John Kerry A ‘Decorated War Hero?’
By Gordon Bishop (06/30/04)
There have been a lot of questions about Senator John Kerry’s record in the Vietnam War.
Kerry himself made an issue of his war record in TV and radio ads about the three Purple Hearts and Silver Star and Bronze Star he received as a Navy officer. Kerry positioned himself as a real war hero, while accusing President Bush of avoiding the Vietnam War by joining the Texas Air National Guard as a jet fighter pilot.
The liberal mainstream media did not question Kerry’s record because they support him as the next president of the United States.
But an investigation has been launched into Kerry’s “medals” by those who fought with him in Vietnam, and by many veterans’ organizations.
Here are two headlines that recently ran in the media:
“Questions sparked by Kerry’s record” published on Page 1 of The Washington Times.
“I was on Mr. Kerry’s boat in Vietnam. He doesn’t deserve to be commander in chief.” – John O’Neill, Swift Boat Commander, US Navy, Vietnam. (The Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2004).
According to the April 26 Washington Times, Kerry’s “military records do not show Mr. Kerry ever missing a day of duty for injuries. There is a conflict between some of the accounts – and Mr. Kerry’s presidential campaign still refuses to release some records.”
The Times reported that “Upon inspection of the government documents posted on the Massachusetts Democrat’s Web site, other questions arise, such as the conflicting descriptions of official records of the injuries Mr. Kerry sustained on March 13, 1969. It was the commendations he received that day – a Bronze Star and a third Purple Heart – that let Mr. Kerry request a transfer out of Vietnam into a desk job eight months before his tour expired.”
Ray Waller, a combat medic in the Marines, told The Times he was surprised that Kerry never missed duty for the “wounds” that earned him three Purple Hearts. Although Kerry has said one of the injuries caused him to lose two days of service, there is no evidence he ever lost time for any injuries, The Times reported.
Though Kerry’s campaign released more than 120 pages of Navy records, Kerry still refused to release medical records that more thoroughly describe his “injuries,” according to The Times.
(Sound familiar? Bill Clinton was the only President never to release his annual physical exam “medical records” during his eight years in the White House.)
Grant Hibbard, Kerry’s commanding officer at the time, told the Boston Globe that Kerry’s injuries were too minor to qualify for a Purple Heart.
O’Neill, the Swift Board Commander in Vietnam, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “John Kerry and I served most of our time – a full 12 months in my case and a controversial four months in his – commanding the exact same six-man PCF-94, which I took over after he requested early departure.”
O’Neill said he debated John Kerry in 1971 on The Dick Cavett Show. At the time, Kerry was a national spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
“The key issue in that debate was Mr. Kerry’s claim that American troops were committing war crimes in Vietnam on a ‘day-to-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.’
“John Kerry slandered America’s military by inventing or repeating grossly exaggerated claims of atrocities and war crimes in order to advance his own political career as an antiwar activist,” O’Neill wrote in the Wall Street Journal article. “His misrepresentations played a significant role in creating the negative and false image of Vietnam vets that has persisted for over three decades.”
O’Neill continues: “Neither I, nor any man I served with, ever committed any atrocity or war crime in Vietnam. The opposite was the truth.”
During his 1971 televised debate with Kerry, O’Neill accused him of “lying,” and urged Kerry to come forth with affidavits from the soldiers who had claimed to have committed or witnessed atrocities.
“To date, no such affidavits have been filed,” O’Neill noted.
Meanwhile, Kerry, in defending his war record, said he surrendered his Vietnam ribbons but not his medals during a 1971 anti-war rally when protesters tossed their war medals over a fence at the U.S. Capitol, according to Fox News (April 27, 2004).
“I stood up in front of the country, reached into my shirt, visibly for the nation to see, and took the ribbons off my chest, said a few words and threw them over the fence,” Kerry told ABC’s “Good Morning America” (April 26, 2004). “Back then, you know, ribbons, medals were absolutely interchangeable.”
The Washington Times is continuing its investigation, but with no cooperation from the Kerry camp.
On the other hand, President Bush turned over all his records on serving in the Texas Air National Guard as a jet fighter pilot.
Yes, there is a huge “character” difference between George W. Bush and John F. Kerry.
Gordon Bishop is a national award-winning author, historian and syndicated columnist. He is the recipient of 8 Congressional Commendations, 12 National and 15 State Journalism Awards, including New Jersey's first "Journalist-of-the-Year" -- 1986/New Jersey Press Association.
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