Posted on 08/02/2004 5:29:48 PM PDT by USMCVIETVET
John Kerry Does Not Speak For Vietnam Veterans
By Bruce N. Kesler Aug 2, 2004
In April 1971, John Kerry and a small group of purported and real Vietnam veterans camped out in Washington to protest the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. They received extensive publicity to their vastly overblown charges of pervasive brutality and war crimes by U.S. forces. The antiwar Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Fulbright, featured Kerry at a televised hearing. This one-sided protest and publicity demoralized many citizens, and lastingly blackened the reputation and sacrifices of other Vietnam vets that made our reentry into peaceful civilian life unwelcome and harsh.
At the time, I had recently returned to civilian life after service with the Marine Corps in Vietnam. I was outraged and hurt by Kerry’s grandstanding falsehoods. I wrote a long letter of protest about it to the then editor of the New York Times op-ed page, Harrison Salisbury (a respected journalist and historian, and an opponent of the war). Mr. Salisbury edited my letter and published it as a New York Times op-ed on May 13, 1971. In it, I wrote: “…the overwhelming majority of Vietnam veterans and Americans bitterly resent the charge from the left that they are all war criminals….It is not a crime to be American and young, but it is if one adds to that ignorant, foolish or irrational dialogue as citizens of a democratic government. The antiwar veterans are not ignorant of the facts; they merely use them to form an army of young people marching to their drums, exploiting issues, fears and people for their own ends. That is the crime.”
I received supportive calls from many other Vietnam vets, saying let’s do more to clear our reputations. One of the callers was a Vietnam veteran who had been a river boat commander at about the same time as John Kerry, John O’Neill, who was to soon leave the Navy and who had been denied an opportunity by Senator Fulbright to rebut Kerry. Other Vietnam veterans represented hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans in student and local veterans clubs around the country. We formed the Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. I borrowed money for airline tickets, some double-up rooms at the YMCA in Washington, rented a space at the National Press Club, sent out amateurish press conference invitations and sat in a phone booth at the Y for 24-hours begging newspaper and TV reporters to come to our meeting on June 1, 1971. Many did. We received national press for our rebuttal to Kerry and his gang. John O’Neill effectively debated and rebutted Kerry on Dick Cavett’s late night TV show.
Kerry’s launching pad to a political career now has him contending for President. Kerry never recanted his slurs of 33-years ago. Instead, he asserts his military service makes him more qualified than President Bush to lead the nation in war. We, who proudly served must serve again, to demand honesty.
Kerry denies calling us war criminals. Kerry did, testifying before Congress in April 1971: “Several months ago in Detroit we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.”
The publicity to Kerry’s charges permanently scarred the reputation of those who served in Vietnam. Studies statistically rebut his claim: American “atrocities” in Vietnam did not differ from any other American war. Yes, bad things happen in war, which is why we hate war. But, Kerry did not stop with that, then or now. Kerry accused all Americans who served in Vietnam of being war criminals, led by war criminals, and Kerry continues that lie. The U.S. prosecuted the exception of My Lai perpetrators, and has done so when atrocities have come to light.
Kerry’s fellow Vietnam Veterans Against the War, like the 150 he praised, refused to prove their claims attacking the honor of Vietnam veterans. Exhaustive studies exposed their stories as bogus, and many were imposters who had not served in Vietnam. Even Kerry’s favorable biographer recently said: “The chickens are coming home to roost, and unfortunately he is starting to backtrack.”
Kerry testified in 1971, “We are angry because we feel that we have been used in the worst fashion by the administration of this country.” In his testimony, Kerry boasted of meeting in Paris with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations at the peace talks, and that he supported their proposals. It seems Kerry was more useful to our enemies than used by the U.S. administration. Former POW Senator McCain complained in 1973 that Kerry’s testimony was “the most effective propaganda [my North Vietnamese captors] had to use against us.” Senator McCain, a nice guy, has lately forgiven Kerry. What about other POW’s, like Paul Galanti who last February said that Kerry’s charges, repeated by his captors during his torture, “jeopardize[d] those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy.” Galanti went on to say, “The Vietnam memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him.” Sydney Schanberg, exposer of Cambodia’s Killing Fields and critic of Bush, documents that in the early ‘90’s Kerry’s U.S. Senate special committee squelched evidence of POW’s not released by the North Vietnamese.
