Posted on 08/14/2004 9:59:06 AM PDT by freespirited
On June 24th of this year, ABC ran a story on the action that gained John Kerry a Silver Star. ABC's Jake Tapper spoke at length with Kerry's crew members, including David Alston, who is quoted at length in the narrative. Alston makes it clear that he participated in this action, which took place on February 28th, 1969:
Since Kerry will not talk about the day he killed a man, four of Kerry's crewmates from the Navy Swift boat he commanded sat down with Nightline to try to explain what happened, though not one was eager to revisit the events of that day. ... Alston recalled: "I know when John Kerry told Del to beach that damn boat, this was a brand-new ball game. We wasn't running. We took it to Charlie." ...
The article also quotes Fred Short as one of the crew on the boat that day, even though Short had been a replacement for Alston. Had Alston returned to PCF-94 by 28 February, he could have simply replaced someone else, of course. However, the Boston Globe has documentary evidence of Kerry's crew for the Silver Star action as part of a pictographic look at the life and times of John Kerry. Here is a picture of Kerry's crew for the action which won him the Silver Star:
[Sorry folks I haven't mastered how to get the photo to show up. It's at the link.]
The Globe caption for this picture:Sailors stand together in An Thoi, Vietnam, on February 28, 1969, after a medal presentation for Silver Star action. From left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Kneeling from left, Mike Medeiros, Fred Short.
One officer, five crew. It looks like a full complement for a Swift boat to me, and David Alston is nowhere to be seen. If Alston served during the action, why isn't he in the picture?
UPDATE: RiverRat tells us that the picture itself was taken on or about 6 March, not 28 February. It begs the question even more -- where was Alston? Had he recovered enough to return to duty under Kerry, that would have given him even more time to be there.
Lori from Texas notes something interesting in another Globe story on Kerry's Silver Star action:
The crewman with the best view of the action was Frederic Short, the man in the tub operating the twin guns. Short had not talked to Kerry for 34 years, until after he was recently contacted by a Globe reporter. Kerry said he had "totally forgotten" Short was on board that day. Short had joined Kerry's crew just two weeks earlier, as a last-minute replacement, and he was as green as the Arkansas grass of his home.
Two weeks earlier would have been two weeks after Alston received his serious wounds and evacuation to the hospital, so it's clear that Short replaced Alston. In this story, the only mention Alston gets as part of this action is in a caption to a photo I posted earlier. None of the actual battle narrative mentions Alston at all.
[Humble request: Would a Freeper who knows how to insert photos transfer the photo from Captain's site into the thread here.]
For the best results on this, scroll through the entire blog for the evidence. There's more to this story.
If this gets out to the mainstream media, this story kills Kerry's campaign. This isn't just a guy embellishing his war record -- this is a deliberate and longstanding attempt to mislead and defraud people by creating his own witnesses after the fact. That he could have done such a clumsy job should disqualify him for higher office on that basis alone.
Biggest word in the english language:
IF
What is the date of the pic in this thread?
Maybe Alston had heard about the Kennedy connection to Kerry and decided to latch on.
Very strange...
Perhaps the scars shown in the convention photo are from a post-Vietnam injury?
It would amaze me if Kerry and Alston would both lie about serving together on the same boat...or that if there was any chance of this that SBVT would not have uncovered it.
Still, I'm staying tuned...
Now Alston's story is looking suspicous as well:
August 14, 2004
Alston Never Served Under Kerry
Thanks to reader Lori in Texas, I think we've just about pieced the record together on David Alston and his supposed service under John Kerry's command. Lori points out a sympathetic article on Dale Sandusky, one of the few Swift boat veterans supporting Kerry and one that served on his boat, specifically gives the timing on Kerry's command of PCF-94:
In January 1969, Sandusky's boat, PCF-94, came under attack during one such ambush. Lt. Ted Peck, the officer in charge, and another crewman were seriously wounded. Sandusky had to take command.
The boat was sinking and on fire, but Sandusky steered it back to safety. They counted 155 bullet holes in the boat and found a live enemy rocket in the main cabin. It had come to rest in a sack of potatoes.
