Local veterans have mixed views on the validity of recent political attacks......

Local veterans have mixed views on the validity of recent political attacks on Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's military record in Vietnam.

John Mezes, who served in the Air Force from 1956 to 1960, was suspicious of how Kerry could have won three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star in a four-month period.

"How did he win so many medals in so short a time?" asked Mezes, who owns a Bridgeport business that refurbishes trucks. "Isn't it suspicious it happened in only four months?"

In contrast, Marine veteran Kingsley McAlpine of Bridgeport doesn't question Kerry's heroics in Vietnam.

"You have to be wounded and treated to get the Purple Hearts," McAlpine said. "And a Bronze Star and Silver Star don't just happen, they have to be documented. I don't think it's fictitious."

McAlpine, a Warnoco retiree, was in the military in the 1960s but was not sent to Vietnam. Mezes and McAlpine were interviewed while drinking beer Monday at Port Five, an organization for Naval veterans with a clubhouse on the Black Rock waterfront.

Purple Hearts are given for injuries during combat, while Bronze and Silver Stars are awarded for bravery.

Kerry's military service was heralded at the Democratic National Convention last month, but now has come under criticism from a group of fellow Vietnam veterans. The anti-Kerry veterans are airing negative television advertisements, and the controversy is generating national headlines.

Kerry volunteered for the Navy and spent four months commanding a swift boat during the war. He then returned to the United States and became an outspoken critic of the war. Many men who served with Kerry have praised his military service.

Thomas L. Kanasky, Greater Bridgeport Veterans Council president, said the brief time Kerry spent in Vietnam was unusual for the late 1960s. Members of the military were given the option of returning home if they were injured three times.

"I find it hard to believe there's not a problem here," said Kanasky, a Bridgeport resident and attorney who was in the Marines. He provided security at an airbase in Vietnam as the war winded down in the early 1970s.

"John Kerry spent four months in Vietnam and claims to be a hero, but what about the other guys who served their full tour of 13 months?" Kanasky said. "He took the first ticket he could out of there. The real heroes are the guys who stayed."

Edward Mastrone, veterans service officer for the city Office of Veterans Affairs, sides with Kerry.

"I don't care what these people are saying because they are being influenced by politics," Mastrone said of the group of veterans criticizing Kerry. "Reading between the lines, you can see they are funded somewhat by the Bush campaign."

Mastrone said Kerry's military service outshines that of President George W. Bush, who was in the Air National Guard and never was sent to Vietnam. Questions have been raised about whether Bush fulfilled his guard obligations, and if his family used its connections to win him a coveted spot in the guard.

"[Kerry] carried the rifle, and I don't think the other guy did," said Mastrone, comparing Kerry to Bush.

Mastrone, who was in the Army Air Corps at the end of World War II and guarded Japanese prisoners of war in the Philippines, said the campaigns should focus on more important issues, such as the high cost of health care.

Art Falco of Bridgeport, a U.S. Census Bureau worker who served three tours in Vietnam with both the Marines and Army, said Kerry and his supporters as well as his detractors probably both think they are telling the truth.

"Things get foggy in war," said Falco, explaining that he and his former military comrades often recall things differently. "I'd go by what was written down at the time, because it's hard to remember 30 years later," he said.

However, Falco said he could never forgive Kerry for his testimony in front of the U.S. Senate in 1971. After leaving the military, Kerry testified about alleged atrocities being committed by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.

"I know the protestors were trying to help us, but they were getting us killed," Falco said. "They were giving the North Vietnamese and Viet Kong reasons to fight and were hurting our morale."

Robert Loftus, who was in the Army from 1953 to 1956 and served in Korea, said he hasn't seen any definitive proof that Kerry didn't deserve his medals.

"I accept the awards he has gotten until they are proven improper," Loftus said while at Port Five.

He said he considers the controversy to be irrelevant because a president's military background doesn't determine whether he will be a good president. "We've had great presidents who didn't serve," said Loftus, a retired electrical engineer who has taught at Bullard Havens and other schools.

