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JOHN
KERRY'S BRONZE STAR
SUMMARY
FACTS
(For detailed proof, scroll down or click here)
-
SBV's claim that Kerry
did not receive any fire in the incident that led to his Bronze
Star and that there were no bullet holes in any of the boats is completely
and categorically false. This has become apparent from a
variety of sources other than Kerry.
-
A key accuser of Kerry is Larry Thurlow, who was in
a different boat but obtained a Bronze Star as a result of the
same incident. Thurlow had refused to refused to divulge the
citation on his own award but it was obtained by the Washington
Post independently, and it shows that there was indeed fire from
the enemy. Moreover, the eyewitness cited in Thurlow's Bronze Star
is Robert Eugene Lambert - who also won a Bronze Star that day
- and not Kerry, thereby laying to waste Thurlow's claim that
Kerry was responsible for the mention of enemy fire in his
after-action report.
-
Mr. Thurlow's
fake outrage over his "discovery" that he had
been awarded a Bronze Star even though there wasn't enemy
fire is less than compelling. If he knew all along that
there was no enemy fire, what did Thurlow think he did
that deserved a Bronze Star in the first place? After all,
Thurlow was trying to rescue other soldiers just as Kerry
did. Why did he even accept a Bronze Star for this act, if
it was no different from what Kerry did, considering he
thinks Kerry was undeserving? Not to mention that it is
impossible to believe someone did not hear or read their
Bronze Star citation when awarded one!
-
Lambert, who
dislikes Kerry, has now stated that there was indeed enemy
fire that day and that Thurlow is mistaken because he was
probably too distracted during the incident. Lambert
received a Bronze Star himself, on that same day, for rescuing
Thurlow under enemy fire. His Bronze Star citation, which
could not have been written by Kerry either because it
mentions details that Kerry simply could not have known given
the relative positions of their boats, clearly mentions enemy
fire and "suppressing fire" from Lambert.
-
Two other eyewitnesses (who were not on
Kerry's boat) - Wayne Langhofer and Jim Russell - plus after-action reports and a Navy Task force
report indicate conclusively that there was
enemy fire that day (not to mention bullet holes).
-
Moreover, Thurlow's claim that there
were no shots fired at all is contradicted by his fellow SBV
member Alfred French who claims that any shots fired were from
U.S. soldiers. Both French and George Elliott backtracked from
their accusations against
Kerry by saying they really had no first hand information about what
happened and are relying on the statements of other SBV members.
Van O'Dell later stated under questioning that "he did not
have "a single document" to prove Kerry fabricated
reports of enemy fire that won him two medals."
-
Kerry's crewmates at
the time, including the one whose life he saved (Jim Rassmann),
back up Kerry's record and version of events, including the fact
that Kerry did not simply "flee" as SBV has alleged, but
actually turned around to save his crewmate's life, under fire.
Indeed, the records show that all the boats had left the enemy
fire zone, not just Kerry's. Larry Thurlow himself admitted that
Kerry did not "flee", contradicting his own charge.
-
SBV's claim that the
incident report was authored by Kerry because it showed his
initials is utterly false. Not only does the report NOT have
Kerry's initials, the Navy has stated that the initials belong to
the recipient of the report - not the author.
-
SBV's claim that the
incident report was authored by Kerry because of the numerical
identifiers on top of the form is also false. The identifiers are
of the Swift Boat unit - not of Kerry or the author, and Hoffman
backpedaled from that claim by saying it's "not
cast-iron"..
-
SBV's claim that Kerry
and Thurlow won the Bronze Star solely based on Kerry's report is
also utterly false as is evident from their self-contradictory
statements.
