Military compatriots challenge Kerry’s war claims
By JOANNE KIMBERLIN, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 27, 2004
NORFOLK — Charley Plumly served in Vietnam with John Kerry.
He didn’t like him then. He likes him less now.
So little, in fact, that the retired Navy captain from Virginia Beach is opening old wounds in the hopes of blocking Kerry’s path to the White House.
Plumly, 73, has helped form Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Headquartered in Alexandria but spread across the country, the group’s 250 members, now silver-capped with age, fought the war from the same high-speed, heavily armed river boats as Kerry in the late 1960s.
According to the group, about 3,700 men operated the gunboats, threading through Vietnam’s steamy maze of waterways, choking off enemy movement and supplies.
Some of those who served with Kerry have spoken out in support of the Democratic presidential candidate.
Others, like Plumly, say they are fed up with Kerry using his months “in country” as a campaign centerpiece.
“We were there,” Plumly said. “We know what happened. And it wasn’t like he says it was.”
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth say Kerry is a “turncoat” who exaggerated his military prowess in Vietnam, received medals for minor wounds, then accused those who served beside him of committing war crimes.
Triggered by Kerry’s appearance in Norfolk today, Plumly and three other Virginia “Swiftees” came forward Monday to be heard.
“He’s unfit to be commander in chief of the Armed Forces,” Plumly said, “much less, the leader of the American people.” Kerry’s camp says the swift-boat vets are secretly backed by the Republicans.
“These guys clearly have a political agenda and extensive ties to the Bush White House,” said Chad Clanton, Kerry’s senior campaign adviser. “This is what they do when they’re up against a decorated war hero. They attack to distract.”
Clanton pointed to John O’Neill, a pro-Bush lawyer from Texas who sits on the vet group’s steering committee. Other powerful Republicans have donated money to the group, Clanton said.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth say they are a non profit group that accepts contributions from all kinds of people.
Members span party lines, said Mike Solhaug, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters and a member of the group.
Solhaug, 59, from Virginia Beach, said politics have nothing to do with it.
“I’m concerned about this country,” he said. “That’s all I need to say.”
Solhaug, like others in the group, would love to see a Swiftee elected to the nation’s highest office.
But not this one.
“This is about judgement, truthfulness, loyalty and dependability,” said Roy Hoffmann, 78, a retired naval rear admiral who lives in Richmond. Hoffmann was in charge of swift-boat operations during Kerry’s tour from November 1968 to May 1969. “These are the tenets of command.
Kerry had none of them.”
The men admit that they have been sore at Kerry for more than 30 years. Kerry came home from Vietnam with a chestful of medals – including three Purple Hearts – and joined the anti-war movement. In his 1971 testimony before a Senate panel , Kerry talked of American troops who had raped, pillaged, murdered and tortured locals with the knowledge, even blessing, of their commanders.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth say they never witnessed such atrocities.
“He betrayed us,” said member Bill Collins, a Swiftee who serves as chairman of the board of supervisors of Sussex County. “Labeled us all baby-killers.”
For more than three decades, the men say, they bore the sting in silence, organizing only after “Tour of Duty” came out in January. The book, written about Kerry’s Vietnam experience, is based largely on his war diaries. The vets say it contains numerous errors and dramatizes Kerry’s service role.
Skip Barker, a Swiftee who supports Kerry, says some of the vets are simply ticked about how they are portrayed in “Tour of Duty.” A lawyer from Alabama, Barker is part of Kerry’s “band of brothers,” a handful of veterans who accompany him on the campaign trail. Barker ran a boat alongside Kerry’s in Vietnam.
“He was an excellent leader,” Barker said. “I admired his intelligence. He was always interested in what we thought about things.”
Rick O’Dell, a former director of the Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs, was waiting at the Norfolk airport for Kerry’s plane to arrive Monday afternoon.
O’Dell knows about military medals. In addition to his Purple Hearts, Kerry earned a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.
“They don’t just give those away,” O’Dell said.
Plumly, who says he oversaw at least two missions Kerry participated in, remembers a less heroic man.
“He was arrogant,” Plumly said. “He despised authority. He always had something to say, like the kid in class who’s just got to raise his hand, right or wrong. We knew him as the guy who required constant supervision.”
Last month, the group sent Kerry a cease-and-desist notice demanding that he stop using a Vietnam-era photograph in his campaign. The photo shows Kerry in the center of a group of swift-boat commanders. They say the photo has since disappeared from Kerry’s campaign.
This month, Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards, relit the feud during an impassioned speech at a rally.
“If you have any questions about what John Kerry is made of,” Edwards challenged, “just spend three minutes with the men who served with him 30 years ago ...” Hoffmann snorted.
“I’ll give you three minutes anytime,” he muttered.
home.hamptonroads.com |
