Zumwalt: This is more than likely the original citation taken from the award submission. Normally, as part of the nomination form, the nominator must provide a synopsis of the award (citation) that can fit on a single page suitable for framing with the certificate. I suspect that Zumwalt forwarded the award to CINCPAC, ADM Hyland, for the final signature, including the citation. Due to the lengthy time delays processing these awards, it is not unreasonable to posit that it took CINCPAC for 12-18 months later. It is worth noting that the requirement to go to CINCPAC applied only to the Silver Star, hence only the Zumwalt and Lehman citations for the Bronze Star. p> Hyland: CINCPAC probably edited the Zumwalt citation to make it fit on to one page and to clean it up a bit to fit the existing format.
Lehman: Except for the last sentence, the citation is the same as Hyland's. What makes this curious is that it is many years later, at least a decade, and I doubt if Silver Stars had to go to SECNAV for approval. My take is that Kerry requested replacement medals (physical ones) and due to the fact that Kerry was no longer an active servicmember, administrative requirements mandated that SECNAV's office had to approve the issue of the replacments once it was verified from official records that Kerry had actually earned them.
Now that we have the Drudge Report item that Kerry said he threw his own medals away (something he has denied including on his website), I believe Kerry really did throw his medals away and decided in the 1980s, either during his run for LT Governor in 1982 or the Senate in 1984, that he wanted the medals replaced so he could exhibit them. He probably never thought that anyone would be investigating all of this 20 years later.