Claim: John Kerry's Vietnam War service medals (a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts) were earned under "fishy" circumstances.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet 2004]
Sources:
Posted on 08/18/2004 8:24:34 PM PDT by Callahan
Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.
In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry's claim that the Massachusetts Democrat's boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day.
But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I was under the impression he had to sign a release for them
So did Thurlow sign a release ??
With that said .. this is from the WP and I have no down some information is being with held
I'll wait for further details
Ding....Ding....Ding....Winner #78
Look at it this way: There is ONE version of events that day. There is only ONE version of the truth.
This is the first time this story has broken out to the MSM.. the WaPo no less... They have a way to steer to remove the bias for their boy, JFK.
See this thread for the unspun version
Stop that!
See my tagline...spoken by GWB.
Claim: John Kerry's Vietnam War service medals (a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts) were earned under "fishy" circumstances.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet 2004]
Sources:
I believe you are correct. This story is only going to get Kerry into more trouble. The deeper the media looks into this, even in their attempts to support Kerry, the more trouble Kerry will get into. It's very diffcult for Kerry to fight the truth and the memory of 60 swift boat officers, even with help from the liberal media.
"A document recommending Thurlow for the Bronze Star noted that all his actions itook place under constant enemy small arms fire which LTJG THURLOW completely ignored in providing immediate assistance' to the disabled boat and its crew. The citation states that all other units in the flotilla also came under fire.
" 'It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case,' Thurlow said last night after being read the full text of his Bronze Star citation. 'My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting.' "
Thurlow didn't write this, someone else did. The case the Compost makes later is that that Kerry didn't author his own requests for medals, and if Thurlow didn't know what was written in the reccomendations, Kerry didn't either.
The MSM, Kerry and his campaign know they can't defend Kerry's record, because the SwiftVets are saying the truth, so they try to twist things around and attack them, hoping to put the SV-s on the defensive.
This accusation is no better, than Kerry trying to get out of his lying claims, which were "seared, seared, I say" into his memory, and now all of a sudden, he was in Cambodia in January, not December, and everyone is supposed to be happy with that explanation.
We all should have learned by now to question the MSM claims, not act, as if their claims were the irrefutable truth and expect the Swifties to go run and hide.
Maybe this thread can be forward to Michael Dobbs at the WaPo and he can get some in-depth answers from Kerry?
The WP is simply reading John Kerry's Citation is my bet
Having read the article, I think this is much to do about nothing. There are two versions of the story on that day, Kerry and the citations state that they were under enemy fire. 3 of 4 swift boat skippers state that there was no enemy fire. Kerry is the one whose account agrees with the record. The only question is who wrote the citations, and from whom did they get their info? Obviously not the 3, so it had to be Kerry. Another Kerrytale confirmed.
Enjoyed your Post reportage regarding the records of Swift Boat Veteran Larry Thurlow. In the interest of completeness, why don't you reference Thurlow's After Action Report, rather than the medal citation alone? Even better would be the after action reports of all the commanders involved.
Since you have seen the document, you understand that the medal citation is neither a timely, nor a first person account of what happened. Can you report who wrote the citation? If you can, it would be good to include that information. For the sake of completeness, you understand.
Far more valuable would be the after action reports of all the commanders involved. With your rapid response relationship with the records people, it should be fairly simple to get the information.
Keep digging.
http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2004/021104e.htm Towards the end of article.
Thurlow did not sign a release, but the WP was able to get his records under the FOIA. So why can't someone get Kerry's records the same way?
Also, the AP sued the Pentagon to release Bush's records, and they did.
All this could be resolved once and for all, if Kerry would release his records, or the media would demand to get them, which they don't.
Yeah, I'm still here. I'm just placing myself in the shoes of the average idiot "undecided" voter. If Thurlow knew there was no fire, why accept the Bronze star? If he thought he deserved it just because of the mines, he's not questioning the validity of Kerry's own Bronze, just the extraneous "under fire" stuff.
I understand the problem here. The MSM keeps referring to these citations as the final word, but they were written second hand.
Written from John Kerry's journal.
Thurlow did NOT admit to fraud. He said he didn't report enemy fire and if this enemy fire was the basis for his medal, THEN it was fraudulant because he thought he got HIS Bronze Star for saving a man's life while NOT being under enemy small arms fire. He KNEW there was a mine explosion. Everyone agrees on that.
Rassman said he wrote Kerry up for a silver star but kerry only got the bronze..who wrote up thurlow? did someone take rassmans report and make a recommendation for thurlow? who would have the best motive? Kerry....
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