Posted on 09/02/2004 8:56:57 PM PDT by rdl6989
NEW YORK In what has been described as a routine process, the Pentagon's inspector general's office on Thursday referred to the secretary of the Navy a request to investigate medals won by John Kerry in Vietnam.
Navy sources said the service will probe the medals, but added that most questions have arisen because of what appear to be errors in processing records.
Kerry received five medals during his four months in combat in Vietnam. Judicial Watch asked the Pentagon to investigate Kerry's receipt of the Silver Star with a "Combat V" designation, which stands for valor under fire.
Kerry's campaign Web site includes military records listing the Combat V citation. Navy procedures show that the Silver Star cannot carry a Combat V designation because part of the reason the medal is awarded is for valor under fire the added designation would be redundant. The findings of the probe, therefore, will not change the record of Kerry's Vietnam service.
The Navy has said that it's the responsibility of all personnel to correct errors in official records.
At the time, Kerry told the Boston Herald that wrongly wearing the medals is a severe error in judgment.
"Is it wrong? Yes, it is very wrong. Sufficient to question his leadership position? The answer is yes," he is quoted as saying.
Kerry also spoke to the Boston Globe about the matter.
"If you wind up being less than what you're pretending to be, there is a major confrontation with value, self-esteem and your sense of how others view you."
Judicial Watch representatives said the group also wants an investigation into Kerry's third citation for the same Silver Star. In 1986, Kerry received the third citation after requesting a copy of his original citations.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
How dare you question John Kerry's patriotism.
His gigolo-like marriages?
His prostate cancer?
His Ambiguously Gay Duo-reenactments with The Breck Girl?
The fact that he's either a war criminal, a perjurer, or both?
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Why would he have a DD215 to correct his records and leave the unauthorized V on his Silver Star? Inquiring minds want to know!
My DD214 is incorrect because I didn't want to sit there another two hours waiting for the clerk to engrave the tablets again. I never filed a DD215 to correct it because I never thought about it again.
What's Kerry's excuse?
Somehow I get the feeling we could regret Judicial Watch's involvement in this.
when did they start to use the DD214?--my papers from WW2 are NavPer553 (which is accepted for medals, etc.
Why do you think that?
I did the same thing. Was too much of a pain to get it typed over for the third time than to get it corrected for a few unit ribbons.
um,.... Barny broke his chisel?
Likely after the War Department was wussified to Defense Department, late 1940s...
Think it was sometime during or just after the Korean War.
Amen to that and to the millions who could say the same - including me, who had qualifications omitted because some geek could do it & being an almost civilian, I refused to beat his ass up.
Kerry's a phony. If the Navy were serious, they'd strip Kerry of all five medals - flat out! And Kerry's got the NERVE to criticize Dick Cheney about anything.
Zell had it right. Here's to ticking off the LM.
they left stuff out of my NavPer553 from WW2---had to go through a lot of paperwork and finally demanded my full record from Washington headquarters to prove I was at Normandy on 6/6/44----
If you have never been in the military, you probably don't understand this,. Yes it is a very big deal and speaks volums of the honor and integrity of our true military heroes.
Tommy Franks on PBS tonight spoke about medals and how the "accepted' attitude has always been to downplay your own medals. Yes, you wear them on your dress uniform, but you do not initiate speaking of them or boast of them.
When kerry spoke before the Congress in 1971 he wore fatigues....fatigues withhis ribbons prominently (some would say comically) attached. No one EVER wore his medals or ribbons on his fatigues or BDUs. Only a complete jerk would do that. ---Army Vet, Army Dad (pray for my son in Balad)
The Silver Star with Combat V is a non-story, nothing. It will easily be explained away as a clerical error. It adds nothing to a Silver Star, which autmatically denotes combat valor. It is not comparable to Boorda adding a Combat V to a non-combat Bronze Star.
OTOH, his first Purple Heart, which was rejected by his CO and MO, and which was mysteriously resubmitted weeks later, after they rotated out of VN....that is the smoking gun.
He was?
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