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Kerry's Christmas (Sung to "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") I spent Christmas in Cambodia. It was 1968. Secret missions under enemy fire, The mem'ry is "seared" in me, but wait.... Actually I was just sort of "near" Cambodia. Sa Dec's only 50 miles away. Writing entries in my diary, Was how I really spent Christmas Day. But if I think, I'd have to say, I went in January for the CIA. Or maybe February's right, I know for sure I was there at least one night. And now I'm offering this simple phrase, So please make sure to get...

The new version of Sen. John Kerry's Cambodia experience is also not true. Sen. Kerry patrolled from An Thoi on the 94 boat and also from Cat Lo on the 44 boat. There was no way to enter Cambodia from the An Thoi patrol area. That patrol area started at the coastal fishing village of Ha Tien and ran parallel to the Cambodian border, but there was no way into Cambodia. Any good map will show this to be true. From the Cat Lo patrol area around Sa Dec, it would have been possible for a boat to enter Cambodia,...

'I also went into Cambodia' I served as Officer-in-Charge of a Swift Boat (PCF-71) in Vietnam and my tour overlapped with that of John Kerry. With regard to your editorial ("Kerry's 'Christmas in Cambodia'," Tuesday), I can tell you that my crew and I also went into Cambodia (without orders). As units assigned to Coastal Division 11, we patrolled the Ha Tien River and an adjacent canal that ran along the Vietnam-Cambodian border and, on occasion, crossed into Cambodia. Mr. Kerry was assigned to Coastal Division 11 in December 1968, and, while I don't recall who was where on Christmas...

On October 14, 1979, John Kerry described a remarkable event from his days as a Swift boat officer for the Boston Herald: "I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon [sic] claimed there were no American troops was very real." -- President Nixon, of course, did not assume office until January of 1969. On March 27, 1986, during a speech opposing President Reagan's policy...