One Fence, Nine Medals, Four Kerrys
by Ingrid Langsather
Posted Apr 30, 2004
ABC News recently uncovered tape from a November 1971 interview that John Kerry gave to "Viewpoints," a program on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. It showed Kerry saying he "gave back" up to nine medals of his own on April 23 of that year when, as leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, he joined a group that tossed their war medals over a fence at the U.S. Capitol.
But when Kerry ran for the U.S. Senate in 1984, his story about the medals began to change. He then admitted he had tossed away only his ribbons in 1971 and that the medals he tossed had actually belonged to two other veterans. This has been his story between then until now.
Last Friday, April 23--before the 1971 video clip made news--Kerry assured the Los Angeles Times, "I never implied that I did it," in reference to his tossing his medals away. Kerry maintains his story has been consistent since 1971. Readers can make up their own minds.
KERRY #1: 1971
Host: You're looking at a picture of a veteran who is throwing his medal away.
John Kerry: And that was the medals themselves. And so they decided to give them back to their country and . . .
Host: How many did you give back, John?
Kerry: I gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine (inaudible).
Host: Well, you were awarded, the Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts.
Kerry: Well, and above that, I gave back my others.
--"Viewpoints," WRC-TV
Nov. 6, 1971
KERRY #2: 1985
"Some criticized him for being unpatriotic when he made a flamboyant show during a Washington war protest of throwing his medals away. When, last year, he acknowledged that he had discarded someone else's, he was crucified for being a hypocrite. 'It's such a personal thing,' he says. 'They're my medals. I'll do what I want with them. And there shouldn't be any expectations about them. It shouldn't be a measurement of anything. People say, "You didn't throw you medals away." Who said I had to? And why should I? It's my business. I did not want to throw my medals away.'"
--The Washington Post
Feb. 21, 1985
KERRY #3: 1996
"[I]n a speech immediately afterward to the veterans, Kerry said: 'This administration forced us to return our medals....' But as it later turned out, the medals Kerry threw were not his own. In his recent interview with the Globe, Kerry added a new twist.
"He says that the two sets of medals he threw had been handed to him by a wounded veteran in a New York VA hospital and by a World War II veteran from Lincoln, Mass., whom he'd met at a fund-raiser. Kerry says he can't remember their names. While he did not throw his own medals (they remain tucked away in a desk at his home in Boston), Kerry says he did throw the ribbons on his uniform that symbolized the medals he had earned. Asked why he didn't bring his own medals to throw since it was planned weeks in advance, Kerry said it was because he 'didn't have time to go home (to New York) and get them.'"
--The Boston Globe
Oct. 6, 1996
KERRY #4: TODAY
Charles Gibson: Well, Senator, I, I was there 33 years ago. I-I saw you throw medals over the fence and we didn't find out 'til later that those were--
Kerry: No, you didn't see me throw. Wrong.
Gibson: --those were someone's medals.
Kerry: Charlie, Charlie, you're wrong. That is not what happened. I threw my ribbons across. And all you have to do is go back and find the file footage.
Gibson: And someone else's medals? And someone else's medals, correct?
Kerry: Later, after, excuse me. Excuse me, Charlie. After the ceremony was over, I had a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart given to me, one Purple Heart by a VA in New York and the Bronze Star by an older veteran on World War II in Massachusetts.
Gibson: But, but--
Kerry: And I threw them over 'cause they asked me to. I never, never--
Gibson: But, Senator, let me, let me come back to this, the thing you just said is that the military makes no distinction--
Kerry: This is a phony controversy.
Gibson: --that the, that the military makes no distinction, that the military makes no distinction between ribbons and medals, but you're the one who made the distinction. In 1984--
Kerry: No. We made no distinction back then, Charlie. We made no distinction in 1971.
Gibson: But, but 1984, Senator, I, I don't want to argue with you--
Kerry: Correct.
Gibson: I just want to question. In 1984 . . . when you were running for the Senate . . .that was the first time that you called someone in from labor because they were upset that you had thrown ribbons away.
Kerry: No, someone from labor--
Gibson: You, you called them in and you made the distinction and said, I didn't throw my medals away, I just threw the ribbons away. You made the distinction.
Kerry: I was asked specifically in greater detail about what took place. And I answered the question truthfully. Which was exactly consistent with what happened in 1971. I mean, Charlie, go back and get the file footage…
Gibson: Is it not fair to draw the inference that when trying to appeal to the anti-war people in 1971, you said, as in that interview, it was the medals, and then when the people who supported the war were giving you political problems, you then said, no, I didn't throw the medals away 13 years later.
Kerry: Charlie, that's the most, with all due respect, that's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. . . .
Gibson: In 1985, you said to the Washington Post, "it is such a personal thing, I did not want to throw my medals away." Then, in 1996, you said to the Boston Globe, "I didn't bring my own medals to throw because I didn't have time to go home and get them." Which one was it? Did you want to throw the medals away or not?
Kerry: That's accurate. I, I've expressed that there was great, sort of, sense of wrenching about the whole thing. Many of us, we had a long argument the night before, Charlie, it's a matter of record, as to how we were going to do it. And the vote was taken. I was not in favor of throwing them over the fence. . . . They voted to throw. I threw my ribbons. I didn't have my medals. It's very simple.
--ABC's "Good Morning America"
April 26, 2004
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