Posted on 08/24/2004 1:03:57 PM PDT by zot
I've been putting together a timeline of the end of Kerry's short tour in Vietnam, and I think the sequence highlights two events that have not been focused upon together and should be emphasized: (a) Kerry abandoned the other boats and fled from what he thought was a battle, and (b) he abandoned his own boat and rode home with the wounded.
13 Mar 1969 - Five Swift Boats are sent to raid a Vietcong village: Kerry PCF-94, Droz PCF-43, Pees PCF-3, Chenoweth PCF-23, and Thurlow PCF-51. Special Forces Lieutenant Rassman goes along for the ride on Kerry's boat. They depart the LST anchored offshore at 7:30 am, cruise about 11 miles up the Bay Hap River, then about 3 miles up the Dong Cung Canal, and get to the village at 8:15 am.
1. The village is deserted. As they are returning to the boat, Kerry and Rassmann decide to blow up a five-ton rice bin. They climb on top of the huge pile and dig a hole in the rice. On the count of three, they toss their grenades into the hole and run. Kerry doesn't run fast enough. He gets hit in the butt by some pieces of rice.
2. As the five boats are returning down the Bay Hap River, they come to a fishing net stretched across the middle of the river. As PCF-94 is going around the fishing net to the right and PCF-3 is going around it to the left, a mine explodes under PCF-3.
3. Simultaneously: (a) Kerry goes to full throttle, which causes Rassmann to fall overboard, and flees down the river with all his guns firing at the shore, and (b) the other three boats go to help PCF-3 with all their guns firing at the shore.
4. After 40 seconds, PCF-43, PCF-23 and PCF-51 cease fire, but Kerry keeps on firing and fleeing down the river.
5. PCF-43, PCF-23 and PCF-51 work together to rescue the crew of PCF-3 and keep PCF-3 from sinking.
6. Kerry finally turns around, comes back, and fishes Rassmann out of the water.
7. As PCF 23 is leaving the area to take the three seriously injured men from PCF-3 to the Coast Guard cutter offshore, Kerry jumps in PCF-23 and goes with them.
8. PCF-94 (without Kerry) tows the badly damaged PCF-3.
9. Kerry writes the after-action report that portrays him as a hero. He does not mention the fact that he abandoned the other boats and fled from what he thought was a battle, or that he abandoned his own boat and rode home with the wounded.
13-17 March 1969
1. Kerry's after-action report is used to request that he be awarded the Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart.
2. Several Swift Boat commanders discuss the problems they have been having with Kerry. The fact that he bugged out twice on the same day is the last straw. One of them remembers the regulation about three Purple Hearts.
3. Tom Wright, another Swift Boat commander at An Thoi, approaches Kerry one night and tells him that several fellow Swiftees believe it might be best for everyone if Kerry simply left.
4. Kerry goes to see CDR Charles F. Horne, Commander of Coastal Squadron One, and requests reassignment to the United States. (Kerry apparently told CDR Horne precisely the type of assignment he wanted. See next entry.)
17 March 1969 - CDR Horne signs a telegram dated 17 March 1969 that says Kerry "has been thrice wounded in action while on duty incountry Vietnam. Reassignment is requested ... as a personal aide in Boston, New York, or Wash., D.C. area."
11 Apr 1969 - Kerry reports for duty at Headquarters Military Sea Transportation Service, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, in Brooklyn, New York, as a personal aide to Admiral Walter F. Schlech.
"Somewhere, Hoel is now serving as a power barge."
I read about that. Didn't want to mention it. Last I heard she was way up the Amazon. She's up there with the Wilson. She deserves better company than that! ;-) According to the story that I read, they still can't keep the Wilson's boilers lit, even when she's not moving! LOL.
Still and all, it's better than what they did to the Strauss. Used her for target practice. I saw the pictures. Ugh. That gray lady went the hard way.
Thanks for the ping!
Sheesh! As bad as it it to have your ship turned into a power barge, did they really have to add insult to injury by pairing her with the Wilson? (Sorry about that to any who served on Wilson but she had a reputation that ranged far and wide.)
There is some question as to exactly which boat Rassman started out on.
In one interview, he described starting out on keery's boat; in another, he claims he was on a boat behind kerry's when the mine exploded under PCF-3.
I don't know the reason for this discrepancy nor if it has ever been resolved.
Rassman wasn't listed among the wounded. The only ones listed, except for kerry, were all aboard PCF-3. None had gunshot wounds.
You may need to amend your timeline slightly.
