Posted on 08/16/2004 6:07:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
n the last few days, there's been a new accusation floating around the Internet about John Kerry's Vietnam record. It involves speculation that David Alston, one of the "band of brothers" who served on board Kerry's Swift Boat, did not actually serve with Kerry at all. If such a story were true, it would be sensational news, given that Alston has made extensive public statements, including a speech at the Democratic National Convention, about his time with Kerry. The only problem is, it's not true. Alston did indeed serve under Kerry.
But the attention the rumor brought to Alston and his service aboard Kerry's boat, PCF-94, has cast new light on the time the men were together. And it appears that while Alston was in fact on board PCF-94 when Kerry was in command, his total time of service under Kerry was quite brief — perhaps as little as seven days. According to records of Kerry's service posted on his campaign's website, it appears the two men were in actual combat together on two of those days.
Alston, a gunner's mate, was wounded in battle on January 29, 1969, while serving on PCF-94. The skipper of the boat at the time, Lt. Tedd Peck, was seriously wounded in the same incident. In Peck's absence, Kerry was chosen to take over command of PCF-94. Alston was also replaced, temporarily; his job was taken over by an Arkansas native named Fred Short.
According to Short, who supports the Kerry candidacy and appeared alongside Alston with Kerry at last month's convention, Alston was gone during the month of February and did not return to the boat until March. Short remembers going on his first patrol on PCF-94 on February 18, 1969 — he recalls the date clearly because it was his birthday. Short remembers taking part in his last operation on PCF-94 around March 4. He believes Alston returned a few days later.
Alston himself, while not questioning Short's recollection, remembers being away for a shorter period of time. Alston says he was not as seriously wounded as some have assumed — the scar tissue that is visible on his head, he says, is the result of a scalp condition and not the result of a grievous war wound. Rather, Alston says, he suffered a relatively minor wound to the head along with a more serious injury, which he described as a "clean bullet wound" in the arm. "I was not hospitalized," Alston says. "I was treated on a Coast Guard Cutter...I was only off the boat [PCF-94] two weeks, and that's when Fred Short took my place." Alston says he doesn't have an exact memory of when he returned to the boat — "You're talking about 30 or so years ago," he says.
Alston spoke only briefly with National Review Online, saying all interviews must be approved by the Kerry campaign. Asked about Alston's length of service, John Hurley, the campaign's national director of veterans' issues, said, "My understanding is that he [Alston] was gone for a month.... Fred [Short] was on the boat for about a month." Hurley said he has not checked the specific dates of Alston's time on PCF-94, but, like Alston, Hurley cautioned, "It's 35 years later, and memories are different."
Whatever the exact dates, Hurley confirmed that Alston was not on board PCF-94 on February 28, 1969, the day Kerry earned a Silver Star for an engagement in which he beached his Swift Boat and chased down and killed a Viet Cong guerilla armed with a rocket launcher. That suggests that Alston, who was wounded on January 29, was indeed away for at least a month. Short was manning the guns on February 28 and received the Navy Commendation Medal for his work.
According to Hurley, Alston was on board PCF-94 during the now-famous March 13, 1969 engagement in which Kerry pulled Army Green Beret Jim Rassman from the water after one of the boats in Kerry's group struck a mine. Kerry won a Bronze Star for that action, as well as a third Purple Heart.
After that engagement, Kerry made use of a regulation that allowed three-time Purple Heart recipients to leave Vietnam. It is not clear if Kerry engaged in any more patrols after the Rassman rescue incident, but a timeline of Kerry's after-action reports on his campaign website shows no missions after March 13. (The timeline also shows that PCF-94 came under Viet Cong fire the day before, March 12, which was the other time Alston and Kerry appear to have been in combat together.)
In light of the timeline and interviews with the participants, it seems likely that Alston's time with Kerry was at most two weeks, and, if Short's recollection is correct, as little as one week. Given that, it is possible that some of Alston's public statements might have left audiences with the impression that he and Kerry were together for a longer period of time. "I know him from a small boat in Vietnam where we fought and bled together serving our country," Alston said at the Democratic convention. "We usually patrolled the narrow waterways of the Mekong Delta, flanked on both sides by thick jungle." After combat engagements, Alston said, "Lieutenant Kerry always took the time to calm us down, to bring us back to reality, to give us hope, to show us what we truly had within ourselves. I came to love and respect him as a man I could trust with life itself."
In addition, Alston has on at least one occasion seemed to give the impression that he was present for Kerry's Silver Star-winning actions on February 28. "I know when John Kerry told [crew member Del Sandusky] to beach that damn boat, this was a brand-new ball game," Alston told ABC's Nightline on June 22. "We wasn't running. We took it to Charlie."