DETAILED
FACTS
1. SBV claim on
Kerry's truthfulness regarding his Bronze Star - and that there was no
enemy fire during the incident
1A. SBV claim
that every officer on duty the day of the Bronze Star incident backs
their story that there was no enemy fire when Rassman was rescued by
Kerry
2. SBV claim
that Kerry wrote his own (incident) report to win his Bronze
Star/medals
3. SBV claim
that Kerry (and Thurlow) won the Bronze Star based solely based on
Kerry's report
4. SBV claim
that Kerry admits "he fled" and "everyone else
stayed"
1. SBV CLAIM
ON KERRY'S TRUTHFULNESS REGARDING HIS BRONZE STAR AND THAT THERE WAS
NO ENEMY FIRE DURING THE INCIDENT
[via FactCheck.org]: Van
O'Dell, a former Navy enlisted man who says he was the gunner on
another Swift Boat, states in his affidavit that he was "a few
yards away" from Kerry's boat on March 13, 1969 when Kerry
pulled one of his crewmen from the water. According to the official
medal citations, Kerry's boat was under enemy fire at the time, and
Kerry had been wounded when an enemy mine exploded near his own
boat. O'Dell insists "there was no fire" at the time,
adding: "I did not hear any shots, nor did any hostile fire hit
any boats" other than his own, PCF-3.
[Van
O'Dell]: John Kerry lied to get his Bronze
Star. I know. I was there. I saw what happened.
[Van
O'Dell]: There was no enemy fire from
either bank.
[Jack
Chenowith]: His
account of what happened and what actually happened are the
difference between night and day.
[via the Boston
Globe]: Elliott, in the interview
yesterday, said that based on the affidavits of the veterans on
other boats, he now thinks his assessment about the Bronze Star and
third Purple Heart may have been based on poor information.
[Larry Thurlow on CNN, via Atrios]:
Now, two members
in this boat, keep in mind, are in the river at that time. They're
picked up. The boat that picks them up starts toward Lieutenant
Rassmann at this time, that's the 23-boat (ph). But before they get
there, John does return and pick him up. But I distinctly remember
we were under no fire from either bank.
[O'Neill
via Daily Howler]:
There's not a bullet hole in any of those three boats, not one.
FACT
(i) SBV's claim that Kerry
did not receive any fire in the incident that led to his Bronze
Star and that there were no bullet holes in any of the boats is
completely and categorically false. This has become apparent
from a variety of sources other than Kerry.
-
A key accuser of Kerry is Larry Thurlow, who was in
a different boat but obtained a Bronze Star as a result of the
same incident. Thurlow had refused to refused to divulge the
citation on his own award but it was obtained by the Washington
Post independently, and it shows that there was indeed fire from
the enemy. Moreover, the eyewitness cited in Thurlow's Bronze Star
is Robert Eugene Lambert - who also won a Bronze Star that day -
and not Kerry, thereby laying to waste Thurlow's claim that Kerry
was responsible for the mention of enemy fire in his after-action
report.
-
Lambert, who
dislikes Kerry, has now stated that there was indeed enemy fire
that day and that Thurlow is mistaken because he was probably too
distracted during the incident. Lambert received a Bronze Star
himself, on that same day, for rescuing Thurlow under enemy fire.
His Bronze Star citation, which could not have been written by
Kerry either because it mentions details that Kerry simply could
not have known given the relative positions of their boats,
clearly mentions enemy fire and "suppressing fire" from
Lambert.
-
Two other eyewitnesses (who were not on
Kerry's boat) - Wayne Langhofer and Jim Russell - plus after-action reports and a Navy Task force
report indicate conclusively that there was
enemy fire that day (not to mention bullet holes).
-
Moreover, Thurlow's claim that there
were no shots fired at all is contradicted by his fellow SBV
member Alfred French who claims that any shots fired were from
U.S. soldiers. Both French and George Elliott backtracked from
their accusations against
Kerry by saying they really had no first hand information about what
happened and are relying on the statements of other SBV members.
Van O'Dell later stated under questioning that "he did not
have "a single document" to prove Kerry fabricated
reports of enemy fire that won him two medals."
(ii) Kerry's crewmates, including the one whose life he saved (Jim
Rassman), back up Kerry's record and version of events.
