Even though this vet backs Kerry on this Medal, he opposes him on the rest. The interesting thing is that his account of the preplanning ties in with what the other vets said, and does not agree with Kerry. It really is a brick in the wall for the Swift Vets. I emailed it to Captain Ed.
Kentucky veteran involved in ambush backs Kerry account
But Franklin man dislikes senator for actions opposing Vietnam War
By Joseph Gerth
jgerth@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
A Kentucky Vietnam veteran who was involved in the fighting that earned Sen. John Kerry the Silver Star for gallantry says the Democratic presidential nominee deserved the award.
But Larry Clayton Lee of Franklin County says he opposes Kerry's presidential bid, largely because of statements Kerry made in opposition to the Vietnam War after he returned to the United States.
"I have no problems with him getting the Silver Star," said Lee, who was a 20-year-old boatswain's mate on a swift boat accompanying Kerry's boat when they were ambushed by Viet Cong soldiers.
Lee is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that has run controversial television commercials challenging Kerry's war record, including his three Purple Hearts and Bronze Star.
Lee said Kerry earned his Silver Star, but based on his discussions with the swift boat group's members he has come to question whether Kerry's other medals were deserved.
Lee, 56, a senior programmer for an insurance company, said he was not present when Kerry was wounded on three occasions or when he was awarded the Bronze Star for pulling a soldier out of a river under fire.
The group's ads are being run in several contested states. Its leader, John O'Neill, has published a book titled "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry."
Kerry, who commanded Swift Boat PCF-94 for four months in 1968 and 1969, is being supported by his crew.
Kerry's campaign and the crew have defended the candidate's Vietnam service and have accused President Bush's campaign of using the group as a front to attack Kerry. Bush's campaign has denied coordinating with the anti-Kerry veterans.
The swift boat group has alleged that Kerry sought to be returned home before his tour ended after suffering three minor injuries and that he exaggerated what happened during an ambush that resulted in him receiving the Bronze Star.
Some Kerry opponents have claimed that he didn't deserve the Silver Star, and even Lee said that a lesser Bronze Star might have been more appropriate.
Coming under fire
On Feb. 28, 1969, Lee was serving as the forward gunner on Patrol Craft Fast 23, a swift boat that Lee estimates was 60 to 90 feet away from Kerry's boat during the battle.
Kerry was then a lieutenant junior grade in tactical command of three boats in an operation — Sea Lords — to insert South Vietnamese troops along the Dong Cung River.
Lee said that the night before the operation, Kerry recommended to two other swift boat commanders that if they were ambushed the next day, they should turn their boats toward the attack and beach them.
Lee said the normal course of action was to speed past an attack, firing toward the shore and then beaching the boat to allow soldiers and sailors to double back and fight the attackers.
Often, Lee said, the Viet Cong were gone by the time troops reached their position along the riverbanks.
Lee said he and other crew members talked the night before the operation that if Kerry's tactic worked, the sailors involved could be eligible to receive commendations and Bronze Stars.
Kerry was not involved in those discussions, he said.
Lee said it was probably around noon the next day when the boats came under fire.
Lee was mentioned in a story last weekend in the Chicago Tribune in which William Rood, a Tribune editor and the officer in charge of Lee's swift boat, supported Kerry's version of events during the battle.
Rood wrote that Kerry gave the order to turn into the fire and charge the Viet Cong, who were dug in along the river.
"That was the first time it had been done that I know of, and I don't think it was ever done after that," Lee said of the tactic. "I think it was great."
The Silver Star
Kerry, Rood and the third boat's commander, Lt. Donald Droz, beached their boats and dropped off South Vietnamese soldiers to conduct a sweep for the Viet Cong, Lee said. Kerry and Rood then proceeded up the river about 1,000 yards and were ambushed once more.
Again, Lee said, the boats turned toward the Viet Cong.
Lee was on the bow of his boat firing an M-60 machine gun, which he said delivered about 100 rounds in 45 seconds.
"They (the Viet Cong) popped up out of the bush, and we just mowed them down."
Lee said he had hoped to be ordered off the boat to chase the Viet Cong into the jungle because he believed he would have been in line for a Bronze Star — the same award he said his father earned in World War II.
But Lee said his orders were to stay aboard and man his gun. He earned a commendation instead of a Bronze Star.
According to Kerry's Silver Star citation, which was endorsed by Rood in his Tribune story: "Without hesitation Lt. (junior grade) Kerry leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch (sic) and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber."
Lee said he didn't see Kerry chase a soldier behind a hooch — a thatched hut — and kill him, but he said he doesn't question the account. "I was too busy firing my gun," Lee said. "I didn't have time to check and see what he was doing."
According to Kerry's citation, 10 Viet Cong soldiers were killed and one was wounded. There were no American or South Vietnamese casualties.
Concerns about Kerry
Lee said his concerns revolve around what he called Kerry's three "Band-Aid" Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.
Kerry received his Purple Hearts for wounds in other actions, and he got the Bronze Star for a fight on March 13, 1969. Some swift boat veterans who say they were in the vicinity of that fight have said the citation wasn't deserved because Kerry wasn't under fire.
Members of his crew have said it was deserved.
After Lee went to New York last week for book signings of "Unfit for Command," he said he came to the opinion that the Massachusetts senator didn't deserve some of the medals.
Lee also said he couldn't explain why Kerry's crewmates would continue to support him if the medals weren't warranted.
But he said his biggest concern is that Kerry accused some servicemen of raping women, torching villages and killing children after he returned to the United States.
"I was over there 19 months, and he was there for four months," Lee said. "How could he have seen all of those things I never saw? ... They didn't happen."
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