Attacks on John Kerry Discredited

Military.com ^ | June 19, 2006 | Wade Sanders

[Phil Harmonic]

There are those who are already so entrenched in their hatred of Kerry, that no official Navy records, no verified eye-witness testimony, no facts will every cause them to re-evaluate their point of view. However, I am assured that there are many who, regardless of their political background, are interested the facts and see knowledge as an evolutionary process, and who take the time to research their opinions and speak from a foundation of fact. It clearly is not necessary to like John Kerry, or agree with his record as a Senator, but it seems to me that a vicious attack on any man's integrity and honor deserves to be based on something other than lies and distortions. Well, here are some facts based on the official Navy record, Navy messages, the Navy archives, and the statements of witnesses who were really there.

[ladyinred]

I dare say John Kerry's own mouth is all of the evidence I need to know he is anti-American. The attempt to pretend anything else is falling on deaf ears.

[Fedora]

Sanders spends a lot of time here sidestepping issues, using irrelevant data and ad hominem attacks to distract the reader, but despite his pretense he adds nothing new to resolve the various discrepancies in Kerry's record. On one of the few concrete points he discusses, he claims:

According to Zumwalt, he actually wanted to give Kerry an even higher award, the Navy Cross, but decided upon a Silver Star because he wished to make the award as expeditiously as possible.

Where did Zumwalt say this?--I am curious where Sanders is getting this from. Below is my own summary of what was on the public record on this as of the 2004 campaign, with the sources indicated. Off the top of my head I believe the Nicosia and Brinkley references are the ones relevant to the Navy Cross issue, especially Nicosia who quotes someone on it (I think he quotes either Kerry, Zumwalt, or Robert Drinan but I'm not sure without looking). I'd draw attention to my use of the word "allegedly" below--my recollection (again, off the top of my head) is that I included this qualifier because I could find no corroboration for the claim asserted by Nicosia's source in particular. I do not have a copy of Nicosia's book handy, just my 2-year-old notes, so if someone has it and wants to check what I have here against the actual text of Nicosia, page 70 that might be useful:

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

According to Kerry’s account as reported by biographers Gerald Nicosia and Douglas Brinkley, paperwork was submitted requesting that Kerry be awarded a Navy Cross (a very rare award only given to 120 Naval personnel during the entire Vietnam War)20, but Admiral Zumwalt intercepted the paperwork and changed the request to a Silver Star in order that he could authorize the request himself and bypass the lengthy process of Congressional approval, for the sake of boosting the morale of Coastal Division 11, allegedly. But the paperwork for Kerry’s Silver Star contains puzzling discrepancies. According to the original Silver Star citation bearing Admiral Zumwalt’s signature, “Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him”. The original citation was later revised twice, and the two revisions omit any mention of Kerry shooting the man behind the hootch. The third version of the citation bears the signature of Reagan administration Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, who states, “It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me.”21

[SOURCES for n20 and n21:]20”Navy Cross”, Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center, http://www.history.navy.mil/medals/navcross.htm(August 5, 2004).

21 E.R. Zumwalt, Jr., “Citation”,JohnKerry.com, http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/militaryrecords_1.pdf, 7-8 (August 28, 2004); John Hyland, “Citation”, undated and John Lehman, “Citation”, undated, JohnKerry.com, http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Silver_Star.pdf (August 28, 2004); Glen Johnson, “Kerry assails columnist who questioned war service”, New Standard, October 28, 1996, reprinted online at SouthCoastToday.com, http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-96/10-28-96/a03sr015.htm (August 5, 2004); James Carroll, "Annals of Vietnam: A Friendship that Ended the War", New Yorker, October 21, 1996, 130-156; David Warsh, “Behind the Hootch: Did Kerry Commit a War Crime?”, The Boston Globe, October 27, 1996; Nicosia, 70; Kranish, “Heroism, and growing concern about war”; Brinkley, Tour of Duty, 293-294; ”John Kerry’s Vietnam Service Timeline”; O’Neill and Corsi, 80-86; Alex Katz, “Man refutes candidate’s critics”, Alameda Times-Star, August 12, 2004, posted at Naval Air Station Alameda, http://www.nasalameda.com/temp/article-mike-medeiros-john-kerry.html (August 29, 2004); Alex Katz, “Local vet recalls time on Kerry’s swiftboat”, Tri-Valley Herald, cached at http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:7mmMYic6f-UJ:www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86%25257E10671%25257E2334602,00.html+Local+Vet+Recalls+Time+on+Kerry%27s+Swiftboat+&hl=en, August 14, 2004 (August 29, 2004); William B. Rood, “Feb. 28, 1969: On the Dong Cung River: ’This is what I saw that day”, Chicago Tribune, August 22, 2004, reprinted at Shepherd Express, http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/25/35/news_and_views/news.html, August 26, 2004 (August 29, 2004); Thomas Lipscomb, “Kerry citation a ‘total mystery’ to ex-Navy chief”, Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-lips28.html, August 28, 2004.

[Interesting Times]

Quoth Nicosia:

Kerry had an action-filled tour as a swift-baot commander in Vietnam, where he was severely wounded in an ambush, gaining three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, in addition to the hSilver Star, which by all rights should have been a Navy Cross. But Admiral Elmo "Bud" zumwalt Jr. had intercepted the paperwork for Kerry's Navy Cross and changed it to a lesser award so that he could approve it himself (the Navy Cross requires congressional approval) and pin it on Kerry a few days later, as an "impact award," to boost morale. (Home to War, pp.70)

There is no footnote for this paragraph. The bogus "severely wounded in an ambush" claim is rather a nice touch...

