Posted on 08/30/2004 5:39:36 PM PDT by Fedora
Standard practice would have been for the Records unit to generate a certified copy of the original citation, not to re-issue it with modifications. Colonel Bill Cowan stated that was how his own citations were replaced.
Yep.
I agree that something is rotten in Denmark. I still believe these were for replacement medals and citations. Perhaps, Kerry, as a senator, pulled some strings at the Navy Department at a level lower than SECNAV to have the citations "upgraded" including being signed by Lehman (via autopen).
I really hate to question anyone's medals but the official witness to the Bronze Star incident appears to have been a man named Lambert, who coincidentally also received a Bronze Star for that day's action. He is backing Kerry on the claim of their being under heavy fire.
Any reports submitted by a Naval officer are expected to be accurate and totally honest. Questioning a report questions the honesty and integrity of the fellow officer submitting it. Kerry abused the trust of those he served under for personal gain.
"Perhaps, Kerry, as a senator, pulled some strings at the Navy Department at a level lower than SECNAV to have the citations "upgraded" including being signed by Lehman (via autopen)."
When I originally started writing the article, I was looking into a possibility along those lines. I ended up cutting that aspect of the article out because I didn't have enough evidence to prove anything and I didn't want to point suspicion towards anyone without proof. But I will mention I did look into a couple possible contacts between Kerry and the Naval hierarchy, and I think that line of investigation should be at least looked into.
I hate to question anyone's medals, too, but I can't escape the logic of it. There has to be an explanation for why some witnesses back Kerry on there being hostile fire and some don't. The after-action reports on the incident are self-contradictory. It's evident someone is lying. This raises the question of motive, which calls for a review of the witnesses' credibility, and reviewing the circumstances of their medals is part of that inquiry. I note that Rood also got a medal for the mission on which Kerry got his Silver Star. The third skipper on that mission was Droz, who was antiwar and whose wife was active in the antiwar movement. There's something that smells really fishy to me there.
FBI VVAW Files
CD1
100-HQ-448092
File: Sub A Section 01.pdf, p. 75-87
------------The Sunday Star (Washington)
Jun 6, 1971The Last Patrol
They had fought in the stinking jungles of "Nam," and now they expected a few minutes of time to describe a war to those who had sent them.
By Glenn A. McCurdy
Photographs by Ken Heinen(pdf page 79 - snip)
It was a orderly, nonviolent week in which Hollywood legends of superwarriors like John Wayne and Burt Lancaster dissolved into toyland as Massmind America faced the flesh-and-blood courage of men like former patrol boat Lieutenant John Forbes Kerry.
Kerry, after graduating from Yale University, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and volunteered for duty aboard one of the gun boats used to patrol the waterways of Vietnam.
"We established an American presence in most cases by showing the flag and firing at sampans and villages along the banks," said Kerry. "Those were our instructions, but they seemed so out of line that we finally began to go ashore, against our orders, and investigate the villages that were supposed to be our targets. We discovered we were butchering a lot of innocent people, and morale became so low among the officers on those 'swift boats' that we were called back to Saigon for special instructions from Gen. Abrams. He told us we were doing the right thing. He said our efforts would help win the war in the long run. That's when I realized I could never remain silent about the realities of the war in Vietnam.
>>some may want to see the three Silver Star citations side-by-side with a direct line-by-line comparison:
Nice work!
For reference, I previously posted the full text of all three Silver Star citations at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1189369/posts?page=25#25
There is a spot report for February that indicates Feb 28 (Silver Star day) was not the first time he "turned into the bank" , beached a boat "and landed an assault party". (see February 26 report, pdf page 25 of February spot reports). In that case, they were pinned down under enemy fire and had to be rescued by PCF-31 (Barker).
Nice observation!
Looks like two different spot reports for an incident on 25 Feb. The report on page 23 is dated 25(11:15) Feb, and the report on page 25 is dated 26(03:31) Feb, but appear to be reporting the same incident based on commonalities in events, support, damage, casualties, etc.
I don't know all the acronyms, or even how to read most parts of the report, but do note that in this incident, the flotilla undertook strafing runs, and was supported by helicopter gunships. It reads as though enemy fire from shore was pretty well suppressed before the beaching. Barker, of PCF-31, tried to get a VC out of his bunker with persuasion, but eventually the bunker was desctroyed, resulting in 1 VC-KIA.
The story for Feb 28, and what distinguishes it from 25 Feb, IMO, was beaching before a strafing run, w/o helicopter support, and supposedly, while under intense enemy fire, and against a numerically superior enemy force.
Now that I'm looking, I don't even see a spot report for the Feb 28 incident (checked March Spot reports too, the first page of that collection has a report dated 01 March, for injury to Givens sustained in action on 27 Feb). I wonder if the 28 Feb incident had more than one spot report filed, as appears to be the case for the 25 Feb incident.
I only skimmed the spot reports, but if this "new technique" of turning into an ambush w/o undertaking a strafing run, and/or w/o helicopter support, was so effective, then one would expect to see it repeated in subsequent incidents. There are NO spot reports available to us for any incidents (if there WERE any) between the incident of 28 February and the incident of 13 March. But again, if this was an effective technique, other skippers would use it, and some spot reports should reflect use of it. I'm not going to hold my breath. I think this was a one-off.
Thanks for getting me to look a little closer!
Sometimes it seemed to me like the spot reports were truncated or out of order--did either of you notice that?
Please add me to your ping list.
Very impressive gathering of FACTS.
Salute! ....two
I agree about the two Feb spot reports describing the same incident. I too have looked for a report for the February 28 incident, with no luck. How the Kerry campaign can even attempt to claim they released all of Kerry's military records is beyond me. More outrageous is the media's acceptance of such a statement.
Seems to be a selective release. But, I don't know enough about their original form, or format.
The media cultivates public ignorance. Yes, it is outrageous. But it is kinda fun to see them sweat. I've known the media is a charade since the late 70's. It was a charade before that, I just didn't pick up on it until I was in my early 20's.
Truncated is a good word. For those included in the file, some of them seem to be only partial reports. Others seem to be missing entirely. There is no way of knowing exactly what is missing.
The fitness reports were worse... more things out of order, more pages obviously missing.
I sure wish Kerry would sign that form 180... and tie the noose! ;-)
"I sure wish Kerry would sign that form 180... and tie the noose! ;-)"
Me, too. And if he doesn't, I think we know why.
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