REFERENCES
Daily
Howler:
Every crewman on
Kerry’s boat says they were under hostile fire. Rassmann, the man
whose life was saved, says there was hostile fire too. And now,
three different crewmen from two other boats have also come forward
to describe hostile fire. Let’s make sure we recall who they are.
You won’t hear about them on cable:
- Wayne Langhofer,
PCF-43 (skipper: Dan Droz). Reported by the Washington Post,
8/22/04.
- Jim Russell,
PCF-43 (skipper: Dan Droz). Reported by the Associated Press,
8/23/04.
- Robert Lambert,
PCF-51 (skipper: Larry Thurlow). Reported by the Mail Tribune,
8/26/04.
These men join Kerry’s
entire crew and Rassmann in saying there was enemy fire. Meanwhile, Newsweek’s
John Barry reported yesterday that Lambert’s Bronze Star
citation describes “small-arms and automatic weapons fire from
the river banks.” There was no chance that this account could have
come from Kerry, he said.
Nor is this the only
incident in which Kerry has received recent support. On Sunday, the
Chicago Tribune’s William Rood wrote a front-page essay supporting
Kerry’s account of the Silver Star incident, in which Kerry saved
the lives of his crew. Aside from Kerry himself, Rood is the only
surviving officer who witnessed the events of that day. Rood
complained that the Swift Boat Vets were “armed with stories I
know to be untrue.” He twice mentioned John O’Neill by name,
directly contradicting his accounts of this incident. (In today’s
New York Times, the widow of that day’s third officer also
supports Kerry’s view. More below.)
Readers, isn’t it
time for America’s “journalists” to conduct a damage
assessment? More specifically, isn’t it time for the lords and
ladies to confront the slander campaign against Kerry—a campaign
that is changing America’s White House election?
Joseph
Galloway, Knight Ridder (via Atrios):
Military records back
John Kerry's account of his service in Vietnam and have backed at
least two of his accusers into a corner.
...
Thurlow said he
had lost his medal citation for that incident over two decades ago
and stood by his account that there was no enemy fire at the time.
His account was
further called into question by a battle damage assessment report on
another Swift boat, PCF-51, involved in the March 13 action. The
report listed three .30-caliber bullet holes in the superstructure
of the 50-foot patrol boat.
The Swift boat
veterans also have cast doubt on Kerry's account that a second mine
explosion damaged his boat, PCF-94, and blew an Army Special Forces
officer, Jim Rassmann, overboard. Kerry's Bronze Star was awarded
for his rescue of Rassmann, who credited Kerry with saving his life.
Among the records was
a battle damage report filed the following day, March 14, which
stated that PCF-94 had three windows blown out, radios and radar
inoperable, the boat's auxiliary generator inoperable, screws curled
and chipped, aft helm steerage control not working. The boat was
judged incapable of executing patrols without repairs.
David
Corn, The Nation (via
Atrios):
Although the citation
for Kerry's Bronze Star notes he rescued Rassmann in the face of
sniper fire and Kerry, Rassmann and PCF-94 crew members all say
Rassmann was under fire when Kerry pulled him aboard, the anti-Kerry
vets insist that was not how it happened, that there was no enemy
fire. Their campaign against Kerry took a hit yesterday when The
Washington Post disclosed that the military records of Larry
Thurlow--a leader of the anti-Kerry outfit who also won a Bronze
Star for actions taken during this engagement--contradict Thurlow's
claim that there was no enemy fire at the time. (See here.)
Military records obtained by The Nation provide more
evidence that there was enemy fire during this episode.
Three Navy men won
Bronze Stars for their actions that day: Kerry, Thurlow, and
radarman first class Robert Eugene Lambert, a petty officer in the
boat captained by Thurlow. The citation for Lambert's Bronze
Star--previously undisclosed but obtained today under the Freedom of
Information Act from the National Personnel Records Center in St.
Louis--repeats the description of the incident included in the
citation for Thurlow's Bronze Star: "all units came under small
arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks."
Lambert's citation also notes that Lambert--who assumed command of
PCF-51 after Thurlow went to assist another Swift boat damaged by a
mine--"directed accurate suppressing fire at the enemy."
