Kerry's XO on the Gridley on Kerry

USS Gridley ^

[gilliam]

This link is to an article written for a San Diego paper by Captain J. F. Kelly, who as Commander Kelly was XO of GRIDLEY in the period of 1967 and 1968 when Kerry was aboard.

[Chad Fairbanks]

just another goofy Ensign

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I've seen some goofy ones in my day, but Kerry stayed Goofy!

[Chad Fairbanks]

How the heck could you see ANYTHING floating in S**t River? ;0)

(I hear tell that there are now signs ordering sailors NOT to toss coins in for the kids to dive for... )

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Fawnn]

Bump

[MEG33]

WELL SAID!

[Diver Dave]

Thanks for the ping, Tonk.

Well, I don't know nothin' about those shuttles betwix the Gridley and the Kitty Hawk, but I seriously doubt it happened the way Flipper describes.

I do however have knowledge of Subic and that Garden Oasis, Olongapo.

I made 3 WESTPAC cruises (each 6 months) and the majority of our time was spent in Subic. I served in a Destroyer Tender, and the ships of the fleet came to us for repairs and refurbishing. My cruises were in 64, 65 and 67. I attended the Second Class Diver's school in Subic in 66. With all the diving in school and later during our last cruise (diving every day), never saw one body or floater. There was one tin can sailor who drowned off Grande Island in 66. We went out on a body recovery, but another crew found him.

As mentioned above, officers didn't go into Olongapo. The had some nice digs up at the Cubi Point NAS Officer's Club.

Drunk or sober, I never saw any bodies floating in the river. The only bodies I saw were all those kids hollering "Hey, Joe! Money" in their pleas for us to throw coins in the river as 10 kids dove for a few pesos thrown.

The only starving natives I saw was that Crocodile in that club down on the main drag. Drunk sailors would by ducklings from the street vendors and then throw em into the croc tank. Two guys in the shipfitter shop saved two ducklings and smuggled 'em aboard and put em in the sink in the pipe shop.

Well, there ya have it. I've tried to embelish the story, but facts just seem to get in the way. Too bad hanoijohn doesn't have the same integrity.

intergrity = what you do when no one is watching.

[Bob]

The only starving natives I saw was that Crocodile in that club down on the main drag.

You mean to say that there was a club in Olongapo that I didn't make it to. I sure don't recall one with a croc. Of course, they might not still have had it when I was there in late '72.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Thanks Brother!

See, I do have a good memory and knew if anyone knew Subic it was you!

[ppaul]

Wow!

[hobson]

They're waiting for the WaPo article tomorrow so they can all be on the same page, so to speak.

[Billthedrill]

Later on page 87 Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines. He talks about bloated corpses floating in the river and starving women with babies dying of malnutrition.

Yeah. Starving women in Olongapo? Corpses in Sh*t R*ver? Did this guy ever even make it out the gate? I was on Shore Patrol when we visited Subic for three WESTPACs during and after Vietnam and not once did I see anything remotely resembling that. Saw a lot of hookers, fights, some truly great bands, some very exotic comestibles, some very rich Filipinos, and a lot of happy sailors and Marines, but I never saw anyone starving. Kerry's a fake. But then you knew that.

[Billthedrill]

Oh, and BTW, I was aboard Gridley during the summer of '71. I just missed meeting the great man. Goshdangit...NOT!

[MeekOneGOP]

Kerry is such a LIAR!

As Grampa Dave says: "Christmas, 1968: Kerry with his Swift Boat Crew
in Scambodia. Kerry is wearing his CIA hat that came from Richard Nixon
a month before Nixon was sworn in as President."

[Non-Sequitur]

bump

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[alnick]

Scarborough's request for someone from the Kerry "band of brothers" to appear was roundly denied by the Kerry camp...same thing happened on Hannity - John O'Neill was on, and although the Kerry campaign had said they would have someone there, at the last minute they cancelled - they're down in the bunker trying to get their stories straight and figure how to stop the bleeding......

Same thing on O'Reilly. Since O'Reilly wasn't on, I didn't turn the Factor off last night. His replacement host interviewed one of the Swiftees, and when the part came for the Kerry person to speak, the host said that the Kerry camp didn't send anyone, so he interviewed Dick Morris instead.

[radu]

MORE KERRY LIES from TOUR OF DUTY, NOW FROM THE GRIDLEY!

I don't think Kerry would know the truth if it bit him on the a--. Sorry, I know that's not very lady-like but it's the absolute nicest I can be regarding him. :-)

[PeterPrinciple]

It sounds to me like Kerry believed all the scuttlebutt going around.

[OldEagle]

We can believe that JFK2 saw Olongapo. It was probably where he acquired his NSU.

[oyez]

When JFK2 was a FNG they probably kept him standing the mail buoy watch for days on end.