Another Ex-Swift boat skipper praises Kerry
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
postgazette.com
By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For 35 years, Rich Baker seldom talked about Vietnam, Swift boats or John Kerry's ability as a young naval officer
But now, with Republican partisans challenging Kerry's wartime record, Baker said he feels compelled to strike back.
"Every Swift boat officer gave his all in Vietnam, but Kerry stood above the rest of us," said Baker, 61, of Scott, a former Navy lieutenant and Swift boat commander. "He was number one as far as courageousness and aggressiveness. He set the tone."
Campaign aides to Kerry, the Democratic candidate for president, yesterday asked Baker to speak out publicly to counter television ads attacking Kerry's military record.
Baker, who ran a bakery after coming home from Vietnam, complied. He granted a handful of interviews and agreed to appear today at a Pittsburgh news conference organized by the Kerry campaign.
A registered Democrat, Baker voted for Republican George W. Bush for president in 2000. But this time, Baker said, he is supporting Kerry for two reasons.
For one, Baker said, he considers Kerry better qualified than Bush to be commander in chief.
Second, Baker said, he is perturbed that Kerry is being criticized for his service in Vietnam while Bush's activities during wartime receive almost no scrutiny.
"George Bush has two silver dental fillings in his teeth to show what he did during the Vietnam War," Baker said. "John Kerry has a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts."
Bush was in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam era, an assignment that kept him stateside.
Baker, who grew up in Crafton, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1965, then enlisted for Swift boat duty. He arrived in Vietnam in 1968, just before Kerry.
Kerry served about four months in Vietnam, and, Baker said, he made a habit of putting himself in harm's way.
"You wouldn't want to be there for four hours or four minutes," Baker said. "John Kerry went above and beyond the call of duty, sticking his nose into enemy fire. Not everybody liked that because some were just intent on survival. But until recently, nobody ever said he did not serve honorably."
Attacks on Kerry's war record have come from a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans For Truth.
But, Baker said, these men never criticized Kerry until he became the Democratic presidential nominee. Baker specifically recalled a 1995 reunion of Swift boat crews in Washington at which praise for Kerry's service in Vietnam was unanimous. Kerry then was the pride of the group as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts.
Each Swift boat was manned by an officer in charge and a five-member crew. During the early stages of the war, they were used as patrol details. But the Navy later turned Swift boats into attack units.
How badly Kerry was injured during the battles he fought has become a central theme of his critics.
Former Sen. Bob Dole, a grievously injured World War II veteran and the 1996 Republican presidential candidate, said over the weekend that Kerry did not deserve his Purple Hearts.
"I respect his record," Dole told CNN. "But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds."
Steve Maguire, president of the U.S. Army Ranger Association, said in an interview yesterday that he did not consider blood a prerequisite for a Purple Heart.
Maguire, who was blinded in Vietnam, said explosions could cause serious injuries that did not necessarily draw blood.
"The awarding of medals is not a science," Maguire said. "Even the Purple Heart has a certain discretion about it."
As an infantry soldier in Vietnam, he said, he considered jungle warfare much more demanding than what Kerry and others faced on Navy details.
"I can't call it cushy duty, but it was not all that dangerous," Maguire said of Swift boats.
Baker disagreed, recalling a hail of enemy fire on his Swift boat that nearly killed him.
Kerry, Baker said, was in peril many times.
"John Kerry should not be alive today," Baker said. "He was aggressive -- more aggressive than the rest of us. That was his nature, and everybody who was there knows it." |