The citation praises Lambert's "coolness, professionalism and
courage under fire."
In an affidavit
Thurlow signed last month, he said "no return fire
occurred....I never heard a shot." He said to the Post,
"I am here to state that we weren't under fire." But the
individual citations for Thurlow, Kerry and Lambert each refer to
enemy fire. And the Lambert citation also suggests there was a need
for his boat to engage in "suppressing fire."
Asked about the
discrepancy between his own account and his citation, Thurlow, who
was the senior skipper in the flotilla involved in this engagement,
said that Kerry was often able to present his own (presumably
self-serving) descriptions of events to superiors. But neither
Thurlow nor the Swift Boat group has substantiated this claim. And
did Kerry rig not only his own award recommendation but those of
Thurlow and Lambert? In the award recommendation for Thurlow's
Bronze Star, Lambert--not Kerry--is listed as the eyewitness. (And
Del Sandusky, a crew mate of Kerry, was the eyewitness listed in the
award recommendation for Kerry. According to the National Personnel
Records Center, Lambert's file no longer contains the award
recommendation for his Bronze Star.)
Kerry has posted his
award citation on his web site (click here),
and Thurlow's Bronze Star citation was posted by the Post
(click here).
Lambert's citation describes what seems to have been a harrowing
situation.
AP
via MSNBC:
A Swift Boat crewman
decorated in the 1969 Vietnam incident where John Kerry won a Bronze
Star says not only did they come under enemy fire but also that his
own boat commander, who has challenged the official account, was too
distracted to notice the gunfire.
Retired
Chief Petty Officer Robert E. Lambert, of Eagle Point, Ore., got a
Bronze Star for pulling his boat commander — Lt. Larry Thurlow —
out of the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969. Thurlow had jumped onto
another Swift Boat to aid sailors wounded by a mine explosion but
fell off when the out-of-control boat ran aground.
Thurlow,
who has been prominent among a group of veterans challenging the
Democratic presidential candidate’s record, has said there was no
enemy fire during the incident. Lambert, however, supports the Navy
account that says all five Swift Boats in the task force “came
under small arms and automatic weapon fire from the river banks”
when the mine detonated.
...
A career military
man, Lambert is no fan of Kerry’s either. He doesn’t like
Kerry’s post-Vietnam anti-war activity and doesn’t plan to vote
for him.
“I
don’t like the man himself,” Lambert said, “but I think what
happened happened, and he was there.”
A
March 1969 Navy report located by The Associated Press this week
supports Lambert’s version. The report twice mentions the incident
and both times calls it “an enemy initiated firefight” that
included automatic weapons fire and underwater mines used against a
group of five boats that included Kerry’s.
...
“When they blew
the 3-boat, everyone opened up on the banks with everything they
had,” he said. “That was the normal procedure. When they came
after you, they came after you. Somebody on shore blew that mine.”
“There
was always a firefight” after a mine detonation, he said.
“Kerry
was out in front of us, on down the river. He had to come back up
the river to get to us.”
Lambert
retired in 1978 as a chief petty officer with 22 years of service
and three tours in Vietnam. He does not remember ever meeting Kerry.
Also see Lambert's account reported by
the Mail
Tribune (via reader EE and Josh
Marshall).
John
Barry, Newsweek:
A previously
undisclosed Navy record obtained by NEWSWEEK supports John Kerry’s
claim that he was under fire when he rescued a U.S. Green Beret who
had pitched overboard from Kerry’s 50-foot Swift Boat during a short
but intense engagement in Vietnam's Mekong Delta in March 1969.
...
The third Bronze Star was won by one of Thurlow’s own launch crew,
Robert Eugene Lambert, who was radarman and the senior noncom on
Thurlow’s boat. NEWSWEEK obtained a copy of the citation for
Lambert’s Bronze Star from the National Personnel Records Center in
St Louis under a Freedom of Information Act filing. This citation,
like the others, says that following a mine explosion that wrecked one
of the Swift Boats, the flotilla of five boats “came under
small-arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks.” Lambert
won his Bronze Star for an action precisely paralleling Kerry’s:
Lambert picked someone out of the river. In Lambert’s case, that
someone was his skipper, Thurlow.
