either).
I live in the same town as Dr Letson and I consider him competent to handle this issue. We likely have not heard the last of this incident.
I sure hope not. Kerry needs to be exposed for the fraud that he is.
bump
And to O'Reilly: The viewers will decide. You are going down the toilet fast.
A while later I called to discuss the accusation that Letson was "an actor" and Dom was exceedingly proud to have produced "THE ACTOR." And we laughed. Clinton's man also accused the swiftboat vets of being "political" and I said to Dom. "CLINTON'S SECRETARY OF THE NAVY CALLS THE SWIFTBOATVETS POLITICAL? Come on......"
Kerry and the democrats are being exposed for the liars they are and it appears to be working!!!!!!!!!!
We can never give enough thanks and credit to the courageous swiftboat vets for standing up for TRUTH.
>> And to O'Reilly: The viewers will decide. You are going down the toilet fast.
I'll 2nd that... O'Reilly is toast. A slimeball sucking up to the democratic teat.
Not a good sign. "we'll get back to you on that," isn't much better and they've used that one today, too.
"Queer as a $2 bill"?
There actually IS a $2 bill.
Jefferson's picture is on the front, Monticello on the back. So far they haven't gone so far as to smear his heterosexuality...
No, I think the saying refers to a $3 bill!
I agree. The Dems are making a big mistake if they think they can discredit him by saying he didn't treat Kerry just because he didn't sign the treatment sheet. He was the only doctor on the base and I bet he can prove he was there on Dec 3, 1968. It is up to Kerry to prove how he earned that first PH without treatment from a medical doctor. The mystery of his first PH can be cleared up easily if he will authorize release of his medical records.
Yes something can....Jesus Christ...savior of my (our) soul (s)....
and something he said.....
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us...
For if you forgive others their sins than your Heavenly Father will forgive you your sins...
But if you do not forgive others their sins against you then neither will your Heavenly Father
forgive you your sins...
There is nothing He cannot get you through...
Honest...
And Old Joe had the boys go out and buy up every copy they could find.
Yes, I heard it. Stiff-jawed Thurston Howell III. Someone must have had a talk with him--he now affects the FDR accent, with a "You're recording this for my library, right?" delivery.
What's next?
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