"They made a big deal about this guy who was a naval officer, talking about all these atrocities and war crimes," said Galanti. "They'd been for years saying, 'You're not prisoners of war, you're war criminals. You're never going home, we're going to try you after the war and you'll all be found guilty of war crimes.'"Galanti realized only recently that it was Kerry's voice the Communists had used to torment him, when he saw a documentary on the anti-war movement and heard Kerry's unmistakable pronunciation of the words "Genghis Khan."
Tom Collins ... says he was also made to listen to an audiotape of Kerry's testimony by his North Vietnamese captors. He explained that the North Vietnamese were constantly trying to elicit confessions of war crimes from Americans.
"... they wanted to ... get us to make statements that they could use for propaganda, no matter what it took to get it" he said. "They would torture us, some were even killed for it. . . . For over seven years, their goal was to get propaganda out of me. And then I see somebody like John Kerry and the Vietnam Veterans [Against the War] giving them the same propaganda they want me to give them, free of charge, on American television."
"I wasn't necessarily disappointed in Jane Fonda," said Collins. "... I figured she's just some airhead Hollywood actress--so what? But then along comes this military officer. My first reaction was, this is a fake. But it wasn't a fake. This guy is a traitor. ... I expected more out of a Navy lieutenant. That's why I was so demoralized. It was far worse for him to do it."
Collins said he was also shown other VVAW propaganda, including a picture of a famous April 1971 event in Washington, in which the group's members threw what they said were their military medals over the fence. ...
"He knew he was putting us at risk," said Warner. "And he was demanding unilateral withdrawal, which means our value as bargaining chips would be gone. And what do you think would have happened to us then?"
Galanti [said] "... there was absolutely no reason to turn us back. . . . The only reason they let us go was because they got the living daylights bombed out of them by B-52s over the Christmas bombings in '72. . . . We were home 60 days later," he said.
Although it was barely covered in the press, Kerry was greeted coolly and even mildly heckled during his appearance at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati in August. Several veterans turned their backs on him or walked out during his speech.
HOw utterly disgusting!!! Withdraw unilaterally is what he wants now in Iraq. thank you Gretchen for posting this. I was born in 69, so I do not have a knowledge of what went on during this time. What I know is from what I have read or was taught in school. The Vietnam war was never discussed. I always had the impression in my teen years that it was a bad thing, politicians screwed it up, and that the vets were mostly angry. But reading all of what the Swift vets have written and what people like Kerry did, I can understand why the Vets would feel like they were forgotten. What this man did was CRUEL. For all the Vietnam Vets who are on this thread, Thank you. I appreciate your efforts!! I am truly sorry that you had to go through all of what this man and the likes of him put you through.