Thurlow
had steered his Swift Boat to the aid of its companion damaged by
the mine, personally leaping into the foundering craft to aid its
badly wounded crew while Lambert “directed accurate suppressing
fire at the enemy,” according to the citation. In the swirling
confusion, Thurlow was then knocked overboard from the wrecked
launch. Lambert “from an exposed position and with complete
disregard for his personal safety” pulled Thurlow back on to his
Swift Boat, the citation says. It concludes by commending
Lambert’s “coolness, professionalism and courage under fire.”
Lambert’s
surviving military records do not include the initial recommendation
for this medal, so there is no way to know who filled the required
role of witness to vouch for Lambert’s actions. But the citation
contains such detail about the actions of both Thurlow and
Lambert—actions that Kerry cannot have known since his launch was
on the far side of the river—that it seems implausible Kerry could
have written the recommendation.
Michael
Dobbs (Washington Post):
Until now, eyewitness
evidence supporting Kerry's version had come only from his own
crewmen. But yesterday, The Post independently contacted a participant
who has not spoken out so far in favor of either camp who remembers
coming under enemy fire. "There was a lot of firing going on, and
it came from both sides of the river," said Wayne D. Langhofer,
who manned a machine gun aboard PCF-43, the boat that was directly
behind Kerry's.
Langhofer said he distinctly remembered the "clack, clack,
clack" of enemy AK-47s, as well as muzzle flashes from the
riverbanks. Langhofer, who now works at a Kansas gunpowder plant, said
he was approached several months ago by leaders of Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth but declined their requests to speak out against Kerry.
Digby:
As with Mr. Rood
yesterday, via
Susie, I see we have another eyewitness coming forward and disputing
the swift boat lies.
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to the new attacks on John Kerry's war
record by a group calling itself the "Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth." As for most veterans of any war and as people who
know me will testify, it is not easy for me to talk about my
experiences in Vietnam. However, because of these new ads and, I
understand, a new book recently published by an old Charles Colson
"Enemies List" hit man, I feel compelled to speak out.
Unfortunately, the veterans featured in these attacks are being
used by extreme right wing Bush supporters to spread their lies
and malign John Kerry.
...
Since I
happened to be along on one of the "excursions" where
the boats that we were on were attacked and after which Lt. Kerry
was cited for valor, I thought it appropriate to give my
recollection of that event. This happened on March 13, 1969. I was
assigned as Psychological Operation Officer for the Swift Boat
group out of An Thoi, Vietnam, from January 1969 to October 1969.
As such, I was on No. 43 boat, skippered by Don Droz who was later
that year killed by enemy fire. We were second in line while
exiting the river and going through the opening in a fish trap
when a mine blew up under the No. 3 boat directly in front of us
and we started taking small arms fire from the beach. Almost
immediately, another mine went off somewhere behind us. All boats,
except the one hit, immediately wheeled toward the beach that most
of the fire came from (a tactic devised by Lt. Kerry, I later
learned) and commenced showering the beaches with so much lead,
that it could probably be now mined there. The noise was of
course, deafening.
Three things that are forever pictured in my mind since that day
over 30 years ago are: (1) The No. 3, 50-foot long, Swift boat
getting huge, huge air; John Kerry thought it was about two feet.
(He was farther away from it than I). I think it was at least four
feet and probably closer to six feet; (2) All the boats turning
left and letting loose at the same time like a deadly,
choreographed dance and; (3) A few minutes later, John Kerry
bending over his boat picking up one of the rangers that we were
ferrying from out of the water. All the time we were taking small
arms fire from the beach; although because of our fusillade into
the jungle, I don't think it was very accurate, thank God. Anyone
who doesn't think that we were being fired upon must have been on
a different river.
