On Trail, Kerry Reminded of Wartime Rescue
By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 18, 2004; Page A06
DES MOINES, Jan. 17 -- Thirty-five years after a rescue that earned him the Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) interrupted campaigning Saturday for an unexpected reunion with the Green Beret he pulled from the murky waters of the Bay Hap River in Vietnam.
"I don't believe it," Kerry said to Jim Rassmann, squeezing the man's pink face in his hands. "It's amazing to see you."
Mobbed by a throng of cameras, the two embraced. It was the first time they had seen each other since March 13, 1969.
"I wrote you in '84, and you never wrote back," Rassmann said, sobbing. "I never got it," Kerry replied, teary-eyed.
Less than three hours earlier, Kerry had been engaged in a final blitz of campaigning before Monday's Iowa caucuses. Suddenly he was transported back three decades to a harrowing day in Vietnam when his overloaded Swift boat came under attack.
"He could have been shot and killed at any time, and so could I," Rassmann said, describing the rescue to a group of activists here. "So I figure I owe this man my life."
Rassmann, a 21-year-old Army lieutenant at the time, was hitching a ride to the village of Cai Nuoc when a mine exploded, tossing him off Kerry's Swift boat. "I started swimming underwater," he said, describing an ordeal that Kerry said he was not fully aware of until that moment. "The next thing I knew, I was coming up for air." He reached for the cargo net on the boat and Lt. Kerry, his arm bleeding from the blast, helped lift Rassmann. "John pulled me over," Rassmann, 56, said. "Had he not, there is no question in my mind I would have fallen back into the river."
Rassmann, a registered Republican and retired Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, said he felt compelled to come and support Kerry's candidacy after following his career from afar since 1984. He called Friday morning and was on a plane from his home in Oregon on Saturday morning. "I haven't talked to this guy since 1969, March 1969," he said.
From his formal campaign announcement in September, Kerry has capitalized on his status as a decorated war hero, staging events with veterans and offering himself as the most experienced Democrat on foreign policy. But Saturday's emotional reunion left Kerry dazed and stammering. "I, I, I am overwhelmed by just the memories that come back," he said. "Seeing this fellow here is amazing. . . . This is a brave, unbelievably patriotic man."
"I never thought I'd ever see the guy again," Kerry said.
Kerry gave Rassmann a ride on his campaign bus. As they huddled in the back, Kerry peppered him with questions. "What were we doing that day?" Kerry asked. "Do you remember?" |
