Vietnam vets slam Kerry
By RICHARD TOMKINS, UPI White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- Sen. John Kerry's accounts of his service in
Vietnam and his statements that he witnessed atrocities were attacked as
fabrications and political opportunism Tuesday by a group of Vietnam
veterans who served with him personally or in the units affiliated with him
during his short tour of duty in Southeast Asia.
The veterans, including some of Kerry's former commanders and shipmates,
have formed an organization called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" and
called on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to authorize
release of all his service records, including medical records.
"We feel it is very, very import that the American people get the actual
truth about that three or four months Kerry served in Vietnam since he has
made it a center piece of his biography," said John O'Neill, who took charge
of Kerry's boat and crew after Kerry left Vietnam. "Second, we resent very
deeply the false war crimes charges he made coming back from Vietnam. ... We
think that those have cast aspersion on those living and dead.
"We think he knew he was lying when he made them. We think they are
unsupportable. We intend to bring the truth about that to the American
people. Third, we believe that based on our experience with him, he is
totally unfit to be commander in chief."
Kerry, who commanded a river patrol boat, served about 4 months of a
one-year tour of duty in Vietnam and won the Silver Star and Bronze Star. He
requested and received reassignment to the United States after receiving
three Purple Hearts for combat wounds, allowed under Navy regulations. The
circumstances and merit of one of those awards has come into question in the
campaign against President George W. Bush, leading to acrimonious
mudslinging and a resurrection of the turmoil the conflict inflicted on
American society.
Following his return and then discharge from the Navy, Kerry became a
prominent anti-war activist and testified before Congress that he had
witnessed U.S. forces committing atrocities and war crimes.
"I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be commander in chief of the U.S.
armed forces," said retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, chairman of the
organization. "This is not a political issue. It is a matter of honesty."
Hoffman said Kerry had recently telephoned him and spent 45 minutes
attempting to convince Hoffman of not proceeding with the formation of the
organization, which Democrats Tuesday attacked as a shill for Bush.
Hoffmann, who debated Kerry on television in 1971 over Vietnam allegations,
denied any ties to Bush or the Republican Party. The Swift boat veterans
held differing political and social views, he said. "There is only one issue
we all agree on, and that is the issue of John Kerry."
In a letter to Kerry signed by more than 200 Swift boats veterans, they
wrote, "It is our collective judgment that, upon your return from Vietnam,
you grossly and knowingly distorted the conduct of the American soldiers,
Marines, sailors and airmen of that war (including a betrayal of many of us,
without regard for the danger your actions caused us).
"Further, we believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material facts
as to your own conduct in this war.
"We believe you continue this conduct today, albeit by changing from an
anti-war to a 'war hero' status," the letter said.
The veterans Tuesday were vociferous in denying they had seen or had
participated in wartime atrocities and questioned that if Kerry had indeed
observed any, why he didn't report it as he was required to do.
One veteran, noting the allegations were again made in a book on Kerry's war
experiences, choked back tears as he related how his wife and daughter had
read about the alleged war crimes Kerry spoke about in Douglas Brinkley's
"Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" and asked him if he had
committed them.
Spokesmen for the Kerry campaign were not immediately available for comment
Tuesday, but the Democratic National Committee put out a statement attacking
the public relations company used by the group as having Republic Party
connections. The veterans made no comment on the allegations.
Kerry has admitted a poor choice of words in his testimony before Congress
in 1971 but says he served with honor in the war.
--
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Kamen
swiftvets.com
SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH FORMS ORGANIZATION
Goals are to restore honor of Vietnam vets; Rebut John Kerry’s unanswered lies; Bring the truth about Kerry’s service to the public
(May 4-Washington, D.C.) Today, a group of Swift Boat veterans from the unit in which Senator John Kerry served announced the formation of an organization, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The organization has been formed in order to bring the truth about Kerry to the American people. The organization intends to discuss Kerry’s war crimes charges, Kerry’s record and to request that Kerry authorize the Department of Defense to release the originals and the complete files relating to his military service and medical military records.
The group released a historic letter expressing the overwhelming opposition of those who served with Kerry or in his unit to his misrepresentation of his record and the unit’s record. The letter is signed by Swift Boat veterans at all levels and from the entire political spectrum; the entire chain of command during the period Kerry served in Vietnam; veterans who participated in the engagements resulting in his medals; and the majority of officers who served with him in Coastal Division 11, the unit in which he spent most of his four month tour of duty. Public circulation of the letter began one week ago and collected hundreds of signatures. The signers already make up a majority of the Swift Vets whose addresses can be found. The complete record of signers and comments will be posted on Swiftvets.com.
Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann, USN (retired), Commander of Coastal Surveillance Force Vietnam (Commander Task Force 115) and chair of the group said, “I signed this letter because I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States. This is not a political issue. It is a matter of his judgment, truthfulness, reliability, loyalty and trust - all absolute tenets of command.”
“We don’t understand why Kerry would make the centerpiece of his campaign an exaggerated account of his four month service in Vietnam 33 years ago, but since he is, we believe the American public is entitled to the truth about his service and about his charges about war crimes and atrocities,” explained John O’Neill, a Swift Boat veteran who took charge of Kerry’s boat a few months after Kerry’s departure and who debated Kerry in 1971.
The Swift Boat Vets for Truth include the entire chain of command above Kerry: Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard, Lt. Commander Elliott, Captain Charles Plumly, Captain Adrian Lonsdale USCG (retired) and Rear Admiral Hoffmann (retired), as well as enlisted men, officers, men who served with Mr. Kerry, men who served in the same group of Swift boats and men intimately familiar with the operations and conduct of Swift boat operations during the war. The group also includes James Zumwalt, Lt. Colonel, U.S.M.C. (retired), representing his father, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, and brother, Lt. Elmo Zumwalt III, both deceased.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is a Special Purpose Political Action Committee.
Chairman, Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (retired)
Treasurer, Weymouth “Wey” Symmes
PO Box 26184
Alexandria, VA 22313
www.swiftvets.com
WHAT IS A SWIFT BOAT?
A Swift Boat is a 22-ton heavily armed, 50-foot, shallow draft aluminum patrol craft similar to the utility boats servicing oil platforms and other offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. These boats are known also by the U. S. Navy designation as PCF or Patrol Craft-Fast.
First introduced into the war in Vietnam in 1966, they are driven by two powerful diesel engines. The boat was armed with paired 50-caliber, aircraft type, ring-mounted machineguns forward over the pilothouse, another 50-caliber machinegun mounted in piggyback fashion over an 81-millimeter mortar that is fixed to the afterdeck, and an M-60 light machinegun most often mounted on the sampson post at the bow in front of the pilothouse. The post has a mounting plate, which can also accommodate a Mark 19 forty-millimeter, rapid-fire grenade launcher.
These boats also carried an assortment of other lethal weapons. Fragmentation hand grenades were not permitted on the boats. Concussion grenades were plentiful as a deterrent to swimmers who might try to attack a boat.
The crew usually consisted of five enlisted personnel led by one officer-in-charge. This officer was normally an Ensign or a Lieutenant Junior Grade, 23 to 27 years old. All were volunteers and almost all of them developed a fierce love for their boats.
For all of its deadly weaponry and ordinance, Swift Boats were not armored except around the small magazine located on the centerline under the deck of the main cabin. The skin of a Swift could easily be penetrated by small arms fire and the enemy version of the rocket-propelled grenade could blow out the insides of any Swift Boat while killing or maiming its crew. |
