Again, the pertinent question remains: Why should pro-Kerry vets be believed and anti-Kerry vets be smeared?
Posted on 08/21/2004 3:52:49 PM PDT by neverdem
Feb. 28, 1969: ON THE DONG CUNG RIVER
There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago—three officers and 15 crew members. Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened on February 28, 1969.
One is John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate who won a Silver Star for what happened on that date. I am the other.
For years, no one asked about those events. But now they are the focus of skirmishing in a presidential election with a group of swift boat veterans and others contending that Kerry didn't deserve the Silver Star for what he did on that day, or the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for other actions.
Many of us wanted to put it all behind us—the rivers, the ambushes, the killing. Ever since that time, I have refused all requests for interviews about Kerry's service—even those from reporters at the Chicago Tribune, where I work.
But Kerry's critics, armed with stories I know to be untrue, have charged that the accounts of what happened were overblown. The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us. It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there.
Even though Kerry's own crew members have backed him, the attacks have continued, and in recent days Kerry has called me and others who were with him in those days, asking that we go public with our accounts.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
ping
COASTAL SQUADRON ONE
Swift Boat Crew Directory
(Last updated 8/16/2004)
http://swiftboats.net/
William B. Rood Jr, LTJG,
OinC
WRood@aol.com
7/68-7/69 DaNang Naperville, IL
WRood@tribune.com
Metro Assistant Content Editor
Call Signs
Kerry earlier said 5 boats, not 3, didn't he?
That's what the Swiftvets were saying.
Out of the 5, one got torpedoed.
O'Neill said that there were several (I forgot the actual number) of eyewitnesses at SVFT group -- some officers and some enlisted men.
Why--because you weren't sure your story would be the same as the one Kerry was telling?
Again, the pertinent question remains: Why should pro-Kerry vets be believed and anti-Kerry vets be smeared?
This guy should be held to the exact same standard he and his ideological fellow travelers have demanded of others ~ that is the one that if you weren't actually on Kerry's boat, then you can't know anything.
Cry him a riverine....
Kerry earlier said 5 boats, not 3, didn't he?
All the stories I've read have spoke of 5 boats.
Perhaps the other to were making the Cambodia run huh?
This story talks about Feb 28, 1968 -- Kerry got his silver star
The controversy is over MARCH 13, 1968, where Larry Thurlow says Kerry Lied to get his Bronze Star!
This is a typical Democrat ploy to muddy the water and confuse the situation. And furthur proof that the Media is covering up for John Kerry.
It lists kerry as having spent his entire time there on PCF-66 but doesn't list him as having been on either PCF-44 or PCF-94. It's hard for me to trust a site with that glaring an error.
Notice the ramping up of the counterattack ads?
Expect a whole flood.
We are expected to believe someone who will not submit to
further interviews? Let the SBVT try that one!
Listening to the radio and there was just now a CBS newsfeed at the top of the hour. They only had one story involving the SBVft versus J'effen. The CBS reporter read this Chicago Trib article nearly in entirety.
When their heads start spinning this fast, how do they keep them attached to their necks?
Kerry got the bronze star for the Rassman incident.
2 DIFFERENT Missions -- This story is about feb 28 mission. The Swift Vets are talking about March 13, but that small point seems to be missed by the Tribune iun thier rush to defend Kerry.
Ah, Kerry begged him to come forward. So are we to assume his report is coordinated with Kerry's campaign? Does the Pope live in the Vatican and wear a long dress? (Old joke.)
From Unfit for Command, page 80, "The Silver Star":
For some thirty-five years, John Kerry has shaped his life around a single moment on February 28, 1969 , for which he recieved the Silver Star. ... He has chosen to utilize his thirty-five-year-old Silver Star as the basis for every political campaign he has waged. In each campaign, a new participant in Kerry's medal stories is discovered, as was Jim Rassmann, the comrade "left behind" whom Kerry did fish out of the water but about whom he invented an exaggerated story during the 2004 presidential primary in Iowa. Each Kerry campaign ends with Kerry embracing his comrades while faulting his opponents for their less meritorious service.
It appears the SwiftVets can take heart in the fact, John O'Neill must know, the Vets' opponents are desparate with nothing left & this is truly the end of the Kerry campaign.
Right. Three boats were at the Silver Star incident. Rood's apparently was one of them.
Yes, and how convenient for Kerry that the Commander of the Third Boat on Feb 28 is deceased, so the only accounts are Kerry's and Rood's
Any question now as to WHY they have picked this incident as the one to defend?
You absolutely right the only part of this story that the Swift boat vets have a issue with is that a swiftboat with 6 man crew and 12 infantrymen was not charging a vastly soperior force, when the force was one young VC who was wounded.
This is just more BS so the media can run their misleading headlines.
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