Posted on 08/16/2004 11:10:40 AM PDT by dennisw
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http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200408160842.asp
Byron York today
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.
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http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/693212/posts
From the New Republic 2002 and one of the few, if not only, results to come up in google.
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....
Apart from McCain, no other possible presidential candidate can tell a story like that. Nor will they be able to air campaign ads like the rough Kerry biography video I saw, which shows vivid footage of PT boats speeding through Vietnamese jungle rivers, as a narrator recounts tales of Kerry's heroism. The words "courage and character," which sound like a slogan we'll be hearing more of, were repeated several times. As South Carolina Senator Fritz Hollings put it, in a glowing introduction at the state party convention, "John Kerry volunteered for combat, while George W. got an 'in' to the National Guard and got lost down in Alabama for over a year."
I concur except Alston has now admitted he was not on the boat as he described to ABC News and other audiences.
they had PT boats in Viet Nam? I know they had PBR's and Swift Boats, but I thought PT boats were declared obsolete at the end os WW-II. ?
Do you have a link for that?
Lt. Peck should know who sustained a head wound while serving under his command. Kerry was not in command of PCF-94 on the day in question. This is another "Christmas in Cambodia".....and no we should let it go.
should=shouldn't
Do you have a link to this bit of news..
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.
As he has numerous times, when interviewed on ABC News Alston told the 2/28 story as if he'd been there (which he hadn't)
" Kerry's boat was nicknamed PT-109. Just kidding "
Actually, it was the PT Barnum.
George W. Bush flew possibly THE MOST dangerous jet fighter the military has ever had. The F-102 Delta Dagger was a VERY VERY unforgiving aircraft and ALOT of pilots lost their lives just in training! Bush's CO has said that Bush was in the top 5% of fighter pilots in the Air National Guard.
Except what is being reported ad-infinitum is that Alston NEVER served with Kerry.
And if that is wrong (which it appears to be) then catching Kerry and Alston in their lies will have zero impact.
http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2562
But it goes on elsewhere.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/
Except what is being reported ad-infinitum is that Alston NEVER served with Kerry........
And that is exactly what Byron York says is not the case. Kerry appropriating another vet's words is very bizarre and low life.
read later
it should not be addresssed if not 100% accurate!
However, it is now confirmed by Kerry's campaign to be 100% accurate that "Alston was not on board PCF-94 on February 28, 1969" while Alston has claimed numerous times or misled people into thinking he was there that day when he wasn't.
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