"Fire when ready, Gridley" fame?Help John Kerry remember the USS Gridley CG-21 PING
GRIDLEY Crew members (67-68) say Kerry exaggerated in TOUR OF DUTY
"...John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS
Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as First Lieutenant, the
officer in charge of the deck division, and I was Executive Officer,
or second in command..."
"...But there is also no doubt in my mind that his anti-war
activities while our troops were still fighting, dying and being
tortured in filthy Vietnam prisons were despicable.
For that reason, even aside from his anti-defense voting record in
the Senate, he is one ex-shipmate that I could never support as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces."
J. F. Kelly, Jr.
USS Gridley (CG-21) Executive Officer in 1967 and 1968.
GRIDLEY Website page on John Kerry
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html
Other crew members speak about John Kerry
(Looks like Kerry's shipmates, who did serve with him,
say he lied and told whoopers about his time on the GRIDLEY.
Remember these are not Swift Boat Vets,
BUT Kerry's crewmates who served with him on the GRIDLEY)
Examples follow:
"As everyone must surely know by now, John F. Kerry came on board
GRIDLEY as a boot Ensign when we returned from our 1967 Westpac
Cruise. He remained on GRIDLEY through the 1968 cruise. Politics
aside, shipmates of the time who have read TOUR OF DUTY, the
authorized campaign biography, will have something to say about the
chapter on GRIDLEY. "
1. Kerry never talked about his time on GRIDLEY. He says on page
74 that it is because “nothing much of note” happened while
he was
onboard. He uses words like monotony and tedious, when, despite
being a boot ensign he was given every opportunity for responsibility
by Captain Slifer and Commander Kelly (XO). He came aboard
designated for Electrical Officer (80100), a grunt position in the
Engineering Department and spent four months in that position. He
was assigned duty as First Lieutenant, as Commander Kelly recalls,
because of his knowledge of seamanship and his experiences with small
boats and sailing. Besides being responsible for the decks of the
ship, the First Lieutenant is also responsible for the ship’s
small
boats. He also was assigned collateral duties as Public Affairs
Officer. Despite all the responsibilities he was given, he gives the
impression that serving on GRIDLEY was somehow beneath him. He
certainly had less of an opportunity to collect “gongs” there.
2. Page 78 – “motivate 400 swabbies” – The First
Lieutenant is
responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire
crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent
that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their
officers would have been responsible for motivating them.
3. Page 87 has Kerry “shuttling sailors and provisions”
between
GRIDLEY and KITTY HAWK in a small motor whaleboat out in the Gulf of
Tonkin. The regular method of travel between the two ships was via
helo. That is how I went over to the KITTY HAWK. If such an event
did occur, it would have been unusual and hardly a shuttle.
4. 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. Now Olongapo was a wild and
wooly town that existed solely for the entertainment of the US Navy,
but in over three years of calling there, I never saw a single
instance of either thing happening. Kerry uncovered this in his
first visit. If this was from his letters home then he was certainly
writing for dramatic effect. Balderdash.
5. The trip to Danang – GRIDLEY went into Danang for briefings
before going to Northern SAR. This section is so full of hyperbole
that the urge to giggle is almost uncontrollable. “The panic and
pressure onboard GRIDLEY, strapping on a .45, wondering if I would
have to use it, B-52’s howling overhead”. A B-52 over Danang
would
have been so high that only contrails would have been visible, cloud
cover permitting. David Simons confirmed my recollection that during
our brief stay in Danang Harbor, the sky was overcast to the point of
being ominous.
More seriously, no one can remember John Kerry going ashore. I was
part of the shore party that went to Monkey Mountain. We were taken
in a screened in truck (to protect against grenades being tossed in)
and made to unload our .45’s. The driver said that he did not
want
us newbies to shoot anyone by accident.
Neither Commander Kelly nor LCDR Rueckert (Kerry’s immediate
boss)
can recall approving a trip ashore for Ensign Kerry. The author uses
remarks of David Simons IC2 as a lead in to the Danang section. I
spoke to David and he has no personal knowledge of Kerry going ashore
at all. He did talk to a researcher and made some generic remarks
about Danang but had never discussed Danang with Kerry. He recalls
arguing with the researcher because he tried to put the
words “cowboy” in his mouth, which ended up in the book.
There is no mystery about the “gruesome site of a pile of dead
VC.”
We saw no sign of anything like this. However, our escort to Monkey
Mountain did tell us how the VC bodies were stacked up on the
LZ’s
after the TET Offensive, which had been several months before.
Ensign Kerry would have been told this story by members of the shore
party.
If, indeed, he got to the pier, because he was in charge of the
motor whaleboat, it certainly would not have been within his purview
to wander Danang, eating dog meat and drinking beer in a bar (under
arms). It also seems amazing that he had all these observations on
Vietnam in such a brief visit.
