Forging a Paper Hero: The Mystery of Kerry’s Medals

Original FReeper research | 8/30/2004 | Fedora

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

"Thanks for the link to "Masters of Deceit"!--very useful book, I've found."

a little story about my copy of "Masters os Deceit".....

I survived July 67-68 in the 1st Inf Div, and returned during the just-begun political aftermath of Tet. The very last stop was a day or so in Camp Alpha, from where we departed to actually board the plane. Individuals, we - from all over the lower half of Vn -- not units where everyone knew each other.

General Westmoreland was wrongfully under fire here in the States about bodycounts, tactics, yada yada yada, etc, and was taking unfair public hits for things that resulted from the war being micromanaged in Washington. Long-story short -- the antiwar and (more importantly) the anti-troop movement was REALLY gearing up after Tet. In short, we were about to encounter a United States much different from the one we had known previously (assuming we had spent a full year in Vn, which most had).

For some period of time (I don't know how long, to be honest), every man passing through Camp Alpha was issued a letter from Westy describing the changing situation at home in the above regard --- and a paperback copy of Masters of Deceit. The cadre said that General Westmoreland had personally purchased all of the existing inventory to distribute to returning troops.

I read it within the next month or two, and since that time I have watched everything explained in it evolve exactly as stated, up to and including today! The book contains the first reference that I ever heard of "politically correct".....a CPUSA instruction to menbers regarding the overt message and placards, dating back to the 1930's.

IMO, "political correctness" as we know it, is the single most potent and effective tool they and other groups have against the truth and reason. And the reason that it is so is because good and decent people are loathe to oppose it and subject to control by it. Political correctness diverts good will and freedom of speech, etc to malevolent purposes quite effectively.

That that is, is......That that is not, is not!

Wake up, America, before it really is too late!

[stockpirate]

I like your article.

[blackie]

"Kerry Lied and Good Men Died!"

"Kerry Fled and Good Men Bled!"

[Calpernia]

Very nice work Fedora!

Bump and thank you.

[Darksheare]

LOL!
Here's the thread I was denying chupacabra involvement on my part therein.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1203443/posts

[narby]

"Is there anyplace that verifiably says that Kerry was actually "shot" at?"

I couldn't find anything apart from the reference to the mine.

"Was any American wounded or killed during action where Kerry was present?"

The after-action reports on the 3rd PH/Bronze Star incident describe mine explosion injuries to members of PCF-3, and also prior to that on the same day there was a Vietnamese ally who was killed. I'd need to review other incidents. The relevant information would be in the February and March spot report files.

I believe that you are right. No boat that Kerry was on was ever fired upon. The mine under a boat that Kerry WAS NOT ON, was the only action against any boat.

The day of the PCF-3 mine and Rassman incident, Kerry had apparently gone ashore with some of the Green Berets and Vietnamese soldiers.

It was probably against the Navy's policy for him to do so. He was a boat officer, not a grunt. And wandering around on that day, he apparently was not actually "shot" at.

That's a talking point that should be brought out.

KERRY WAS NEVER SHOT AT BY THE ENEMEY!

[philman_36]

Admiral comes forward to dispute Kerry medal
Two other former officers contacted by Novak confirmed that Schachte was always aboard the skimmer, a Boston Whaler, for these missions, designed by Schachte himself to flush out enemy forces on the banks of the Mekong River so the larger swiftboats could move in.

Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record (www.factcheck.org)
Rood described two Viet Cong ambushes, both of them routed using a tactic devised by Kerry who was in tactical command of a three-boat operation. At the second ambush only the Rood and Kerry boats were attacked.

john kerry river tactic

[R. Scott]

I personally think that a four year deferment is good enough.

[Fedora]

I'm checking into his time in San Diego. I need to find more info on CP activity in the San Diego area at that time. If you come across anything on the San Diego VVAW while you're reading, please mention anything interesting you see--I know the time frame is a little later than Kerry was there but it might point towards some clues, in that the VVAW often hooked up with members of older leftist groups when it moved into an area.

[Fedora]

Thanks! He's got even more stories than I was able to collect in a short article, too. I'm considering putting together a spreadsheet or database file that would have a more complete collection of varying versions of his various stories.

[Fedora]

What you observe there points towards exaggerating the enemy as being another part of Kerry's M.O. in writing up those after-action reports.

Another thing I was getting at is, it seems like he needed an accomplice to recommend him for a Navy Cross. Who was that accomplice?

[Fedora]

"“Off the port side” means it was a miss - hitting the water on the left of the boat.
We experienced a lot of near misses, everything from 60 mm mortars to 130 howitzers. The shrapnel does not leap from the water and hurt people."

Good point. On a related issue about terminology, maybe you can help answer something I've been wondering about: what does the phrase "close aboard" mean in this part of the after-action report?

"KERRY SUFFERED SHRAPNEL WOUNDS IN HIS LEFT BUTTOCKS AND CONTUSIONS ON HIS RIGHT FOREARM WHEN A MINE DETONATED CLOSE ABOARD PCF-94"

I'd seen the "land mines" thing pointed out before. I guess that one could be written off as a sloppy description of underwater mines, perhaps. It would seem to indicate that whoever wrote the after-action report didn't have much experience with the terminology for describing mines.

[Fedora]

Thanks! I will ping you when I post Pt. 3.

[Fedora]

Thanks for the tech support answer. Actually, though, I wasn't trying to get internal links between the footnote numbers and the footnotes; it's the external links from the footnotes to the sources cited that I was asking about. I used the same "linkname" format you mention--which is what I use when I insert links in my FR posts and it works fine there--but for some reason it didn't work here. When I was previewing my post I noticed when I hover over the links there's an extra set of quotation marks around what appears in the lower tool bar, which I don't think is what I usually see. I'm wondering if that has something to do with it.

[Fedora]

Thanks for that info. I still haven't seen the O'Neill/Kerry debate.

[Fedora]

Thanks for the link to the citations! I'll be sure to ping you for Part 3.

[Maigrey]

placemark

[Fedora]

Thanks! I have added you to the ping list.

[Cboldt]

This is what I see when "hovering" over a typical link ...

%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Fitness_Reports.pdf%E2%80%9D

So, you have a few extra characters in there.

[OXENinFLA]

PING..............................


I case you finish the book and need more to read.... }:)