I have heard that his medals were "reinstated" in the 1980's sometime. From what I have heard, the only time you get medals reinstated, is if you have had them taken away in the first place. There are only a few reasons they would be taken away in the first place...any thoughts on this?
Re Kerry's medals: Kerry requested his new medals in 1985 as replacements for the ones he threw away in 1971. He admitted he threw them away at the time and then changed his story subsequently that the threw away his ribbons and someone else's medals. He was telling the truth in 1971 and is lying today. What we really need is a copy of his request in 1985 for replacement citations/certificates/medals. Kerry claims they just requested replacement citations and certificates because he knows that replacement medals would undermine his current story, which was most recently mentioned to Charles Gibson on GMA earlier this year.
I am under no illusion that Kerry isn't hiding something. He is. I suspect that there are ONI, NIS, or FBI files chronicling his activities and associations with the VVAW. There are also nomination forms for his medals, particularly his first Purple Heart and his Silver Star, which may prove embarrassing. We have after action and casualty reports for the other two PHs, but none for the first one, which was approved almost three months after the December 2, 1968 incident.
The Silver Star is the most curious of all. We have three citations. The first one was by ADM Zumwalt who was not the final approval authority for the award since CINCPAC, Adm Hyland, had that authority. The citations are significantly different, which can be attributed to some editing at the CINCPAC level to make the citation conform to existing standards and to fit on one page suitable for framing. However, the Zumwalt citation is on letterhead paper and we know that Kerry received the award from ADM Zumwalt just two days after the incident. A contemporaneous letter form LTJG Droz to his wife confirms that Kerry, Droz, and Rood were called to Zumwalt's HDQTRS on March 2, 1969 to receive their awards for the Feb 28 action. It is quite apparent that the Silver Star was not vetted through the normal award process, which would certainly take more than two days. Either Zumwalt acted outside of his authority or there is correspondence between Hyland and Zumwalt concerning the very unusual circumstances surrounding this award.
SECNAV Lehman signed replacement citations and certificates for the Silver Star and Bronze Star on June 4, 1985 and perhaps issued replacement medals, which Kerry denied throwing away. BUPERS also issued replacement certificates for Kerry's three PHs on the same date (signed by David Harlow, Commander Naval Military Personnel Command). We really need to see Kerry's written request for replacement citations/cetificates, and possibly medals. It is also odd that the Navy would just not make a copy of the existing citations in Kerry's files rather than having them signed by Lehman. The Bronze Star citations (Zumwalt and Lehman) are identical, but the last sentence of the Lehman signed citation for the Silver Star is different from the Hyland version. Why?
for all in this post, IMO i beleive that this was locked in swiftvet web site for 2 reasons.
1 - Server was going crazy...with FR and DUmmies accessing info.
2. - I beleive as i read in earlier post in this thread: that the NY SUN will be running an article about this SOON., as their reporter has been working very closly with information previously uncovered by NAVYCHIEF.
IF INFORMATION WAS INCORRECT, SEEMS LIKE THEY WOULD HAVE COMPLETELY DELETED REFERENCES TO THIS SUBJECT. INSTEAD OF SAYING INFO WILL BE REOPENED LATER.