In April 2001, Kerry wrote, “We returned home to an America that was indifferent, even hostile. There were no parades, only nightmares.” Yet, Kerry takes no responsibility for creating a negative atmosphere against Vietnam veterans. The truth of how Vietnam veterans felt emerged from a comprehensive 1980 survey by the Veterans’ Administration which reported 91% of those who had seen combat in Vietnam were “glad they had served their country;” 80% disagreed with the statement that “the U.S. took advantage of me;” and nearly 2/3rds would go to Vietnam again, even knowing the outcome of the war. The overwhelming majority of Vietnam veterans are proud of their service, not of Kerry’s treachery and lies.
John Kerry served in Vietnam for several months as a Navy Lieutenant, over 35-years ago. After three “band-aid” Purple Hearts (veritable scratches), he opted to leave Vietnam. That brief service, and his record since, hardly qualifies him as a hero or military expert qualified to run a world-wide war against terrorists. Indeed, his perfidity then, his refusal to apologize or recant since, and his many other areas of flip-flops and evasions, hardly qualifies him to lead the world or be depended upon to be steadfast in protecting Americans, our interest in a terror-free world, or American soldiers.
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About the author: Bruce Kesler volunteered for the Marine Corps after graduating college in 1968, served as an enlisted man and was honorably discharged after serving in Vietnam. Since, Kesler has been a financial executive for Fortune 100 companies, and currently owns an employee benefits firm.
Wasn't Vung Tau an in country R&R center at one time?
Yes, I think so. We used to go there to "relax".
That's a awesome story.
70 - 71 I spent some time in Vung Tau & Tan Chow. Do you know these places?
I knew of Vung Tau but not the other. Was fairly stationary at Bien Hoa and the at Cam Rahn Bay(Where sKerry bought his camera to shoot his "War Movie).
Come here boys an help me polish off this bottle of Southern Comfort" said Janis. Long story short we did. What a night we had.
Sounds like a great experience. Poor Janis. Had a similar experience with KC from KC and the Sunshine Band back in 81 in England. We partied on their luxury tourbus.
BTTT!!!!!!!
“I defended this country as a young man” - and when the going got rough I bailed.
“I will defend it as President” - and if the going gets rough …
Yep.
Jumping into the water to save a hampster and then refusing to sign a ban on partial birth abortion.
I recall returning to the States from Vietnam in '69. The first thing we were warned to do when we left the airplane was change out of our uniforms into civilian clothing because there were so many problems with the anti-war people.
Kerry and his miserable ilk have never apolologised for their traitorous and anti-American positions of those years. They still think they are right, but today are afraid to admit it if they are running for office. Instead, Kerry hides behind the cloak of his brief and undistinguished service (I, for one, don't "congratulate" him for it. The damage he did is far worse than the good he did, and besides, he is a self-serving promoter of the worst sort). He claims the mantle of a hyper-patriot when in fact he is one of the reasons we lost that war and millions today are still enslaved under Communist tyranny!
He's worse than just a fraud. He would make Benedict Arnold proud.
"I recall returning to the States from Vietnam in '69"
I came home in June '68 and was lucky enough to land at McCord AFB instead of a civilian airport so no protesters were around. My kid brother picked me up and we drove home.
I've never been a big fan of John McCain but that in no way takes away from what he went through or his bravery in holding up under such conditions. That he is able to forgive Kerry shows he has healed successfully and I'm happy for him. I don't believe I could be so generous toward a traitor like Kerry (and I'm not!).
I'm not sure if that is "healing" or something else - like "Senate comity".
If John Kerry saw his error and was repentant about his mistakes, he could easily be forgiven. However, he still thinks what he does was right and defends it, despite all evidence to the contrary. This indicates, to me, he is either a dangerous or stupid man. I think he is the former.
I doubt that he could ever repent. He has lived the lies too long.
I don't know a single Vietnam vet who will even watch a Hanoi Jane movie nor do I know one who has any respect for John F'ing Kerry. I doubt that any would forgive him
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