Posted on 08/21/2004 5:33:07 PM PDT by franklog
When John F. Kerry rescued James Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in the jungles of Vietnam in March 1969, neither man could possibly have imagined that the episode would become a much-disputed focus of an American presidential campaign 35 years later.
For Kerry, then a green and gangly Navy lieutenant junior grade and now the Democratic challenger to a wartime Republican president, that tale of heroism under fire has become integral to his campaign. A centerpiece of public rallies, videos and a new campaign advertisement last week, it has helped distinguish the candidate from his Democratic primary rivals and from President Bush, who spent the war at home as a member of the Texas Air National Guard.
For the Massachusetts senator's critics, who include three of the five Swift boat skippers who were present that day, the incident demonstrates why Kerry does not deserve to be commander in chief. They accuse him of cowardice, hogging the limelight and lying. Far from displaying coolness under fire, they say, Kerry was never fired upon and fled the scene at the moment of maximum danger.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
O'Neil said Kerry tried to make it sound like Gettysburg. Said there never was a firefight of that size on the river. Totally rediculous and false claim.
"This article is about as clear a repudiation of Kerry's story as one could expect from a lefty pub. "
The title is totally misleading.
I think the article buttresses the SBVFT.
Kerry was the only skipper on the river that day, who refused to be interviewed.
Skip Barker, a swift boat commander who backs up Kerry's version-
is not listed in the official records or unofficial records as being on the river that day.
Skip Barker refused to be interviewed.
Douglas Brinkley has " exclusive " rights to Kerry and some of Kerry's crew mates.
So, they are not talking.
" Brinkley, did not reply to messages left with his office, publisher and cell phone."
" The Kerry campaign has refused to make available Kerry's journals and other writings to The Washington Post.."
Rassmann says that Kerry got rice and pieces of rice imbedded in his buttocks, earlier in the day.
Someone filed an " erroneous " personal casuality report stating that Kerry suffered an injury to his left buttock, during the mine incident.
Kerry did not suffer any injury to his buttocks that day-only a bruise to his right forearm.
Disagreement among Kerry supporters as to the nature of the explosion-" beneath " or " near" Kerry's boat.
May have been a " mine underneath "- Kerry's version.
RPG close by- Del Sandusky.
SBVFT deny there was a 2nd explosion.
Kerry did flee- " anywhere from a few hundred yards to a mile."
Kerry told Brinkley he wanted to get his men ashore and out of harm's way.
But,according to " Unfit For Command "- page 91
Kerry filed a " false " after action report stating that there were three and a half miles of enemy fire coming from the shoreline, so this makes no sense.
The only ones who say that there was fire from both sides of the river-are Kerry's crew and Wayne Langhofer ( see below.)
" But both the Kerry and anti-Kerry camps continue to deny or ignore requests for other relevant documents,
including Kerry's personal reminiscences (shared only with biographer Brinkley),
the boat log of PCF-94 compiled by Medeiros (shared only with Brinkley)
and the Chenoweth diary."
Chenweth refuses to give the WP his diary, but, he did read passages to the author over the phone.
Author slams the Kerry campaign for stating on their website that they have released all relevant docs.
There are 100 pages still on file at the Naval Personnel Command.
Author thinks the SBVFT are still harboring hard feelings about Kerry's anti war actions- as if that's an invalid motivation.
Two new names in the mix- Wayne Langhofer and Richard Pees. Langhofer was a gunner on the boat behind Kerry's and claims there was gunfire from both sides of the river.
He was approached by the SBVFT and refused to cooperate with them.
Richard Pees is another skipper on the river and he supports the SBVFT version of no enemy fire.
More nonsense about the funding of the SBVFT - how dare anyone in Texas take part in the election process !
A swipe at GW's Air National Guard service.
William Rood, a friend of Kerry's an editor at the Chicago Trib is added to the mix.
But, he has no knowledge of the Rassmann incident-clearly another smokescreen , the Dems will try and spin this.
Rood was present when Kerry shot the naked kid-another incident with many different versions.
The most important things from the article:
No one from the Kerry camp would cooperate with this interview.
Kerry fled down river.
Kerry was hit in the butt earlier in the day with rice projectiles.
"Someone " filed a false report claiming Kerry had suffered a buttocks injury later that night on the river.
The author does not discuss Kerry's USS Gridley ship mates coming forward to dispute Kerry's version of their time together onboard.
Kerry refuses to release his diary, his writings or his full record.
Wasn't this a year after TET where the NLF (Vietcong) pretty much wiped themselves out and before the NVA came down South in force?
That's the way I read it. That makes me figure he went out 5K before turning around. (in an ambush the VC didn't shoot parallel to the river, they show at about a 80 degree angle so the boat was parallel to the ambusher).
Top speed on a PCF is 32kts = 36.5MPH. To cover 3.1 miles and back = 6.2 miles. @36.5MPH = a little over 10 minutes.