The picture I have in my mind of Kerry bending over from his boat
picking some hapless guy out of the river while all hell was
breaking loose around us, is a picture based on fact and it cannot
be disputed or changed. It's a piece of history drawn in my mind
that cannot be redrawn. Sorry, "Swift Boats Veterans for the
Truth"- that is the truth.
...
Jim Russell
Vietnam veteran,
USN (1966-71)
Mary
Dalrymple, AP via Kevin
Drum (Political Animal):
Kerry also picked up
support from Wayne D. Langhofer, who told The Washington Post he was
manning a machine gun in a boat behind Kerry's and saw firing from
both banks of a river as Kerry dived in to rescue Special Forces
soldier James Rassmann, the basis for Kerry's Bronze Star.
Until now, the Post
noted on its Web site, Kerry's version of acting under fire had come
from crewmen on his own boat. It quoted Langhofer as saying he was
approached by leaders of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth several
months ago but declined to join them in speaking against Kerry.
Reuters:
A veteran [Van O'Dell]
who has disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's
Vietnam war record admitted on Sunday he did not have "a single
document" to prove Kerry fabricated reports of enemy fire that
won him two medals.
Note from reader PO:
French says that any
shots that were fired when Kerry plucked Rassman out of the water
"came from U.S. sailors providing cover." But Thurlow has
sworn under oath that, "I never heard a shot." So either
there were no shots or there were cover shots. It can't be both.
[eRiposte note: Here are the
articles referring to the quotes above]
Noelle
Crombie, The Oregonian:
French said any shots
that were fired came from U.S. soldiers providing cover as Rassmann
and two others were rescued.
Andrea
Stone, USA Today:
One of the other swift
boat commanders on the Bay Hap River that day, Larry Thurlow, swore in
an affidavit that he "never heard a shot."
FactCheck.org:
None of those in the
attack ad by the Swift Boat group actually served on Kerry's
boat. And their statements are contrary to the accounts of
Kerry and those who served under him.
Jim Rassmann was the
Army Special Forces lieutenant whom Kerry plucked from the
water. Rassmann has said all along that he was under sniper fire
from both banks of the river when Kerry, wounded, helped him aboard.
Rassmann is featured in an earlier Kerry ad, in fact, (see script at
left) saying "he (Kerry) risked his life to save mine."
The Kerry campaign
put Rassmann and some of Kerry's former crewmen on a conference call
with reporters to rebut the new ad. Gene Thorson told reporters,
"These assertions are garbage; these people weren't there with
John Kerry."
...
Another major discrepancy raises a question of how close Kerry's
accusers actually were to the rescue of Rassmann. Tour of Duty
describes Rassmann's rescue (and the sniper fire) as happening
"several hundred yards back" from where the crippled PCF-3
was lying, not "a few yards away," the distance from which
the anti-Kerry veterans claim to have witnessed the incident.
Media
Matters:
O'Neill's claim that
Kerry fled is inconsistent both with Rassmann's firsthand account
and with the account of Kerry's actions in his Bronze
Star citation (pdf) for which Rassmann nominated him:
"Kerry's calmness, professionalism and great personal courage
under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United
States Naval Service."
On FOX News Channel's
Hannity
& Colmes, O'Neill also took issue with "the
position that Kerry came under fire" in the events surrounding
his saving of Rassmann. But official Naval documents specifically
detail the boats involved receiving, "HEAVY A/W (automatic
weapons) AND S/A (small arms) FROM BOTH BANKS." Kerry's Bronze
Star citation states: "For heroic achievement while serving
with Coastal Division ELEVEN engaged in armed conflict with Viet
Cong communist aggressors in An Xuyen Province, Republic of Vietnam,
on 13 March 1969."
And, after
investigating Kerry's military career, the authors of John
F. Kerry: The Complete Biography by the Boston Globe Reporters Who
Know Him Best, wrote that a mine blast threw Rassmann into
the water and made him "a bobbing target as he dodged the
bullets whizzing around him" (p.106).