For his part, Kerry has sometimes left the impression that he was present when Alston was wounded. Paying tribute to Alston's service during a speech before a South Carolina veterans' group in May 2002, Kerry said, according to an account in The New Republic, "He [Alston] 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...."
That description sounds precisely like the incident on January 29, 1969 in which Alston was wounded. But Lt. Peck, and not Kerry, was in command of PCF-94 that day.
According to a report in the Boston Globe, the Kerry campaign website has in the past listed Kerry as being the skipper of PCF-94 at the time of Alston's wounding. When Kerry's military records were first posted on the site, according to the Globe, "the campaign summarize[d] action that took place on Jan. 29, 1969, this way: 'While Kerry's boat and another (PCF-72) 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....'" The campaign website also listed two other incidents that took place prior to January 29 as having occurred under Kerry's leadership.
Peck, who would later sign a letter to Kerry written by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, protested. "Those are definitely mine," he told the Globe. "There is no doubt about it." The campaign later removed the January 29 reference from the website.
Yes, it is certainly part of the larger pattern. The downside that I see is that this line of attack is not only directly against Kerry, it is also directly against Alston. Not that there is anything wrong with that in principle, Alston -is- involved in deliberate deception of the public. However, attacking Alston can easily be spun to divert attention from Kerry's personal prevarications.
I don't think you have to attack Alston. He is a patriotic veteran who was wounded in action and served his country. However, I think we need to nail down when the BOB served with Kerry, which helps undermine Kerry's credibility. They are being held on a tight leash for a reason.
Yes - he's buried his service records and he wants to bury his Senate record.
The voters need to bury his candidacy.
Oh, I agree with you on that for sure. . .
I don't doubt for a minute that Kerry's Military 'brothers' have been not been assured of "Kerry appreciation' or have not already, seen some of it.
I offered when they first appeared; that maybe it could just be a 'child, finding that college education fund' or a 'brighter retirement fund'. . .whatEVER; that has prompted some of this support.
There is always the seduction of being made a 'celebrity' as well; that could entice some of the men. Of course, it has never been offered; WHAT these men were doing in their life;or 'what' their financial status was, before that Kerry phone call.
But we do not see Kerry's friends and relatives, per se, traveling in synch with him; and do think they must feel immune to his negatives and no doubt, even reassured by his status. Surely just more P.T. Barnulm stats. . .
That said; there is the very real self-induced 'hate factor' which facillitates the self-deception of the majority of the skerry supporters.
[A note which goes to your question; but does not answer entirely the question. . .) I posted sometime ago that a large 'Hispanic Business Consortium' supported Kerry. But that in private; the head of the organization offered to my friend that Kerry and the Demrat Party never had; and never would; do anything for the Hispanic community; save making the ususal false promises. . .et al.
He offered that he would vote FOR Bush; but that publicly; he was committed to the Democrat Party.]
Alston seems to be indicating that he was there on Feb28 in this ABC account:
---Feb. 28, 1969, was a day that started out badly and got much worse. Kerry and his crewmates were given a mission to take their Swift boat up a canal off the Bay Hap River, surrounded by thick mangrove brush and many, many Vietcong. There were two ambushes.
"I guess we had gotten 800 yards or 1,000 yards at the most," recalled crewmate Fred Short. "And this time, another B-40 rocket hit, and maybe a couple more. But this one was close aboard. It blew the windows out of the crew cabin. I see out of a spider hole a Vietcong stand up dressed in a loin cloth, holding a B-40 rocket."
"Charlie would have lit us up like a Roman candle because we're full of fuel, we're full of ammunition," said Sandusky.
Protocol at the time would be for Kerry's Swift boat to fire to shore and then take evasive action. But Kerry ordered Sandusky, his second-in-command, to drive the boat onto the beach — directly into the ambush.
"I knew right away that, you know, uh-oh, we're in the doo-doo now," Sandusky said. "But, yeah, I knew — you know, John was intent. You know: 'We got to go and get this guy.' There was no way we were going to back down off the beach." 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."---
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/Politics/kerry_medal_040624.html
What's the deal, Alston?
---The really important tidbit here is that all interviews must be approved by the Kerry campaign!---
That's it! Stonewall and rely on the MSM not probing for details. That way only the right wing partisans are asking questions and they can be dismissed. Shame on O'Reilly for saying its wrong to go after Kerry's war record!
that's the deal - he was caught lying about being there that day (which he now admits he wasn't) ... Rassman has changed his story ... drip drip drip
btt
Isn't Byron York the first person to use the term 'broken glass Republicans' to describe the Republicans who would crawl over broken glass to vote for GW against algore?
Rassmann has been the only one let out for interviews after the dam started to break, and Rassmann was only there for one day and one incident.
