In an eerie way, he was in many ways like Hitler. Although it's hard to say Hitler didn't rightfully "win" his awards (he was gassed in WW1), but Hitler, like Kerry, used his status as a bona fide wounded war veteran to further his political ambitions.
According to his biographers, he used it even before he got interested in politics. When he was bumming around Vienna, he showed his iron cross to get free meals and other handouts. Like kerry, there were a lot of things in his past he didn't want known. Unlike kerry, he amassed enough power to destroy all the records and kill off most of the witnesses.