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WASHINGTON — A former Navy doctor who says he treated Sen. John F. Kerry for the wound that led to his first Purple Heart in Vietnam said Monday that several of Kerry’s crewmates told him at the time that the injury did not occur in battle. Dr. Louis Letson, a retired Alabama physician who served as medical officer at the Naval Support Facility at Cam Ranh Bay, said the crew’s “confided” story contradicted Kerry’s own report in December 1968 that he was wounded during a river firefight between his Swift boat and Vietcong gunmen ashore. The doctor’s account surfaced Tuesday...

Kerry allowed some reporters to review his military medical files for 30 minutes yesterday. His personal physician was also available by conference call. At the tail-end of the article, Harris writes:The records do suggest Kerry was occasionally demanding with naval doctors. On Jan. 26, 1967, he complained of sickness and wanted a chest X-ray. "This is a very aggressive patient," the records said. LOL! Wouldn't I love to know what led a doc to write such a thing!Complete article

John Kerry has a piece of shrapnel in his left thigh from an injury he suffered in the Vietnam War, his doctor said Friday during a review of 36 pages of the Democratic presidential candidate's military medical records.

Kerry Doctor Issues Summary of Military Medical Records; Navy Did Not Include Kerry Medical Records with Official Naval Records 4/23/2004 3:47:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Michael Meehan of John Kerry for President, 202-712-3000 WASHINGTON, April 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today the Kerry Campaign released a letter from Dr. Gerald J. Doyle, Kerry's doctor for the past 18 years, summarizing 35 pages of Kerry's personal copies of his military medical records. When the U.S. Navy sent Kerry his official Naval records, his military medical records were not included. Kerry reconstituted the military medical records from his...

<p>The military records that Sen. John Kerry posted on his Web site yesterday raise new questions about the actions he took to earn several prestigious war medals and whether he deserved them.</p> <p>The Navy awarded Mr. Kerry three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star in just four months of commanding a gunboat along rivers in Vietnam. It's an extraordinary record, say many veterans, and one that raises questions on its face.</p>

<p>The military records that Sen. John Kerry posted on his Web site yesterday raise new questions about the actions he took to earn several prestigious war medals and whether he deserved them.</p> <p>The Navy awarded Mr. Kerry three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star in just four months of commanding a gunboat along rivers in Vietnam. It's an extraordinary record, say many veterans, and one that raises questions on its face.</p>

Apr 21, 8:05 AM EDT Kerry Campaign Posts Navy Records Online By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Kerry's campaign is posting his military records on the Internet as his critics question the combat injuries that earned him three Purple Hearts and an early exit from Vietnam. The first records posted Tuesday night on Kerry's campaign Web site documented the awards that have been a highlight of Kerry's biography as the Democrat seeks to oust President Bush in November. During nearly five months as the commander of a Navy swiftboat in the Mekong Delta, Kerry was awarded...

WASHINGTON - John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign is posting his military records on the Internet as his critics question the combat injuries that earned him three Purple Hearts and an early exit from Vietnam. The first records posted Tuesday night on Kerry's campaign Web site documented the awards that have been a highlight of Kerry's biography as the Democrat seeks to oust President Bush (news - web sites) in November. During nearly five months as the commander of a Navy swiftboat in the Mekong Delta, Kerry was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement, the Silver Star for...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Amid questions about his military records, John Kerry's campaign yesterday provided documentation of Vietnam War injuries that included shrapnel wounds to his arms, legs and buttocks that earned him three Purple Hearts.</p> <p>Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said the campaign was in the process of compiling the rest of Kerry's naval record and planned to begin posting it on Kerry's Web site by day's end. Kerry said all his military records are available to the public during an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."</p>

After months of Dems haggling over President Bush's military records, the GOP now moves to demand full-discloser from John Kerry! The day after Kerry told MEET THE PRESS he would make all of his military records available for inspection at his campaign headquarters, a spokesman said the senator would not release any new documents, leaving undisclosed many of Kerry's evaluations by his Navy commanding officers, some medical records, and possibly other material.

Senator John Kerry had asked the Defense Department to investigate a series of allegations made by the Toledo Blade about a U.S. Army platoon in Vietnam allegedly killing unarmed civilians back in 1967. The Blade series has now won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Of course, getting such a prize doesn't make a story true. Janet Cooke of the Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for a phony story about a child heroin addict. The prize was returned. The New York Times won a Pulitzer for Walter Duranty's stories about Stalin's Soviet Union. Duranty was later exposed as...

In his account to "Tour of Duty" author Douglas Brinkley, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry described his first encounter with enemy forces in Vietnam as an inconsequential skirmish that "hardly qualified as combat." But on Sunday's "Meet the Press," Kerry's recollection of the episode was far more dramatic, with the top Democrat saying the confrontation not only was "frightening" but also was probably the worst combat his unit had experienced during the entire war. Defending himself against charges that he put in for a Purple Heart for a relatively minor flesh wound after the Dec. 2, 1968 skirmish, Kerry...

Kerry faces questions over Purple Heart By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 4/14/2004 WASHINGTON -- John F. Kerry's tour of duty in Vietnam, distinguished by Silver and Bronze stars and the close-range killing of an enemy fighter, is highlighted in his campaign ads and cheered on the trail. Even the campaign of President Bush, who did not see combat, hasn't tried to make an issue of his opponent's service record. But as the presidential campaign heats up, some Vietnam veterans are using the Internet and talk radio to question the Democratic candidate's military record. They complain that Kerry's three Purple Hearts...

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry insisted on being awarded his first Purple Heart in Vietnam even though his injury amounted to no more than a "fingernail scrape," his commanding officer at the time now says. Retired Lt. Cmdr. Grant Hibbard tells the Boston Globe that he can still recall Kerry's wound, and that "it resembled a scrape from a fingernail," the paper said. "I've had thorns from a rose that were worse," Hibbard insists. Still, the former Navy man remembered that Kerry insisted on receiving a Purple Heart for the wound he said was incurred during a Dec. 3,...