[Interesting Times]

The typos are mine...

[Fedora]

Thanks for the rapid response, LOL. Without a footnote, the way that's worded makes it difficult to determine Nicosia's source, which I believe is one reason I added the "allegedly"--I couldn't tell where he was getting that from. I know he interviewed Kerry for his book. He may have also interviewed Zumwalt, since he mentions him there, but I don't remember--might be in the acknowledgements or in the list of interviews at the beginning of the footnotes (think he had one of those IIRC). Anyway, though, Sanders seems to be adding some information Nicosia doesn't have there, so I'm wondering where he's getting that from.

[Interesting Times]

I'm not sure. Despite all the efforts to puff up Kerry, it really doesn't look like they have much...

[Lumper20]

Kerry was never at CCS MACVSOG, nor did we have any SEALS, much less any Navy types at CCS or at any of our launch sites. Please tell me all about the Navy and CCS, MACVSOG?

[moonman]

"I find any attack on any veteran who has honorably served distasteful . . ."

I find it much worse than distasteful for a veteran to call Kerry's service 'honorable'!

[Radix]

The MSM is apparently determined to keep posting lying BS as this until Kingdom come.

Or at least until Kerry gets his ass handed to him in another presidential campaign.

That lying puke is so over.

[Fedora]

Yes, it sure looks like a bluff.

I checked my notes on Brinkley to see if there's anything more there. I wrote down for pages 293-294, "Zumwalt changes Kerry's Navy Cross to Silver Star". I don't have the book now, but I don't recall reading anything about Zumwalt thinking Kerry deserved a Navy Cross.

[Fedora]

Think I may have found the source for that:

Glen Johnson, "Kerry assails columnist who questioned war service"

Also participating by phone from San Francisco was Michael Medeiros, who was the rear gunner on the Swift boat. Tom Vallely, a former Marine and Sen. Kerry's close friend, introduced each speaker.

Mr. Zumwalt, with two Navy ships and the USS Constitution anchored over his shoulder, said he remembered only two such incidents from Vietnam and one of them was Sen. Kerry's.

Mr. Zumwalt also said he wanted to recommend Sen. Kerry for an even higher medal, the Navy Cross, but approval would have taken too long. Instead, he personally approved a Silver Star and sped along the award to improve morale at a time his sailors were taking heavy casualties.

[kabar]

I recall reading that somewhere, but Zumwalt could only recommend the award. The decision would be made higher up the chain of command. I seriously doubt that a Navy Cross would have ever been awarded for the action described.

[kabar]

(the Navy Cross requires congressional approval)

The Secretary of the Navy can approve the Navy Cross.

Approval authority

[Interesting Times]

Thanks. Do you know if that was the case during the Vietnam War?

[kabar]

I served in Vietnam as a naval officer. I am fairly certain that was the case. Since the SECNAV has that authority now, I would assume the SECNAV would have more of a reason to have it during the Vietnam war. It is a service specific award, i.e., the NAVY Cross. One would think that the SECNAV has the authority to award it.

[Interesting Times]

Makes sense to me.

By the way, thanks for serving.

[Fedora]

Thanks for the comments on the award authority chain. I find this whole aspect of Kerry's record quite puzzling, with respect to both the award itself and Johnson's quotation of Zumwalt on the alleged Navy Cross consideration. If Zumwalt had personally reviewed the paperwork on the incident with a close eye (and he may not have--he was after all a busy man with many more pressing responsibilities--which might help explain things) I don't see how he could have considered a Navy Cross--even putting the best face on Kerry's reported actions as his supporters do, it's difficult to interpret his actions as meeting the criteria for that award. I suppose one possible explanation is that Zumwalt may not have reviewed the paperwork on the incident too closely and may have been using hyperbole during the speech where Johnson quoted him. At the time Zumwalt's son had either just died or was near-death from what Zumwalt attributed to Agent Orange, so the Admiral was going through some personal issues and was making attempts to heal some old wounds, which is what led him to reconcile with Kerry temporarily at that time (he later recanted). So that may have colored his comments, which is the best explanation I can come up with for the statement attributed to him by Johnson. I have pondered a few other possibilities but that is the one that makes most sense to me. In any case something does not add up here.

[eleni121]

military.com....yeah right.

We sell Dem BS too. You can get cash for your votes too.

[Lumper20]

You are on target about military.com.

Now, to the issue. I want to know how Kerry's actions merited any Navy Cross, much less any Silver Star? Tell me all about these heroics.

If the Navy wanted to improve morale as one poster suggests, then give the awards to the EM. The morale of a unit is the CO's responsibility. If the commander cannot motivate, train, and lead his men, he is responsible. You do not give out awards for morale problems. Did anyone here ever have a combat CO with a movie camera in RVN? I think not.

[Doctor Raoul]

One of the core group of Kerry butt sucking "shipmates" is a union electrician and democrat party official.. Low level, but active in the 'Rat party. Was a convention delegate too if I recall correctly. Wonder if Wade's the one?