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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.

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?

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.

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.