Posted on 04/20/2004 2:48:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON -
Amid questions about his military records, John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign on Tuesday provided certification of his medals from the Vietnam War, including three Purple Hearts for combat injuries.
Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said the campaign was in the process of compiling the rest of Kerry's naval record and planned to begin posting it on the Internet by day's end. Kerry said all his military records are available to the public during an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Meehan said the Massachusetts senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee requested a copy of his record from the Navy last month and received roughly 150 pages last week. He said the campaign was in the process of scanning images of the documents Tuesday and they would be posted on Kerry's Web site.
Meehan gave The Associated Press 13 pages that included documentation for the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. The campaign gave the same records to the Boston Globe last year for an extensive series on Kerry's background.
The documents also included declassified reports that explain Kerry's wounds that led to his Purple Heart awards. They show Kerry had shrapnel wounds in his left thigh after his boat came under intense fire on Feb. 20, 1969, and he suffered shrapnel wounds in his left buttocks and contusions on his right forearm when a mine detonated close to his boat on March 13, 1969.
The campaign could not locate a similar report for Kerry's original Purple Heart. As evidence that Kerry was wounded, Meehan showed The Associated Press a "Sick Call Treatment Record" from Kerry's personal files that included a medic's written note dated Dec. 9, 1968.
"Shrapnel in left arm above elbow. Shrapnel removed and appl bacitracin dressing. Ret to Duty."
Documentation for the second two injuries show that Kerry was deemed to be in good condition and returned to active duty after treatment. But a third Purple Heart meant Kerry could be reassigned out of Vietnam, and a document dated March 17, 1969, said Kerry requested duty as a personal aid in Boston, New York or the Washington, D.C., area.
Meehan said although Kerry could have asked to stay in Vietnam, it was the Navy's decision to request that he be reassigned. Kerry left the country in early April 1969.
Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman accused Kerry's campaign of waffling on the release of his military records, saying the campaign's position on Tuesday to release the records in "due diligence" is contrary to Kerry's comments on "Meet the Press" that the records would be made public immediately.
"Senator Kerry's record of nondisclosure and his flip-flop on this issue should concern voters," Mehlman said.
Meehan responded, "Senator Kerry's record on the military is one we are running on, not running from. We are happy to compare Senator Kerry's record of service to anybody in the Bush campaign who has or has not served."
Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, but did not serve in combat.
According to the Pentagon (news - web sites), the Silver Star is awarded for "gallantry in action against an opposing armed force" and the Bronze Star is for "heroic or meritorious achievement of service, not involving aerial flight in connection with operations against an opposing armed force. Bronze 'V' device worn to denote valor."
The Purple Heart is "awarded for wounds or death as a result of an act of any opposing armed force, as a result of an international terrorist attack or as a result of military operations while serving as part of a peacekeeping force."
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On the Net:
"BOAT 44...Where ARE you??????"
I did my full 12 months and frankly I never heard of the 3 PH rule nor did I ever know someone who used it. I wonder how many naval officers ever left early using this regulation. Something just isn't right.
I don't want to find fault with someone who served and did put themselves in the line of fire, however, Kerry manipulated the system in a dishonorable way. My biggest complaint about Kerry is his antiwar activities and associations (VVAW, Fonda, Ramsey Clark) after he returned. The fact that he now trumpets his Vietnam service and demeans those who didn't serve show what a weasel and hypocrite he really is.
Kerry received his third purple heart for bruises on his forearm. Bruises from shrapnel? The campaign could not locate a similar report for Kerry's original Purple Heart
Contusion - An injury in which the skin is not broken; a bruise.
This is the part where Ted Kennedy just swoons with admiration...a water rescue!! Huzzahh! Huzzahh!!
"Shrapnel in left arm above elbow. Shrapnel removed and appl bacitracin dressing. Ret to Duty."
The regulations in effect during Vietnam specifically stated that Purple Heart were awarded for:
"A wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action with an enemy......"
By the regulations in effect at the time of Kerry's Vietnam service, a Purple Hearts was not authorized for a Bacitracin and Band-Aid wound that was treated without a single stitch by a Corpsman at Sick Call.
That particular Purple Heart was therefore awarded in violation of the Purple Heart regulations in effect at the time.
It really would not matter all that much except that Kerry used that Purple Heart and two others whose details I have not yet researched to get out of combat after only 4 months.
THAT IS THE SMOKING GUN, FREEPERS........
KERRY'S FIRST PURPLE HEART DOES NOT MEET THE "necessitates treatment by a medical officer" REQUIREMENT SET FORTH BY REGULATION AT THE TIME OF KERRY'S VIETNAM SERVICE.
KERRY USED THAT PURPLE HEART OBTAINED IN VIOLATION OF THE PURPLE HEART CRITERIA SET FORTH BY REGULATIONS TO CUT SHORT HIS COMBAT TOUR OF DUTY.
The dates are a little off, too. I had him arriving in Vietnam Nov 17, 1968...first 'wound' received on Dec. 2, 1968 (his 16th day of duty). Now, he doesn't show up for Sick Call until his 23rd day of duty...
Of course, if you were rollin' down the river for several days...but INTENT on getting PH credit for your shrapnel scratch, SOME medics would probably have been accommodating, I suppose....
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) decided to post on the Internet military records on his service in the Vietnam war after questions were raised about one of the medals he was awarded.(AFP/Getty Images/Stephen Chernin)
Actually, rather than a 'mine', that might have been Huckleberry Nguyen skipping rocks across the river from the lush banks of the mighty Mekong...
"I assume they fired back," Zaladonis recalled in an interview. But neither he nor Runyon saw the source of the shrapnel that lodged in Kerry's arm. '`We came across the bay onto the beach and I got [hit] in the arm, got shrapnel in the arm," Kerry told the Globe in a 2003 interview. Kerry has also said he didn't know where the shrapnel came from.
Back at the base, Kerry told Hibbard he qualified for a Purple Heart, according to Hibbard. Thirty-six years later, Hibbard, reached at his retirement home in Florida, said he can still recall Kerry's wound, and that it resembled a scrape from a fingernail. "I've had thorns from a rose that were worse," said Hibbard, a registered Republican who said he was undecided on the 2004 presidential race.
The Globe asked Kerry's campaign whether the Massachusetts senator is certain he was under enemy fire and whether he recalled that a superior officer raised questions about the matter. The campaign did not respond directly to those questions. Instead, Meehan said in a prepared statement that Kerry "received the shrapnel wound early in the course of that combat engagement. " Meehan also provided a copy of a medical report showing treatment for a wound on Dec. 3, 1968. The Purple Heart regulation in effect at that time said that a wound must "require treatment by a medical officer."
Nearly three months later, a document was sent to Kerry informing him that he would receive a Purple Heart "for injuries received on 2 December 1968." The Naval Historical Center, which could not locate a copy of the original card for the incident, nonetheless confirmed that Kerry did receive the Purple Heart.
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