Posted on 08/28/2004 11:16:52 AM PDT by wagglebee
Amid questions about one of John Kerry's combat "V" decorations, unearthed remarks by the senator eight years ago reveal he judged an admiral's allegedly false awards as a serious offense that disqualified him from leadership.
After the suicide of Adm. Mike Boorda in 1996, National Review columnist Kate O'Beirne notes Kerry gave his response to two Boston papers.
"In a sense, there's nothing that says more about your career than when you fought, where you fought and how you fought," Kerry told the Boston Herald.
"If you wind up being less than what you're pretending to be, there is a major confrontation with value and self-esteem and your sense of how others view you."
At that time, a left-leaning news service had raised questions about Boorda's combat "V" clip, which is awarded for valor under fire. The doubt was over whether Boorda's two tours in Vietnam aboard combat ships qualified him for the awards. The Washington Post reported Boorda's right to wear the clips apparently was supported by a Navy manual, but hours before he was scheduled to address the issue with Newsweek reporters, he shot himself.
The Herald described Kerry as among the veterans who said although they would take offense at someone falsely wearing the "V" pin, they couldn't see how it would drive Boorda to suicide.
"Is it wrong? Yes, it is very wrong. Sufficient to question his leadership position? The answer is yes, which he clearly understood," Kerry told the Herald.
Kerry also spoke with the Boston Globe.
"The military is a rigorous culture that places a high premium on battlefield accomplishment," he told the paper.
Of Boorda and his apparent violation, Kerry said: "When you are the chief of them all, it has to weigh even more heavily."
As WorldNetDaily reported, two researchers contend Kerry's Silver Star has an unauthorized "V" for valor which "makes it facially false and at variance with official government records." That's because Silver Stars are given for gallantry and never are accompanied with a combat "V," which would be redundant. But Kerry's DD 214, or "Report of Transfer and Separation," displayed on his website, shows the "V."
A U.S. Navy spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Kerry's record is incorrect. The Navy has never issued a combat 'V' to anyone for a Silver Star."
The allegations about Kerry's war record come amid a campaign by aSwift Boat Veterans for Truth, an independent "soft-money" group that has produced a New York Times best-seller, "Unfit for Command", endorsed by 254 men who served with Kerry in the Mekong Delta during his abbreviated tour from November 1968 to March 1969.
I think that sKerry has been telling so many lies for so long, that he no longer even knows what the truth is. That's one of the huge differences between him and BJ Klintoon; BJ at least knew he was full of sh!+, but he had people around him who were very good at spinning it.
It will make no difference, except to we wonks on forums like this one.
Sadly I have moved beyond optimistic pessimism to a fatalistic view of Western Civilization, we can only slow the decline.
I have a question.On another thread,and on a TV interveiw,IIRC, someone said that kerry took 10lbs out of his personal "bag" of 100 lbs that each sailor was allowed to carry with him.
Most manual typewriters have distiction that makes them "identifiable" from say another manual typewriter,by either a key with a slight imperfection that repeats the imperfection everytime it is used, or by the typing style of the same user on said typewriter,(which I think the FBI used this method to link the "Uni-bomber" to some of his "letters").
Is there any way to see if some of the kerry "reports" were typed up in this way as compared to maybe something else kerry typed durring that period ???
..sorry all....just a thought....
No. That's what the MSM wants you to believe. Despite the Clinton/Dalton/Zumwalt/Boorda family spin to the contrary, Boorda was not and is still not entitled to wear the Combat V on either the Navy Achievement Medal or Navy Commendation Medal. So says a unanimous vote by the Board for Corrections of the Naval Records in June of 1997. Incidentally, Boorda stopped wearing the V device on both awards in 1995, a year prior to killing himself.
From the Chicago Sun Times 28 Aug 04:
"Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman's signature.
"It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said.
From the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus 4:28: "Fight to the Death for Truth, and the Lord God will fight on your side."
Thanks! Definitely a synergy here. We must pursue it!
Google with the exact "Board for Corrections of the Naval Records" and added word "Boorda"
only got me your post and the link below with the text from the middle of the webpage:
http://members.aol.com/themilenia/News437.index.html
Boorda's Navy Record Remains Same
Admiral Committed Suicide After Questions Arose About His Combat Decorations
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (July 3) - The official record of Adm. Jeremy ''Mike'' Boorda, who committed suicide amid questions about his combat decorations, will continue to show he did not earn them, the Navy has decided.
A board of three civilians recommended last month that the record remain unaltered, Navy spokesman Capt. Mark Van Dyke said Friday. The ruling was upheld by Carolyn Becraft, who has the final say as assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs.
Boorda, who joined the Navy at 16 and became the only enlisted man to rise to chief of naval operations, took his life in 1996 after 40 years of service. He was about to be asked by Newsweek reporters about why he wore Combat Vs - tiny bronze letters standing for ''valor.''
The decorations were attached to a Navy Achievement Medal awarded in 1968 and a Navy Commendation Medal awarded in 1973.
In a suicide note ''to my sailors,'' Boorda said he felt disgraced.
Last year, then-Navy Secretary John Dalton placed a memo in Boorda's file - backed by another memo from Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the Vietnam War-era chief of naval operations - that declared him eligible to have worn the decorations.
Dalton said only the Navy review board could officially change the record to say Boorda had the right to wear them.
The Boorda family petitioned the Board for Corrections of the Naval Records last September to change the record and show he was entitled to wear the decorations.
''The final decision was there was no error or injustice in Adm. Boorda's record and the panel was unanimous in their recommendation,'' Van Dyke said.
He provided the information to The Associated Press after an inquiry prompted by the state of Illinois' decision to award a $20,000 grant for a memorial in Boorda's hometown, Momence, about 50 miles south of Chicago.
Boorda removed the decorations from his ribbons in 1995, on the advice of the Navy's Office of Awards and Special Projects.
Dalton's memo says the citations justifying the awards ''plainly state they were awarded for service including combat operations.'' Zumwalt's memo said it was ''appropriate, justified and proper'' for Boorda to have the decorations.
Wearing an unauthorized decoration is a severe breach of military protocol.
Nice to dream about, but it'll never happen. Only a Republican can be disgraced by "inconsistencies" in his record.
Let's hope our country returns to the straight and narrow...and goes after bums like him!!! Parts of the Navy...we call The Cowboys!! Wouldn't put this pass that group--The Cowboys--
I'm rooting for Bush, too, but he's a compassionate guy. He won't let the bureaucracy go after Kerry. It won't happen. And, if (God forbid) Kerry wins, there will certainly be no inquiry.
I know how Bush is.....however there's more too it than compassion!!!
Thanks for the ping!
LOL! (puke!)
I hope we can ram this into every media market and shake this story out. This should get some legs.
Beloit Daily News
149 State Street - Beloit, Wisconsin 53511
608-365-8811 or 800-356-3411
Office Hours M-F: 8am-5pm Saturdays: 7:30am-11:30am
If you doubt the veracity of the report you can do one of two things. Contact the following:
Executive Director
Board for Correction of Naval Records
2 Navy Annex
Washington, DC 20370-5100
Phone: 703-614-1402
Fax: 703-614-9857
File a FOIA request to obtain a copy of Boorda's OQR.
Since the Board's findings did not support the ridiculous media assertion that Boorda was "hounded" to death it did not get a lot of attention.
Harry Kerry, please.
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