According to this article, Kerry's Bronze Star was requested and issued between 1981 - 1987 under Sec. of the Navy John Lehman!!! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1196795/posts
"Sheesh! As bad as it it to have your ship turned into a power barge, did they really have to add insult to injury by pairing her with the Wilson? (Sorry about that to any who served on Wilson but she had a reputation that ranged far and wide.)"
I'm thinking that I really shouldn't have mentioned that, I mean about the Wilson. I didn't know how far and wide her reputation ranged, I just know that the Hoel was a good ship, and that the Wilson wasn't. We had a real problem with her, and her crew. I thought it was personal (hull to hull). I don't know the details about when it started, but it had something to do with the scars that the Berk took from medium to small arms fire in Vietnam while the Wilson "stood rear guard" against some imaginary navy. If you have any details on this, I would REALLY like to know, by the way! It's one of those things that I just don't know.
Interesting story that you might like (I'm trying to redeem myself here): We were in San Diego, in the same DESRON as the Wilson. They pulled a RefTra and, lo and behold, couldn't get their boilers lit. We had just come back from WestPac, and had to pull her duty (somebody from DESRON 13 had to pull it). It was two weeks of hell, but the reward was Mazatlan during Cinco de Mayo. What a party!
The Wilson managed to get her boilers lit and got to Mazatlan the day after we did. Our old man refused to let her tie up alongside (he was a full bird) and she had to anchor out. They put a bunch of their crew on shore, and then their motor whaleboat broke down. The asked for ours. The old man refused. They had to get them off of the beach with their captains gig.
After we pulled out, the Wilson came alongside and radioed that their condensors were down, and that they had two boilers down. They requested fuel and feed water, and an escort in. Unbelievable nerve.
The old man responded WITH SIGNAL FLAGS that we had radioed ahead to San Diego and requested an oiler with fuel and feed water for them.
They limped into port two weeks after we pulled in. DAMN, it felt good!
http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_4808.shtml
the article is OUTSTANDING and detailed.
it says Rassman put Kerry in for the SILVER star, but only
got a bronze out of it...
That in addition to the purple heart for his (bruise + fraudulent riceButt wound)
http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_4808.shtml
it says that Rassman left on the PCF 43 along with Kerry
and the injured men from pcf 3. It doesn't say rassman was
himself injured, and somewhere else I read that ONLY Kerry, and
the men on boat 3 were injured.
Thanks for your response. I reread the article at the link you provided. I'm going to see if I can pursue this a little farhter, and find out for sure if Rassman left with Kerry on board the cutter.
Mine has been on order for 3 weeks! Suppose to get it today and I am waiting by the door!
My kid works at Target, (while waiting to follow in the President's footsteps and join the Air National Guard) he says that they can not keep it on the shelf!
As an aside, he also tells me that the book; "Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man" constantly must be resupplied, as it flies off the shelf! While bj clintoon's book has sat there since they got it. And somebody keeps turning the cover around! LOL!
Lehman was on Fox this morning and reported that Kerry had put in for a new metal and citation because he "lost" his old one!
Could it be that he THREW IT OVER A FENCE IN 1971??!!!!!
We need the video and photo of that event!
"If he hadn't have been politically connected he would been commanding garbage scow back a Cam Ranh Bay for the last eight months of his tour.."
Absoutely.
A credible threat that he could and would use political influence is the only way he could have converted his cowardice into a cushy assignment.
His political connection was Ted Kennedy.
Over the years, the ol' Henry B. had a reputation for a flaky engineering plant and just as bad a missile system.
I worked on the Tartar missile fire control radar. Since there were so few ships with Tartars, I pretty much knew I was heading for a DDG from day one of school. We all considered it something of a risk that we'd end up being sent to the Wilson. This was back in 1971. It sounds like things didn't change much in the intervening years.
I really don't recall anything about an incident with the Berk and the Wilson.
I did have an instructor who was seriously wounded when a 3" shell hit in the upper right corner of missile radar. The bulkhead and armored cable instantly became a mass of shrapnel that caused serious injuries to his face and neck. I thought he had said it happened on the Wilson but I can't say for sure. On the Hoel's WestPac cruise, I sure thought about him a lot while I was sitting in the same seat he had been sitting in.
Any wounds, sickness or injury must be reported. They went over that the first day of basic.
17 - "The info I haven't heard publicly was that Kerry's draft number was low and first tried to get a deferment to study in Paris and was denied. He then chose the service he preferred before getting drafted - big deal - most guys did this as well. "
Kerry had no 'draft' number, as they didn't exist at the time he was scheduled to be drafted. Kerry and I are the same age, I had no draft number, however, my brother, 3 years younger got in on the first of the 'draft number lotteries'. I don't know Bush's age, so I don't know if he had one or not.
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