Don Bucci of Bridgeport, who has worked for UPS for 28 years, said voters should punish any politician who misrepresents his military record to gain votes. He said it's uncertain if Kerry deserved his medals.

Bucci, who didn't serve in the military but goes to Port Five, said Bush's supporters should stop questioning Kerry's service because it may lead to more scrutiny of Bush's questionable National Guard duty. "[Bush] should tell those people to leave it alone," he said.

Ron Metzger, who is self employed, thinks Kerry may be overstating his military accomplishments. "He did something, but not what they are building it up to," said Metzger, who patronizes Port Five but wasn't in the military. "They are basing his entire campaign on it."

Metzger's wife, Marilyn, thinks the criticism of Kerry is unfair. "He did serve," she said, adding she supports Bush's decision to invade Iraq and is being turned off by the negative tone of both candidates' campaigns.

"Reading between the lines, you can see they are funded somewhat by the Bush campaign."

That one was pretty drunk.

"He took the first ticket he could out of there. The real heroes are the guys who stayed."

Fine patriot. This one can form a sentence. He must have just arrived at the bar.

"[Kerry] carried the rifle, and I don't think the other guy did," said Mastrone, comparing Kerry to Bush.

Kerry carried a rifle. Bush carried a fighter jet. Bigger gun, a better gun, a more expensive gun.

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense

arabnews press release 25 August 2004

NOTE :
Ramsey Clark is pictured below with Kerry and
Vietnam phony vet Al Hubbard
Who was head of the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement.

NEW:
FReeper smith288 has an online version of
Kerry's "The New Soldier"
You can read it without downloading pdf files!
CLICK HERE

From Kerry's "The New Soldier":
Al Hubbard Sgt., 22 Troop Carrier Squadron Aug. ’65-June ’66

Emotions: Walking down the flight line at Saigon past stacks of aluminum cases containing American bodies and past stacks of aluminum luggage containing American currency. Seeing the tight, sad face of an Airman loading the bodies aboard a dirty Air Force Transport and the wide smiling face of a stewardess greeting the passengers aboard a clean Pan American Clipper Jet. Hearing a Vietnamese beg you to leave his country and an American colonel tells you to bomb his country. Hearing a Vietnamese invite you to live in his home, after the war and an American explain why you can’t live in his block, after the war. Flying over barren, brown, safe American held terrain and over lush, green unsafe enemy terrain. Feeling happy to be leaving a country in which you do not belong and sad to be returning to a country in which you are not allowed to belong. Sacrificing a portion of your consciousness so you won’t have to deal with being there and building mental blocks so you won’t have to deal with having been there.

- Al Hubbard, proven fraud who never set foot in Viet Nam. The only Vietnamese he ever met was when he was collaborating with the North Vietnamese in Paris
on the American Communist Party's nickel.
John Kerry's explanation: "He (Hubbard) simply exaggarated his particular position.
But nobody knew it at the time. And those things happen."

The New Soldier, (46 pages)
By John Kerry
and Vietnam Veterans
Against the War
PART I (pdf file)
PART II (pdf file)
PART III (pdf file)

Kerry hopes everyone
in the USA gets this book!

NEW:
“Without question,
we were held captive longer
because of the anti-war people,
the Kerrys, the Fondas and Haydens,
the names we knew over there -
they encouraged the enemy to hang on.”
Excerpt from “Stolen Honor” website
- Leo Thorsness
Former Vietnam POW
CLICK HERE

Send this url for the online version

http://ejsmithweb.com/fr/newsoldier/

Send this url for the Stolen Honor website

http://www.stolenhonor.com/

Print this out (46 pages) and disribute it,
especially to the liberals you know.

Copy and paste the links to everyone you know.

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier%20Inro.pdf

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier.pdf

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier%20Epilogue.pdf

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.