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And if I'm not mistaken, I believe that I read somewhere that Kerry himself signed off on at least one of his own Purple Hearts, or something to that effect. Did you hear about this as well? I don't know Navy regs well enough to say if this is legit or not, but one would think that you couldn't go about pinning medals on your own chest......

Yes he did. Because he was the ranking officer, he writes such/reports for consideration of medals in regard to his subordinates AND in his case, himself.

" And if I'm not mistaken, I believe that I read somewhere that Kerry himself signed off on at least one of his own Purple Hearts, or something to that effect. Did you hear about this as well? I don't know Navy regs well enough to say if this is legit or not, but one would think that you couldn't go about pinning medals on your own chest......"

Kerry has refused to allow the military to release his full record from the repository in St Louis. The Boston Globe, on a number of occasions has asked Kerry to authorize the release, and he has refused.
You would think the media might question why Kerry is stonewalling.
Feb 25, Tony Blankley ended his column in the Washington Times ( " What Makes John Kerry Tick" )this way :

"But if his experience in Vietnam has deranged his capacity to make rational judgments about the use of military force on behalf of national security, ... he would be unfit to be commander and chief today. John Kerry should help us better understand his true nature by permitting the government to release his full military files."

My personal opinion is that there is more to Kerry's file than sleight of hand over his medals. I think that he may have been treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,possibly at a VA facility.I have also heard it speculated, that Kerry's reassignment back to the states, may have been welcomed by his superiors,because of Kerry's erratic behavior in country.
During Kerry's anti war period,Kerry hadn't married rich wife #1 yet,and by all accounts, Kerry came from a society family, but,in name only. His family lived off the good graces of their richer relatives. So, he may have sought counseling and treatment at the military's expense.
Interviews with some of Kerry's superiors and crewmates for a Boston Globe series showed that Kerry was desperately unhappy during his 120 days in Vietnam. Kerry disobeyed orders, taunted his superiors and wrote in his journal that he hoped he was court martialed.
Kerry took his Super 8 camera ,returned to the scenes of the engagements where he was " injured " and reenacted them.
Kerry to this day, watches those films at his home.
Admiral Zumwalt and others have said that Kerry was basically a loose cannon,out of control,killing women and children.
" the fabled and distinguished chief of naval operations (CNO), Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, told me -- 30 years ago when he was still CNO -- that during his own command of US naval forces in Vietnam, just prior to his anointment as CNO, young Kerry had created great problems for him and the other top brass, by killing so many non-combatant civilians and going after other non-military targets.

"We had virtually to straight-jacket him to keep him under control," the admiral said."

A friend of Kerry's told Joe Klein,in the New Yorker interview, that after Kerry lost his first election in 1972, Kerry went into a deep funk-he refused to speak to anyone during a 3 day week end, when he visited this friend. Kerry did nothing ,but, build an entire model ship from scratch . The article doesn't go into detail as to how long Kerry's depression and mute phase lasted.
Kerry's wife has given interviews where she says,that at the present time, "he had nightmares, at times so intense that he'd wake up screaming, leap out of bed, and slamming into walls."
Kerry obviously has some major emotional and psychological issues.Interview after interview, Kerry, his family members and friends describe Kerry's behavior in bizarre terms. It's also obvious that the mainstream media will not pressure Kerry to release his records-both military and medical.