DCBlues,
DailyKos:
A simple Google
search reveals a completely different story in American
History magazine from this past April. While Kerry was rescuing
Rassman,
"Thurlow was
struggling to get PCF-3's wounded gunner out of his hole and onto
the deck when the damaged Swift ran aground hard on a shoal on the
right side of the river, sending Thurlow somersaulting into the
water. At the same moment, the five Swifts came under fire from
the right side again, and Kerry remembered thinking that was it --
they were going to get completely cut off and annihilated in a
crossfire."
Thurlow noted in the
IP interview that he was thrown into the water that day, but didn't
say why. The American History article also notes:
"Kerry and the
other wounded men received medical attention aboard a Coast Guard
cutter, which was the closest ship capable of treating them. Along
with a third Purple Heart for the injury to his right arm, Kerry
was also awarded a Bronze Star for his bravery, as was Larry
Thurlow."
In other words, if
Kerry doesn't deserve his bronze star, seems that Thurlow doesn't
deserve his either...
(See more here).
Michael
Dobbs (Washington Post) via Atrios
(bold text is eRiposte emphasis):
But Thurlow's
military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The
Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain
several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons
fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat
flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation
praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat
"despite enemy bullets flying about him."
...
Last month, Thurlow swore in an affidavit that Kerry was "not
under fire" when he fished Lt. James Rassmann out of the water.
He described Kerry's Bronze Star citation, which says that all units
involved came under "small arms and automatic weapons
fire," as "totally fabricated."
"I never heard a shot," Thurlow said in his affidavit,
which was released by Swift Boats Veterans for Truth. The group
claims the backing of more than 250 Vietnam veterans, including a
majority of Kerry's fellow boat commanders.
A document recommending Thurlow for the Bronze Star noted that all
his actions "took place under constant enemy small arms fire
which LTJG THURLOW completely ignored in providing immediate
assistance" to the disabled boat and its crew. The citation
states that all other units in the flotilla also came under fire.
"It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the
case," Thurlow said last night after being read the full text
of his Bronze Star citation. "My personal feeling was always
that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was
mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and
disgusting." [eRiposte
Note: Yes, isn't it, Mr. Thurlow!?]
...
Thurlow and other anti-Kerry veterans have repeatedly alleged that
Kerry was the author of an after-action report that described how
his boat came under enemy fire. Kerry campaign researchers dispute
that assertion, and there is no convincing documentary evidence to
settle the argument. As the senior skipper in the flotilla, Thurlow
might have been expected to write the after-action report for March
13, but he said that Kerry routinely "duked the system" to
present his version of events.
For much of the episode, Kerry was not in a position to know
firsthand what was happening on Thurlow's boat, as Kerry's boat had
sped down the river after the mine exploded under another boat. He
later returned to provide assistance to the stricken boat.
eRiposte note: Mr. Thurlow's
fake outrage over his "discovery" that he had been awarded a
Bronze Star even though there wasn't enemy fire is less than
compelling. If he knew all along that there was no enemy fire, what
did Thurlow think he did that deserved a Bronze Star in the first
place? After all, Thurlow was trying to rescue other soldiers just as
Kerry did. Why did he even accept a Bronze Star for this act, if it
was no different from what Kerry did, considering he thinks Kerry was
undeserving? Not to mention that it is impossible to believe someone
did not hear or read their Bronze Star citation when awarded one!
Information
at John Kerry.com:
Van O'Dell was NOT a
crewmate of John Kerry's
The Simple
Truth: John
Kerry was nominated for the Bronze Star by James Rassmann and
eyewitness accounts, official naval documents and independent
analyses all state that Kerry and his crew were under fire on the
day in question.
Official Naval
documents available to the public at the Naval Historical Center in
Washington, DC and available at www.JohnKerry.com
include the after action reports, also known as "spot
reports." These reports contain the details of the four boats
involved in these actions on March, 13. 1969-including Kerry's boat
PCF-94. These reports contain specific details of time, personnel,
combat action and even maps. These report specifically detail the
boats involved receiving, "HEAVY A/W (automatic weapons) AND
S/A (small arms) FROM BOTH BANKS. FIRECONTINUED FOZNABOUT 5000
METERS."
