Kerry helps a wounded kid in Vietnam NOT

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Kerry helps a wounded kid in Vietnam NOT
18
Thu, 08-05-2004 - 2:08pm
Kerry helps a wounded kid in Vietnam meet his maker... careful women, if you have children... Kerry's been reported to shoot em...

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John O'Neill, co-author of UNFIT FOR COMMAND, believes that "Kerry's Star would never have been awarded had his actions been reviewed through normal channels. In his case, he was awarded the medal two days after the incident with no review. The medal was arranged to boost the morale of Coastal Division 11, but it was based on false and incomplete information provided by Kerry himself."

According to Kerry's Silver Star citation, Kerry was in command of a three-boat mission on the Dong Cung River. As the boats approached the target area, they came under intense enemy fire. Kerry ordered his boat to attack and all boats opened fire. He then beached directly in front of the enemy ambushers. In the battle that followed, the crews captured enemy weapons. His boat then moved further up the river to suppress more enemy fire. A rocket exploded near Kerry's boat, and he ordered to charge the enemy. Kerry beached his boat 10 feet from the rocket position and led a landing party ashore to pursue the enemy.

Kerry' citation reads: "The extraordinary daring and personal courage of Lt. Kerry in attacking a numerically superior force in the face of intense fire were responsible for the highly successful mission."

Here's what O'Neill and the Swiftees say: "According to Kerry's crewman Michael Madeiros, Kerry had an agreement with him to turn the boat in and onto the beach if fired upon. Each of the three boats involved in the operation was involved in the agreement." O'Neill writes that one crewman even recalls a discussion of probable medals.

Doug Reese, a pro Kerry Army veteran, recounted what happened that day to O'Neill, "Far from being alone, the boats were loaded with many soldiers commanded by Reese and two other advisors. When fired at, Reese's boat--not Kerry's--was the first to beach in the ambush zone. Then Reese and other troops and advisors (not Kerry) disembarked, killing a number of Viet Cong and capturing a number of weapons. None of the participants from Reese's boat received Silver Stars.

O'Neill continues: "Kerry's boat moved slightly downstream and was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. . . .A young Viet Cong in a loincloth popped out of a hole, clutching a grenade launcher, which may or may not have been loaded. . . Tom Belodeau, a forward gunner, shot the Viet Cong with an M-60 machine gun in the leg as he fled. . . . Kerry and Medeiros (who had many troops in their boat) took off, perhaps with others, and followed the young Viet Cong and shot him in the back, behind a lean to."

O'Neill concludes "Whether Kerry's dispatching of a fleeing, wounded, armed or unarmed teenage enemy was in accordance with the customs of war, it is very clear that many Vietnam veterans and most Swiftees do not consider this action to be the stuff of which medals of any kind are awarded; nor would it even be a good story if told in the cold details of reality. There is no indication that Kerry ever reported that the Viet Cong was wounded and fleeing when dispatched. Likewise, the citation simply ignores the presence of the soldiers and advisors who actually 'captured the enemy weapons' and routed the Viet Cong. . . . that Kerry attacked a 'numerically superior force in the face of intense fire' is simply false. There was little or no fire after Kerry followed the plan. . . . The lone, wounded, fleeing young Viet Cong in a loincloth was hardly a force superior to the heavily armed Swift Boat and its crew and the soldiers carried aboard."

DRUDGE learns from UNFIT FOR COMMAND that if Kerry's superior officers knew the truth, they would never have recommended the award:

"Admiral Roy Hoffmann, who sent a Bravo Zulu (meaning "good work"), to Kerry upon learning of the incident, was very surprised to discover in 2004 what had actually occurred. Hoffmann had been told that Kerry had spontaneously beached next to the bunker and almost single-handedly routed a bunkered force in Viet Cong. He was shocked to find out that Kerry had beached his boat second in a preplanned operation, and that he had killed a single, wounded teenage foe as he fled."

"Commander Geoge Elliott, who wrote up the initial draft of Kerry's Silver Star citation, confirms that neither he, nor anyone else in the Silver Star process that he knows, realized before 1996 that Kerry was facing a single, wounded young Viet Cong fleeing in a loincloth. While Commander Elliott and many other Swiftees believe that Kerry committed no crime in killing the fleeing, wounded enemy (with a loaded or empty launcher), others feel differently. Commander Elliott indicates that a Silver Star recommendation would not have been made by him had he been aware of the actual facts."

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 10:14am
Well in fairness Democrats have been merrily demonizing Bush for years... and it's intensified over the past few months... it doesn't seem unexpected that Kerry would begin to face some of his own "issues".

It would be nice if you could detail for us of the swiftvets who were on the commercial which were not serving in Vietnam on or in support of swiftboats & crews in proximity to Kerry.

Thanks

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 10:23am
I have to detail?

And when I hear slime ads, 9 out of 10 end them start or end with:

I'm George W Bush and I approve this message.

You say the same thing about Kerry/Edwards, I'll shut up about it.

I replied to you on another thread, but you can google swift vets and find out very quickly that these men didnt serve with him, above or below.

Of course, you don't give a rats hairy rear end for the opinions of those WHO ACTUALLY SERVED ON HIS BOAT now do you? :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 11:07am
I think you had better research your facts a little as I think that a few of the people in the ad actualy served on Swift Boats in the same group as Kerry. I know I mentioned Van Odell as being one of them.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 11:14am
Yeah, we'll nitpick the difference between KNEW HIM and SERVED ON HIS BOAT.

Ya got me, I was mistaken where the slime you're supporting came from :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 4:13pm
How about served with him in the same sqadron of Swift Boats, being sent on the same missions, and involved in the same battles? (At least that is the claim of Van Odell).

I am doing a little checking of my own (as limited as this may be), and will see if Odell is correct.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 5:54pm
They served with him; they didn't serve under him. The swiftboats operated in groups. Kerry only commanded one.

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 5:57pm

<<Well in fairness Democrats have been merrily demonizing Bush for years... and it's intensified over the past few months... it doesn't seem unexpected that Kerry would begin to face some of his own "issues". >>


From all their high minded opinions about this ad,

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-04-2003
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 7:56pm
Only ONE of the 23 officers who served with Kerry in Coastal Division 11 has actually endorsed Kerry. The overwhelming majority of other officers who served in his unit at the time have opposed his candidacy for U.S. president, including every single officer under whom Kerry served in Vietnam.

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