Alston and PFC94

Charlotte Observer ^ | 7/24/04 | NA

[Wisconsin]

Apparently David Alston was not wounded in head on January 29 when Lt. Peck was wounded.

[browardchad]

How do you explain the fact that Alston is not pictured in this Boston Globe photo of Kerry and the PCF-94 crew taken at An Thoi, Vietnam, on February 28, 1969, after a medal presentation for Silver Star action?

True, there's no proof that Alston was hospitalized after his January 1969 wound -- but neither is there any proof that he returned to PCF-94 to serve with Kerry for "four months," as he states. He is not in the picture of the crew taken roughly a month after his injury.

[the Real fifi]

Brinkley(Kerry's hagiographer) names the people who received a medal for that incident. Alston didn't.The Boston GLobe photo of the crew involved in the Silver Star incident does NOT include Alston. Go to the site I listed and scroll on thru..The story is total bunk.

[financeprof]

I was in the Navy too. Sometimes they can't tell s*** from shinola, but they usually can tell a head wound from an arm wound. Note that the source of the Charlotte Observor article was Alston's recollection 35 years after the fact, whereas the casualty report is contemporaneous. Also, why would this be removed from Kerry's webpage? Note further coverage from www.captainsquartersblog.com. In particular, note the photo of Kerry's crew wearing the decorations they received when Kerry rec'd the Silver Star. Alston (a black man) is clearly not among them. Moreover, Fred Short is in the picture, and he was a replacement gunner--a replacement for Alston. Short served on PCF 94 beginning in mid-Feb 69.

Whatever way you cut it, it's hard to see how Alston served with Kerry for four months, as he claimed.

[soozla]

Good work, you guys (and gals)!!!!!! DAMN, YOU'RE DANGEROUS!!!!! lol ;^)

[Shermy]

I believe he started with most of his crew members if not all, but now only two support him. The picture that he used early in the campaign has about 18 - 19 people, there are only two of those men that still support him.

The pic was officer staff. His "supporters" were some of the sailors who served under him on his particular boats. I haven't read about anyone that has changed their mind about supporting or not supporting Kerry.

[Wisconsin]

This may answer the question (not attirbuted, from comments on Capt's. Quarters:)

---

Excerpt: And Vietnam isn't only an answer to Kerry's ideological vulnerabilities; it's an answer to his characterological ones as well: Out-of-touch, selfish rich kids didn't risk their lives in the jungles of Vietnam. Speaking before the South Carolina Democratic faithful in a dreary ballroom last month, Kerry introduced his former boatmate David Alston:

"He sat up in a turret above my head in the pilot house--firing twin fifty-calibers to suppress enemy fire from ambushes. We were extremely exposed--always shot at first.... On one occasion in an ambush his turret was riddled with almost one hundred bullets penetrating the aluminum skin. This gunman kept firing even though he was wounded--one bullet going through his helmet, grazing his head and another hitting his arm...."

---

note we have, according to Kerry, two wounds in same action , one to arm, other (slight) to head.

[kabar]

It also says Alston spent 4 months alongside Kerry, which is definitely not the case.

LOL. Right, in another boat.

[Shermy]

Have you seen Alston's speech?

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-27-2004/0002218466&EDATE=

BTW, wouldn't surprise me if he knew Kerry before January 29 though they served on different boats - just like the Swift Boat Vet officers knew Kerry. However, Alston's story specifically says he was with Kerry.

If the story is fake, I'd scratch it up to a head wound and some very convincing people 35 years later.

[the_Watchman]

but neither is there any proof that he returned to PCF-94 to serve with Kerry for "four months," as he states.

The burden of proof is on the party who intends to claim that someone is lying! WE have to prove that he didn't return to Kerry's boat or we have to let it drop.

[Steven W.]

thank you :)

[Yaelle]

So Kerry is on record saying that Altman's injury happened while they were together on the boat. Hmmmm.

Also, the post in this thread says that Altman worked in a factory. When did he become a man of the cloth?