I wonder how many missions Alston actually went on. Four? Two? It looks like he was with Kerry for a week or two. Alston comes away with an awful lot for such a short time:
---And when the shooting stopped, he was always there too, with a caring hand on my shoulder asking, "Gunner, are you OK?" I was only 21, running on fear and adrenaline. Lieutenant Kerry always took the time to calm us down, to bring us back to reality, to give us hope, to show us what we truly had within ourselves. I came to love and respect him as a man I could trust with life itself.---
If you read the speech Alston gave at the convention he seems to be indicating he was with Kerry during the beaching incident once again.
---Once, he even directed the helmsman to beach the boat, right into the teeth of an ambush, and pursued OUR attackers on foot, into the jungle. ---
http://www.dems2004.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=131063&ct=158727
According to the after-action reports on Kerry's website, PCF 94 was patrolling in the Ha Tien area on February 13 and 14. I assume Kerry was in command then. I expect this will be around the time he claims to have gone into Cambodia.
from thesame link:
they bled together? blood brothers? did Alston get rice in his rear also?
I know him from a small boat in Vietnam, where we fought and bled together, serving our country. There were six of us aboard PCF-94, a 50-foot, twin-engine craft known as a "Swift Boat." We all came from different walks of life, but all of us-including our skipper, John Kerry-volunteered for combat duty. And combat is what we got.
"Short remembers going on his first patrol on PCF-94 on February 18, 1969" The reason he remembers that particular date is that is his birthday.
My gue3ss is that Kerry was in command from 29Jan and until 18 Feb, he never went on patrol.
One of the freepers on the Dose is 5th in line for the book at her library. I don't know how many people are on the list or how many books they have.
She got on the list at least a week ago, so it was before the book was released.
Perhaps Mary Matalin.
According to Doug Reese, a pro-Kerry Army veteran, and many others, wheat happened that day differs from the retelling in the citation. Far from being alone, the boats were loaded with many soldiers commanded by Reese and two other advisors. When fired at, Reese's boat-not Kerry's-was the first to beach in the ambush zone. Then Reese and other troops and advisors (not Kerry) disembarked, killing a number of Viet Cong and capturing a number of weapons. None of the participants from Reese's boat received any Silver Stars. Indeed, most, if not all, of the non-PCF troops received no medals for this action. Doug Reese, who advised the South Vietnamese who were the first group ashore and who killed most of the Viet Cong, received a well-deserved Army Commendation Medal-a much lower medal than the Silver Star. After the first boat beached, Kerry's boat moved slight downstream and was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in its aft cabin.
A young Viet Cong in a loincloth popped out of a hole, clutching a grenade launcher which may or may not have been loaded, depending on whose account one credits. Tom Belodeau, a forward gunner shot the Viet Cong with an M-60 machine gun in the leg as he fled. At about this time, with the boat beached, the Viet Cong who had been wounded by Belodeau fled. Kerry and Medeiros (who had many troops in their boat) took off, perhaps with the others, following the young Viet Cong as he fled, and shot him in the back, behind a lean-to. While Kerry's actions in shooting a wounded, fleeing teenage foe were criticized in various 1996 Boston Globe articles and by some Swiftees, Kerry was defended in a 1996 press conference by Admiral Zumwalt, Captain Adrian Lonsdale, and Captain Elliott-a critical event in Kerry's bid for reelection to the Senate that year. Ironically, each of the officers who were requested by Kerry to defend him in 1996 also signed the May 4, 2004, letter, condemning Kerry for his won many misrepresentations of his record and the record of others.
Whether Kerry's dispatching of a fleeing, wounded, armed, or unarmed teenage enemy was in accordance with the customs of war, it is very clear that many Vietnam veterans and most Swiftees do not consider this action to be the stuff of which medals of any kind are awarded; nor would it even be a good story if told in the cold details of reality. There is no indication that Kerry ever reported that the Viet Cong was wounded and fleeing when dispatched. Likewise, the citation simply ignores the presence of the soldiers and advisors who actually "captured the many enemy weapons" and routed the Viet Cong. Further, the citation ignores the preplanned nature of the tactic and the fact that Kerry's boat did not beach first. Finally, the citation statement that Kerry attacked "a numerically superior force in the face of intense fire" is simply false. There was little or nor fire after Kerry followed the plan (and the earlier move of the first boat toward this beach). The lone, wounded, fleeing young Viet Cong in a loincloth was hardly a force superior to the heavily armed Swift boat and its crew and soldiers carried aboard. [End Excerpt]
There is more - buy the book.
---There is more - buy the book.---
I'm waiting for it to come from Amazon now.
We can see how this is going though. Everyone will claim fog of war, fog of time. They're even trying to blur the sharp outline of Kerry's Cambodia story. In the end they'll claim something like, "Each of us came away from Vietnam with his personal truth of the war. Why in one day, in one hour you learned more about the character of the man next to you than about the character of people you had known all your life. Blah. Blah. Blah."
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