[Cboldt]

*bump*

Good collection. Thanks! I have a couple "additions" or points of view, if you will.

With regard to the Silver Star, you might point out the language in the citation (my paraphrase) "Kerry attacked a numerically superior enemy force in the facte of intense fire." That is, IMO, at least as important as the details of the single VC. None of the stories I've read (e.g., Rood) corroborates the "numerically superior enemy" or the "while under intense fire" aspects. Elliott has said he would not have passed the Silver Star recommendation, if Kerry's action was simply dispatching a single VC (infered in that, no matter the single VC's condition, age, etc.).

With regard to the damage report that recites PCF-94 (should be PCF-3), an independent reference is http://swiftboats.net/

[Fedora]

Thanks for the link! On the issue of how many enemies were involved in the Silver Star incident, I have read one article by Rood where he claims this:

Feb. 28, 1969: On The Dong Cung River: 'This is what I saw that day'

The man Kerry chased was not the "lone" attacker at that site, as O'Neill suggests. There were others who fled. There was also firing from the tree line well behind the spider holes and at one point, from the opposite riverbank as well. It was not the work of just one attacker.

But of course that's uncorroborated like you say.