Please post some short teaser anecdotes for us. Thanks.
Kerry's March 13, 1969, "Medals"
(This is regarding the Jim Rassman Rescue)
"Notwithstanding the fake submission for his Bronze Star, Kerry was never wounded or bleeding fro mm his arm. All reports, including the medical reports, make clear that he suffered a minor bruise on his arm and minor shrapnel wounds on his buttocks. The minor bruise on his arm would never have justified a Purple Hear and is not mention in the citation.
This leaves only Kerry's rear-end wound. This wound, like the Cam Ranh Bay wound, was of the minor tweezer-and-band-aid variety. How did Kerry receive a shrapnel wound in his buttocks for the explosion of an underwater mine, as his report suggests. Many participants in the incident state that neither weapons fire nor a mine explosion occurred near Kerry during the incident.
Larry Thurlow, an experienced , genuine hero and PCF veteran, commanded the boat behind Kerrry on March 13, 1969. Thurlow was on the shore with Kerry and a group of Nugh soldiers (mercenaries working with the South Vietnamese) that morning of March 13, 1969. Thurlow recalls that Kerry had that morning wounded himself in the buttocks with a grenade the he set off too close to a stock of rice he was trying to destroy. The incident is all too reminiscent of the M-79 grenade Kerry exploded too close to some rocks on shore, causing the wound at Cam Ranh Bay that resulted in his first Purple Heart. As the Boston Globe biographers note: "At one point, Kerry and Rassmann threw grenades into a huge rice cache that had been captured from the Vietcong and was thus slated for destruction. After tossing the grenades, the two dove for cover. Rassmann escaped the ensuing explosion of rice but Kerry was not as lucky - thousands of grains stuck to him. The result was hilarious, and the two men formed a bond."
Very probably, the incident Rassmann describes that resulted in Kerry's self-inflicted wound is the very wound that Kerry used to claim his final Purple Heart. Indeed, Kerry's report for that day mentions the rice he destroyed. He dishonestly transferred the time and cause of the injury to coincide with the PCF action later in the day and claimed that the cause of the injury was the mine exploding during the action.
On March 13, 1969, Jack Chenoweth commanded the boat in front of Kerry, and his gunner, Van Odell, had a clear view of the entire incident. dick Pease commanded PCF3, which was blown up by the mine that day. None of the Swiftess recognized the incident as described by Kerry in his report, by Douglas Brinkley in Tour of Duty, or on Kerry's website. They were furious when the realized Kerry's fraudulent account.
In reality, Kerry's boat was on the right side of the river when a mine went off on the opposite side, under PCF 3. The boat's crewmen were thrown into the water. The officers of PCF3 were injured by the explosion and suffered concussions. A Viet Cong sympathizer in an adjoining bunker had touched of the mine. Besides the mine exploding under PCF3, there were no other hostile fire and there were no other mines, according to Chenoweth, Odell, Pease and Thurlow. The boats had begun firing after the mine exploded, but they ceased after a short time because of the lack of hostile fire.
Despite the absence of hostile fire, Kerry fled the scene. The remaining PCFs, in accord with standard doctrine, stood to defend the disabled PCF 3 and its crewmen in the water. Kerry disappeared several hundred yards away, returning only when it was clear that there was no return fire.
chenoweth (who received no medal)picked up the PCF 3 crewmen thrown into the water. As a result of the explosion, PCF 3'S engines were knocked out on one side and froze on 500 RPM on the other side. The boat was weaving dangerously, hitting sandbars, with a dazed or unconscious crew aboard. Thurlow sought a secure hold on his boat so he could jump across and board PCF 3. However, he was thrown into the water as his first attempt to board PCF 3 failed and the boat hit the sandbars. Later, Thurlow brought PCF 3 to a stop, and the boat slowly began to sink.
During the incident, Jim Rassmann had fallen or had been knocked off either Kerry's boat or PCF 35. When he was spotted in the water, Chenoweth's boat, with PCF 3 crew went to pick him up. Kerry's boat, returning to the scene after its flight, reached him about twenty yards before Chenoweth.
Kerry's false after-action report, prepared to justify his medals, reports "5,000 meters" - about two and a half miles - of heavy fire, about the same distance as a large Civil War battlefield. Not a shot of this fire was heard by Chenoweth, Thurlow, Odell or Pease. Kerry's false after-action report ignores chenoweth's heroic action in rescuing the PCF 3 survivors and Thurlow's action in saving PCF 3, while highlighting his own routine pickup of Rassmann and PCF 94's minor role in saving PCF 3.
When Chenoweth's boat left a second time to deliver the wounded PCF 3 crewmen to a Coast Guard cutter offshore, Kerry jumped into the boat, leaving the few remaining officers and men the job of saving PCF 3, which was then in terrible condition, sinking just outside the river. Kerry's eagerness to secure his third and final Purple Heart evidently outweighed any feelings he may have had of loyalty, duty, or honor with regard to his fellow sailors. Thurlow and the brave sailors who saved PCF 3 and towed it out did not seek Purple Hears for their "minor contusions." Indeed, several of the PCF 3 sailors did not seek or receive Purple Hearts. Chenoweth, Odell, and the boat mates who fished out and save the sailors of PCF 3 likewise had no thought of seeking medals but only of rescuing the comrades and saving PCF 3. Kerry, however, portrays himself towing the disabled PCF 3 to safety after saving it. Another lie: The damage control on PCF 3 was done by Thurlow. While Kerry's boat, PCF 94, participated in towing PCF 3, Kerry was no longer on it for most of the trip (he was safely on the Coast Guard cutter), and Thurlow and Chenoweth are certain Kerry played no role in saving PCF 3 or its crew."
Well, that's probably more than you wanted but I had just read it and was so amazed by it that I retyped it for you. Any grammar or misspelling errors are mine!