6. In command – Again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much
about
being “in charge” of the ship after the Captain and XO. The
OOD is
in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but
hardly in charge of the ship. Kerry qualified almost immediately as
OOD(P), in port OOD but that is a given. For much of his time
onboard he would have been Junior Officer of the Deck when underway.
Although his fitness report as of 22 March says "he is qualified as
OOD(I) now" (Independent steaming – with no ships or land
anywhere
near) , only OOD(P) is listed under duties. His Fitness Report from
July 1968 lists two months as OOD(I) which would mean he qualified
after leaving the war zone.
Because being aid-de-camp to the guy in charge of latrine/head cleaning details is not exactly getting elected material!!!
here's a list of kerry's medals and awards while he was on
the USS Gridley :
.
Were there any opportunities for a Purple Heart aboard Gridley?
"Fire when ready, Gridley" fame?
Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth!
Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines. ........
I lived on base at Subic Bay and was a member of the Olongapo Jaycees..... 1966/67. There were no corpses in the Olomgopo river, there were no starving mothers or children.
There were tons of children it's the Philippino way. There was poverty but the Zambales provence is Rural. There are more prostitutes/square foot than any place I have ever been but when the Big E came to port she brought with her a shore party of 10,000 sailors.
Kerry is confusing the realities of Olongopo with the left wing sobstories about Tondo, an area of severe poverty near the dump in Manila. More fiction from the Senator.
Lastly, my son was born in the US Naval Hospital, Subic Bay.......his official place of birth Olongapo, Zambales, Republic of the Philippines, Try to write all that in the Place of Bitrth application blanks..
I was wondering about two of his fitreps from the Gridley. In the Sep67-Mar68 fitrep it references a letter from Mr. Kenneth D Clements and his Mar68-Jul68 fitrep references a letter from the Honorable John F. Henning. The messages which are referenced in the same blocks are attached to the file, and are congratulatory messages to the ship for activities not specific to Kerry. I wonder what the letters are and why they aren't included in the file?
Senator Kerry’s record in the senate has a similar pallor of disingenuousness to it. This is a playboy playing at politics – gets him into places the average man cannot go.
Excellent Post! I wonder about his heroics in OCS/etc.
Why does he not mention that he tried to get a deferment, but was denied?
Because it suits him.
I have emphasized certain areas for your review and consideration.
Their website is http://www.navalinstitute.org
“Interview: Douglas Brinkley”
(See p. 56, May 2004 Proceedings)
Captain James F. Kelly, U.S. Navy (Retired)---Every candidate for public office probably has some excess baggage to carry that he’d rather not have. With Senator John Kerry, it’s undoubtedly his anti-Vietnam War activism that followed his heroic naval service in Vietnam.
John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as first lieutenant, the office in charge of the deck division, and I was executive officer. I remember him as a serious and intelligent young ensign, seemingly mature beyond his years. The skipper and I were mightily impressed with him in spite of his inexperience. He had excellent verbal skills and great poise so we assigned him a collateral duty as public affairs officer. Because of these duties and his basic responsibilities for seamanship evolutions and the overall external appearance of the ship, I had close, daily contact with him. (In other words, I would be all over his case if the ship wasn’t shipshape.) Turns out he didn’t need too much supervision in that regard. He was a fine division officer, and his men obviously respected him.
We deployed from San Diego to the Vietnam theater in early 1968 after only a six-month turnaround, and spent most of a four-month deployment on rescue station in the Gulf of Tonkin, standing by to pick up downed aviators. It was a fairly grueling tour of duty. Our helicopter was hit trying to rescue a downed pilot and the door gunner was killed. The crew performed well, and John Kerry’s performance in all aspects of his duty was outstanding. Drafting his fitness report was an exercise in the use of superlatives. In fact, of the 30 or so officers, I counted him in the top half dozen, no mean feat for an ensign.
I tried to interest him in a naval career. Silly me! It was obvious he had bigger fish to fry. I drafted the favorable endorsement on his request for swift boat duty on the rivers of Vietnam, where he distinguished himself in combat. Before he left, he gave me his bridge coat and several other uniform items, saying that he wouldn’t be needing them in the “brown water” Navy. Aside from a Christmas card and an aborted phone call, I didn’t hear further from John until I read about his antiwar antics, including his appearance with Jane Fonda and the famous episode of throwing medals onto the steps of the Capitol during a protest. While he was protesting against the war, many of us were still fighting in it. Many of us felt betrayed that one of our own, a decorated hero, would give comfort to the enemy by such actions. Think what you want about the wisdom of getting involved in that war. Two presidents, both Democrats, committed the armed forces they commanded to fight it. Make no mistake: actions by people such as Fonda and Kerry were damaging to our morale, gave aid and comfort to the forces we were fighting, and altered the eventual outcome in a manner less favorable to the United States than if they had kept their mouths shut.
The time for antiwar protests is before the war starts.