[FairOpinion]

Another boat doesn't count, as per Kerry supporters, who claim that the Swiftboat Vets couldn't know anything about Kerry, because they didn't serve on the same boat.

I guess another boat counts if the Vet says good things about Kerry, but doesn't count, if he doesn't.

[Cboldt]

The action described there took place when Peck was commander of PCF-94, not Kerry. Read it carefully. "On one occasion ... " does mean that Kerry was there at the same time.

The Kerry campaign took it's recitation of this action off its website, not long ago.

[Yaelle]

If the story is fake, I'd scratch it up to a head wound and some very convincing people 35 years later.

Ooooh, you just gave another (worse) possibility to this story.

I had figured that Altman was persuaded by the benjamins to lie for "his" skipper. What if Altman is NOT lying but had no memory of those times due to his head wound (entirely possible) and the Kerry camp has been "refilling" his memory holes? HOW CRUEL is that, to get a wounded vet to parrot false memories???

[Bob]

I believe he started with most of his crew members if not all, but now only two support him.

The picture that he used early in the campaign has about 18 - 19 people, there are only two of those men that still support him.

The picture with 19 others is not a picture of his crew. Those are his fellow Swift boat skippers, all officers. The count of his supporters among them is now down to one.

[Cboldt]

The action described there took place when Peck was commander of PCF-94, not Kerry. Read it carefully. "On one occasion ... " does mean that Kerry was there at the same time.

The Kerry campaign took it's recitation of this action off its website, not long ago. ....

Here is what is used to say (as of April, anyway - the Boston Globe, Kranish of all people, called Kerry out on this one) ...

-- Kerry 1969 Vietnam Action

The following is a summary of combat actions of PCF94 from Jan 1 to March 17, 1969 taken from after-action reports and the Coastal Division Eleven Command History on file at the Naval Operational Archives. All locations are near the south end of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

26 JAN 1969 Ong Doc River

PCFs 94 and 66 escorted troops up the Ong Doc River early in the morning when they were ambushed by gun and rocket fire from approximately 40 men on both sides of the river. Two B-40 rounds hit close to Kerry's boat, while PCF 66 received 2 B-40 rocket hits. Three men on PCF66 were wounded. A junk containing South Vietnamese troops was also sunk, killing 11 South Vietnamese troops. Intelligence reports after the mission indicated that the Viet Cong troops may have planned the ambush in advance.

27 JAN 1969 Cua Lon and Dam Doi Rivers

Five swift boats conducted operations in the Cua Lon and Dam Doi Rivers. The units received hostile fire twice during the operation.

29 JAN 1969 Cua Lon Rivers

Early in the morning seven swift boats embarked on a mission to destroy enemy installations along the Cua Lon River. While Kerry's boat and another (PCF72) were probing a canal along the river, Kerry's boat came under heavy fire and was hit by a B-40 rocket in the cabin area. One member of Kerry's crew -- Forward Gunner David Alston - suffered shrapnel wounds in his head. His injuries were not considered serious and he was sent to the 29th Evac Hospital at Binh Thuy.

[Yaelle]

Is there ANYTHING left on his website? Seems his webmaster spends his days deleting!

[Shermy]

[Owen]

People. Come on. Yeah, this is fun, but it doesn't matter what you persuade yourselves of, or even what you find is unquestionable truth. The MSM will not embrace it.

Repeat. The MSM will not embrace it.

You cannot succeed with this. The only way to accomplish anything with this energy is to call the campaign and volunteer to give just an hour or two of your time registering voters in GOP neighborhoods. That is the ONLY way you will punish Kerry. Nothing else will.

[VOA]

The Kerry campaign took it's recitation of this action off its website, not long ago.

When Kerry's webmaster came to remove mention of Joe Wilson, I said nothing because
I'd never had a spook-spouse who got me work.

When Kerry's webmaster came to remove Sandy Berger, I said nothing because I'd
never stuffed paper into my undergarments. Well, at least not paper from
the national archives.

(subsequent episodes to follow, surely...)