Posted on 07/02/2008 2:27:45 PM PDT by Interesting Times
AN INCIDENT ON THE BAY HAP RIVER
Instead of "No Man Left Behind," the true story of that day is "One Man Left."
— John O’Neill
A war hero candidate
On January 17, 2004, two days before the crucial Iowa Democratic primary, the Kerry campaign staged a dramatic “reunion” between the candidate and Jim Rassmann, a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer who said Kerry had saved his life in Vietnam 35 years before. The tearful meeting of the two men was presented as spontaneous, though the campaign had paid Rassmann’s way to Des Moines and informed NBC anchor Tom Brokaw in advance of the carefully managed event. The images of Kerry and Rassmann embracing were widely credited with propelling Kerry to victory in the Iowa caucuses. “No Man Left Behind” would form the story line for tens of millions of dollars of TV advertising over the next few months, becoming the prime exhibit in a strategy of marketing John Kerry to the American public as a war hero. A campaign press release told of a dramatic rescue by Kerry after he was wounded by enemy fire:
On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry’s when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore. Kerry was hit in the arm, while a mine blew Rassmann’s boat out of the water. With enemy fire coming from both sides of the river and swift boats evacuating from the area, Kerry’s crew chose to turn their boat toward the ambush to save Rassmann.
“We were still under fire, and he was wounded at the time,” recalled Rassmann. And with his boat’s gunners providing suppressing fire, Kerry extended his wounded arm into the water and the two lieutenants locked arms.
The old media enthusiastically embraced this tale of combat heroism. On February 8, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Rassmann’s river patrol of Swift Boats had been blown out of the water in a barrage of fire from Viet Cong AK-47s and rocket launchers. . . . Then miraculously, sailing back through a hail of artillery, was Kerry.”
More exciting details appeared on March 13 in a front-page Los Angeles Times story which claimed the patrol had been “led by the 25-year-old Kerry”—which would have been a surprise to LTJG Larry Thurlow, the actual task force commander. Rather than merely encountering a mine and an ambush as in the Kerry campaign’s press release, the unfortunate patrol was now “on the run, being chased down the Bay Hap River by enemy soldiers firing guns and rockets.” The Times wrote that Rassmann had been blown off a boat and was left behind by the Swift Boats while snipers shot at him from both banks. Rassmann was certain his “time had come” until the convoy turned around. “Kerry had ordered the boats back to pick up the man overboard.”
On April 13, USA Today reported:
Rassmann . . . says he is alive today because of Kerry’s courage during a vicious battle in March 1969. . . . Swimming in the river while being strafed from both banks, Rassmann was convinced he was about to die before Kerry’s boat returned. . . . “He was frankly nuts coming up to the bow and exposing himself to the barrage of bullets and mortars,” Rassmann says.On July 29, Democratic National Convention attendees were treated to a nine-minute biographical video of Kerry, titled A Remarkable Promise. Up on the giant convention hall screen, Jim Rassmann told the delegates:
We had gone up a canal and the boat to our left hit a mine; simultaneously we came under fire from both banks. John was wounded and I was blown off the boat into the water. By the time I surfaced the boats were gone and I was all by myself. John turned around; all of them came back for me. I grabbed a hold of the net and started climbing upside down and couldn’t get over the lip of the bow. I was just hanging there and all these rounds kept coming in, and John ran up and dropped down on his hands and knees and pulled me over. And had he not come out on that bow like that I’d be dead.
The video seemed to show actual footage of Kerry’s boat with bullets striking the water. However, as director James Moll later admitted, the film was merely “illustrative.” The New York Observer reported, “bullets in the water were not from the actual event.”
Distorted beyond recognition
The evidence that emerged in 2004 formed a very different picture of the event than the campaign and media versions. The January 17 press release had implied that Kerry had been wounded by enemy gunfire, which was not the case. Nor had the attack involved land mines, artillery, mortars, or rockets, as news reports had variously claimed. Most eyewitnesses said there was no enemy fire of any kind, just a single command-detonated water mine that exploded under the hull of Navy LTJG Richard Pees’ PCF-3.
For the Swift Vets, the most egregious distortion was the claim that other Swift Boats left the area while Kerry alone bravely returned into an ambush to save Rassmann. They said that in reality Kerry’s PCF-94 was the only boat to leave the scene, fleeing downriver while the other crews worked to rescue their fellow Swift Boat sailors and to stabilize PCF-3. Kerry only returned after it was clear there was no ambush, picking up Rassmann just before another boat arrived. Nor had Kerry towed PCF-3 to safety as he claimed. Instead, he abandoned PCF-94 and its crew, riding back on board another boat.
-- continued at link...
I believe you’re thinking of Michael Dobbs’ article in the Washington Post. The related graphic did support the Swift Vets’ version of events, though the Post was careful not to point that out. However, there’s no evidence that Kerry’s boat (or any of the others) was fired upon during or after the mining incident. See the linked chapter for details...
After the initial mine explosion I can imagine that our boats may have started firing on shore at suspected targets. Once one boat begins firing that could induce the other boats to also fire on suspected targets. It could take a while to conclude that nobody is firing from shore.
Is this the likely scenario which gave Kerry the cover to claim that they were being fired on or do the others assert that there was no small arms fire?
Brokaw and Rather seem identical twins when it comes to lies, misrepresentations and a disdain for America and all it’s glory.
Their hatred for all things republican and all things military is disgustingly over the top.
OK. I’ll put that on the list for reading on my next trip.
Last book I bought about Kerry was “Unfit for Command”
I read it last night after I sent my question. It was quite interesting.
I think you’ll find it extremely interesting. Drop me a line after you’ve read it.
My disgust with John F. Kerry, (D-Hanoi)knows no bounds.
IMO, he should be serving life, or worse for treason, yet the people of Massachusetts ELECT him to Congress. Shame on them.
Thanks for the post, best to you and the Swifties.
AR
(USAF-former)
There's no question that Kerry and the VVLF worked closely with the Vietnam communists and bent over backwards to do their bidding -- especially in helping to generate anti-US war crimes propaganda. I agree that it's disturbing to see such actions rewarded with a high public office...
As I researched Kerry, one thing I often wondered was if there has ever been a soldier, any soldier, any war, who received as many purple hearts in as short a period of time?
As I researched Kerry, one thing I often wondered was if there has ever been a soldier, any soldier, any war, who received as many purple hearts in as short a period of time?
Great Work!
>> No stitches. No loss of consciousness. No stretchers. No blood transfusions. No surgery. No hospital stays. No crutches or wheelchairs. No recuperation periods. No disabilities.
Sounds like the kind of wounds you would get from cutting the hedges on the weekend.
LOL.
Ping.
Here's a link to it:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041124/posts
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