He was running downriver at full speed before he decided to turn around. Kerry seems to be a fiction writer.
It's important to realise that his medals are all based on
these kinds of reports.
Also Rassmann claims to have been diving down to bottom of the river to avoid being run over by other boats????????
I haven't been able to get the article on-line for some reason. The PI is not making it easy to access them.
Yeah, I bet Kerry's unassing the area when the shooting started probably *did* save some of their lives.
Swift boat vets 1, Kerry 0.
The second explosion "blew me right off the boat," Rassmann recalled. Frightened that he might be struck by the propellers of one of the boats, he dived to the bottom of the river, where he dumped his weapons and rucksack. When he surfaced, he said, bullets were "snapping overhead," as well as hitting the water around him.
Today on the David Gold show (KSFO) I know that I heard again Mr. O'Neill say that there was firing from the shore for less than a minute.
Meanwhile as noted in the WaPo article the mine had just exploded, here was a second explosion -- probably not another mine but a RPG round -- and Rassmann is in the water.
nobody noticed what had happened to Rassmann. But then Medeiros [Kerry's boat], who was standing at the stern, saw him bobbing up and down in the water and shouted, "Man overboard." Around this time, crew members said, Kerry decided to go back to help the crippled 3 boat. It is unclear how far down the river Kerry's boat was when he turned around. It could have been anywhere from a few hundred yards to a mile.
So by the time Kerry's boat got back and according to Mr. O'Neill's estimate the enemy's firing would have stopped.
There was probably no way for Mr. Kerry and Mr. Rassmann to know that at the time but by conferring with the others later in the day they should have known it. IMO.
Kerry would go on to write, "Somehow we got him on board and I didn't get the bullet in the head that I expected, and we managed to move down near the 3 boat that was still crawling a snail-like zig-zag through the river."
I don't know how they write their action reports, did the others tell Kerry that the firing had stopped and -- as the WaPo said they were -- they were about to rescue Mr. Rassmann also.
Also, as asked by #71 on the first thread, "What happened to the 5000 METER gauntlet they had to run?"
Swift boat vets 2, Kerry 0.
The WaPo article seems to confirm that only one boat had to turn around and come back to get Rassmann -- all but one of the undamaged boats were still in the area and getting ready to retrieve him. Kerry did not lead the boats back to the scene.
Swift boat vets 3, Kerry 0.
So my question is, if the others explained to Mr. Kerry what happened while he was gone why does he insist there was enemy fire when he returned to the action?
Curious. Then how do we explain this statement?
But both the Kerry and anti-Kerry camps continue to deny or ignore requests for other relevant documents, including Kerry's personal reminiscences (shared only with biographer Brinkley), the boat log of PCF-94 compiled by Medeiros (shared only with Brinkley) and the Chenoweth diary.
Is there any evidence that anyone in the anti-Kerry camp has denied or ignored any requests for relevant documents? It's my impression that the anti-Kerry group is practically begging the MSM to examine ALL of their documentation, and to demand that Kerry allow access to the remaining documents which require him to sign a release form 180. Why is the Post making this claim?"
I'm guessing you are quoting from Tour of Duty....
In the after action report (written by Kerry), an LCVP from Washienaw County (the LST they departed from).
AARs are a compilation of a series of events written by whoever wants to write history. (do you enjoy papaer work?) They are supposed to be reviewed by others, but if you write them fast and stick them in front of the CO fast enough, the other OICs don't get a chance to see them.
Remember the CO's got multiple operations going on at once, as well as many other duties.
Want to join in the fun? Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth!
Oh, boy...charts and maps....I'm impressed!!
Also Rassmann claims to have been diving down to bottom of the river to avoid being run over by other boats????????
You are absolutely right. Sadly the average person is unaware of this. The MSM is devoid of veterans.
We must educate them.
This wasn't "Heroism", James was probably holding the dope and Kerry had to save it......
if you'd like to critique this whole matter(s) topographically when they reveal grid coordibates, you can go to your library interloan dept and have them get you a book titled "The Vietnam Map Book". All SVn grid sheets are in it, as well as the sheet overflows into Cambodia and Laos. It is reasonably well detailed, a click is one inch. I got it years ago and had a bud who worked at a design dhop copy them all for me on 17x24 photocopy machine. Assembled, the length of SVN top to bottom is about 14 feet. My AO was sheets XT and YT for the most part.
Thanks for the tip. I've found this online:
The soputhern tip of the Cau Mau.
http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/nc4815.html
The Song Bai Hap region where Kerry "earned" his medals
http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/vietnam/maps/nc48-15/nc48_15b.html
My old office - The Song Ong Doc
http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/vietnam/maps/nc48-10/nc48_10f.html
I actually had problems looking at these for the first time after 33 years.
correction....I just dug it out and measured.....10 clicks is 1 5/8 inches. I do have one genuine DOD sheet and it is about an inch per click.
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