Posted on 08/26/2004 10:58:55 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
an Francisco — On Feb. 28, 1969, my husband was the commander of one of three Swift boats traveling the Dong Cung in Vietnam to carry troops and supplies upriver. The events of that day, and what happened almost two weeks later on another Swift boat patrol, have become a source of controversy in the presidential campaign, with a group of veterans saying that John Kerry did not deserve the medals he won for what he did then. I know my husband thought otherwise.
The other two commanders - John Kerry and William Rood, an editor at The Chicago Tribune - have written of the courage they witnessed on Feb. 28. My husband, Lt. j.g. Donald Droz, who grew up in a small Missouri town and was a 1966 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, wrote to me about it in a letter dated March 6, 1969:
"I had quite a morning... Admiral [Elmo] Zumwalt, Commander Naval Forces Vietnam, flew to An Thoi from Saigon ... for a special awards presentation. To make a somewhat long story short, PCF's 23, 94 and 43 conducted an operation February 28th which we pulled off rather spectacularly. Anyway, for my part, I was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat 'V.' I don't mean to blow my own horn, but I really am pleased with the award, and it is a rather significant medal. I'll bring the citation with me to Hawaii."
Don did bring the citation to Hawaii a few weeks later, and I traveled from our home in Pennsylvania with our infant daughter, Tracy, to meet him for his R&R. But before that meeting, Don and John Kerry and others were involved in another battle, on March 13. Don did not write to me about that battle. But he did tell me about it during our five days together in Hawaii - when he met our daughter for the first time, and held her for what turned out to be the last time.
In Hawaii, Don mostly talked about the future: how he wanted to come home, go to graduate school and then become involved in public service. But he also talked about Vietnam: about how much respect all the "Swifties" had for one another. I remember him saying that John Kerry was heading home, deservedly so, and that he admired his bravery and planned to see him that summer.
Don also talked about how hard it was to be in a situation where no one knew what was around the next bend or what the "rules" were or who was friend and who was foe. He told me he was convinced that what the United States was doing in Vietnam was pointless or worse and that, when he got home, he intended to speak out against it. But he was clear - and I have always understood - that he was criticizing the war itself and those who were deciding how to wage it, not those who were putting their lives on the line to do their duty honestly and bravely.
Those who had the courage to fight in Vietnam and, when they returned home, to tell of the reality of what they saw deserve our admiration. I am certain my husband would have been as appalled as I am at the spectacle of some veterans questioning others' service.
Don died on April 12, 1969, just two weeks after we said goodbye in Hawaii and two months before he would have come home. Ever since, I have felt a special obligation to speak the truth as I know he would have done.
Judith Droz Keyes, a lawyer, was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic convention.
The NY Times, covering the whole range of political views, from the Left to the Far Left!
I keep seeing Willam Rood's name mentioned as a commander of one of the five boats, but I didn't see it listed when the piece about the operation, along with the map was posted. What gives?
It’s nice to know that the Kerry camp has added widows to its list of those who are claiming that the swifties are liars. They already have an amputee.
I don’t get the point of her op-ed piece. She sheds absolutely no light on the March 13th action where Kerry got his Bronze star and provides only hearsay as to the alleged valor of Kerry.
But liberals always speak from emotion and not facts.
Those who had the courage to fight in Vietnam and, when they returned home, to tell of the reality of what they saw deserve our admiration. I am certain my husband would have been as appalled as I am at the spectacle of some veterans questioning others' service.
Then again he might have objected to Kerry questioning the service of his fellow veterans in 1971.
Could not Kerry have resigned his commission to protest the war? But that might have worked against his ambition.
But she wasn't on Kerry's boat, so she has no right to comment.
Problem is, Kerry's testimony wasn't about "telling what he saw". Instead, he entered communist talking points into the Senate hearing record.
Where's the beef?
Different medals, different crews; different times.
Nothing in this article says anything about this point.
You see Rood's name mentioned in connection with the "teenager in a loincloth" incident.
You don't see his name in connection with the riverine mine incident because he wasn't there.
His boat was down the river when Kerry was (supposedly) storming the beach single handedly against a numerically superior force and rockets blazing ... or in the words of everybody else - including Root - Kerry shot a kid in the back. Take your pick, citation says one thing, everybody else says another. Droz doesn't know because he wasn't there.
the incident reported here is Kerry's Silver Star. Note he got the highest medal of anybody while the other two captains got Bronze stars and other crew members other medals. The soldiers they were transporting (and note she inadvertently corroborates that here) were the ones who actually did the business that day.
Jeeeez...is it a Democrat virtue - that they seem to be able to "channel" information from the dead?
First Edwards in trials with junk science and channeling -- now this lovely widow contributing "information" that has NOTHING to do with the issues at hand..
Semper Fi
Is Mrs Keyes saying her now deceased husband committed the same atrocities that Kerry has admitted to performing. That Lt. J.G. Donald Droz , raped and murdered the women and children of Vietnam. That Donald Droz also cut off heads and all the other crimes John Kerry has owned up to committing.
I would also like to add that I agree with Mrs. Keyes and Donald Droz. Our men and women put their lives on the line honeltly and bravely and it was the men and women in Washington D.C. who did not fight that war to win.
So ACTUAL Swift Boat Vets claims are "UNSUBSTANTIATED" to the New York Times, but the claims of a WIDOW of a deceased Swift Boat Vet...now THAT is SUBSTANTIATED, right? Welcome to 1984.
Yet she doesn't seem to have any problem with Kerry questioning the service of all the swiftees who are criticized in the (auto)biography he wrote with Doug Brinkley and in Brinkley's other writings published on Kerry's behalf (eg. The Tenth Brother). Is it possible that being treated as a Democrat VIP helped to shape her rather selective sensibility to such things?
Wow, the Times and the Kerry campaign will stop at nothing, including exploiting war widows, to get their point across.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.