For his actions, Sandusky would receive the Bronze Star.
With their officer headed home, the crew of PCF-94 needed a leader. And Lt. j.g. John Kerry, whose crew on PCF-44 had rotated back home, needed men to lead.
"I was sure glad he came along," Sandusky said, "because to be honest, I didn't want to take command."
From Jan. 30 to March 13, 1969, Kerry and the crew of the PCF-94 would conduct 18 missions in the Mekong Delta river system. In that time, Kerry would earn a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and add two Purple Hearts to the one he received earlier.
Bingo! Yachtzee! Alston received his serious wounds in that same exact battle that took Peck out of service. On January 29th, Alston was medevaced out to a hospital with head wounds and no records indicate that he ever returned to the unit. Kerry took command of PCF-94 the next day. Alston never served a day under Kerry's command. In fact, Kerry received a replacement, Fred Short, on 28 February as a replacement for Alston.
Now what does that tell us about Kerry and his Viet Nam narrative?
1. He and Alston conspired to deceive people about Alston's service under Kerry. That conspiracy was intended to give John Kerry cover against exactly the kind of campaign he faces from the other Swiftvets.
2. The "end of January" language on Kerry's website was intentionally vague in order to fuzzy up the timeline and keep Alston's true status a secret. Obviously, Sandusky remembers the dates well enough, and Kerry could easily have gotten them from him if he wanted to be as specific as his other dates on the timeline.
3. The DNC either were saps or actively participated in the conspiracy in order to assist Kerry in his Viet Nam mythology. Otherwise, why would they have allowed David Alston to speak at the convention about his experiences serving with John Kerry on the boat?
4. Kerry's band of brothers have some complicity in this cover-up as well. Those who served on PCF-94 surely remember that Alston never served under Kerry; Sandusky specifically recalls Peck being wounded and removed from command, but he wouldn't remember that Alston left at the same time?
5. One could argue that they served on the same boat, of course, and I look forward to that Clintonian parsing used in Kerry's defense. After holding Alston up as an expert on his leadership, he'll be hard pressed to explain how that expertise came to Alston from a hospital bed miles away from Kerry and his old PCF.
If this gets out to the mainstream media, this story kills Kerry's campaign. This isn't just a guy embellishing his war record -- this is a deliberate and longstanding attempt to mislead and defraud people by creating his own witnesses after the fact. That he could have done such a clumsy job should disqualify him for higher office on that basis alone.
Alston's scars are keloid scars which continue to grow over time.
So a man who took control of a shot-up, sinking swift boat got a bronze star, and effin supposedly shot a wounded VC and get a silver star? Somethings rotten in Vietnam.
Sharkhawk
I don't know who wrote the entire post..I copied and pasted it from another site,but I found it intresting follow up...I'll try to find out.
Actually, that sounds like "situation normal" for the Navy. It's an officer vs enlisted thing, I have seen it before. The medal awarded is often influenced by the writing skills of the person who writes the recommendation and on the "political skills" of the officer who is pushing the medal. Since medals help in achieving promotions, I have seen officers recommending each other for all sorts of "costume jewelry" while ignoring more deserving subordinates.
I could only get these three to work.
Sailors stand together in An Thoi, Vietnam, on February 28, 1969, after a medal presentation for Silver Star action. From left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Kneeling from left, Mike Medeiros, Fred Short.
Have a good day, and the very best to you and yours.
Semper Fi
Tommie
I was in the U.S.N. (Sea Bee's '59 - '62, active service ), and after 3-1/2 years I had a Presidential Unit Citation, ( earned by MCB-6 in WWII ) and an expert marksmanship pin, which I earned training with the Marines in Camp Lejeune.
I wasn't in combat, so I can't make any judgement.
I will say this, there is absolutely no way anyone gets 3 Purple Hearts in 16 weeks.
Thanks for the kind words Tommie. Thank you for your service Marine, and all the best to you, and for you, and your loved ones.
Can anybody post the picture of Kerry and Alston and the boys together in Nam?
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