Gardner was on the boat as gunner for the episode where Kerry claimed he shot four or more Vietcong and captured several more. The truth was that Gardner shot a Vietnamese man who reached for a gun to shoot him...Kerry was down in the wheelhouse, supposed to be watching radar...but didn't do his job. The Vietnamese boat caught Kerry's boat by surprise as it came up the river. The man grabbed his gun to shoot, and Gardner let him have it...unfortunately, a small boy was standing behind the Vietnamese and was also shot. A woman and baby were taken prisoner and let go elsewhere. This should have ended in an official inquiry since we weren't supposed to shoot civilians. Gardner said he wondered why no inquiry ever happened. And six weeks ago, he learned that Kerry had written up the spot report, himself, taking credit for heroic kills and captures. All phony. He got a bronze star for this. Kerry is a stinking liar.
The sampan incident was just a report that he filed with bogus information (leaving out the killing of the child and increasing the KIA count), if you rely on Gardner.