Kerry's injury report
for this action, also available at the Naval Historical Center in
Washington DC, reads:
KERRY, JOHN F., XXXXXX, USN WOUNDED IN ACTION -
13 March 1969 vicinity of Song Bay Hap, South
Vietnam. Received shrapnel wounds in the left
buttocks and contusions on the right forearm
when a mine detonated close to PCF-94 while
engaged in operations on river. CONDITIONS AND
PROGNOSIS EXCELLENT. RESULT OF HOSTILE ACTION
The Boston Globe,
which has repeatedly criticized John Kerry for any exaggeration or
misstatement for the past 30 years, did their own investigation into
Kerry's military career. The Globe wrote in their book, "John
F. Kerry; A Complete Biography by the Boston Globe Reporters Who
Know Him Best", that a mine blast threw James Rassmann into the
water and made him "a bobbing target as he dodged the bullets
whizzing around him." [p.106]
Eyewitness account
from James Rassmann also detail the fact that PCF-94 and other boats
were under fire. In March of 2004, Rassmann, a registered Republican
who had not seen Kerry in more than 30 years before their reunion in
Iowa this year, recalled the following: "Viet Cong snipers
fired at him, and Rassmann submerged over and over to avoid being
hit. The bullets came from both banks, and Rassmann had nowhere to
go. He began thinking his time had come, but the fifth time he came
up, he saw the convoy had turned around. Kerry had ordered the boats
back to pick up the man overboard. Kerry's boat, under heavy fire,
sidled up to the struggling soldier. Rassmann tried to scramble up a
cargo net at the bow but was too exhausted to make it all the way.
He clung to the net as bullets whizzed past." [Los Angeles
Times, 3/13/04]
Kerry's Bronze Star
citation recounts the events of that day and include this sentence,
"In addition, all units began receiving small arms fire and
automatic weapons fire from both banks." Versions of this
citation were signed by the Secretary of the Navy and the Commander
of U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam. This citation is available for the
public to read at www.JohnKerry.com.
...
Jack Chenowith was
NOT a crewmate of John Kerry's
Mysterious Vet Named
Chenoweth Appears Out of No Where to Accuse U.S. Navy & Fellow
Vietnam Vets of Lying: Its Not Kerry's Account on the Bronze Star
Citation-It's the Account of the U.S. Navy, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt
Commander U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam and backed up by Presidential
Historian Douglas Brinkley, the Boston Globe, James Rassmann and the
Crewmate of PCF-44 & PCF 94.
...
Thurlow's
Statements Do Not Fit With History - Says Navy is Lying?
On the day Kerry pulled Rassmann from the water, "Larry Thurlow
had maneuvered his PCF-51 over by this time and he hopped aboard
PCF-3 to offer assistance. The boat was in shambles but they were
still shooting too hard to assess any damage" "BOATS
RECEIVED HEAVY A/W [automatic weapons] & S/A [small arms] FROM
BOTH BANKS…ALL BOATS AND MSF RETURNED FIRE…PCF-94 [Kerry's boat]
PICKED UP MSF ADVISOR WHO WENT OVERBOARD…PCF-94 TOWED PCF-3."
[Tour of Duty, Brinkley, 2004, p. 314; U.S. Navy After Action
Report: http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/SpotReports_March1969.pdf]
Atrios/Eschaton:
End of story. Bored
now.
- The Kerry campaign
has denounced the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, saying none of
the men in the ad served on the boat that Kerry commanded. The
leader of the group, retired Adm. Roy Hoffmann, said none of the
13 veterans in the commercial served on Kerry's boat but rather
were in other swiftboats within 50 yards of Kerry's.
Jim Rassmann, an Army veteran who was saved by Kerry, said there
were only six crewmates who served with Kerry on his boat. Five
support his candidacy and one is deceased.
Michael
Kranish (Boston Globe) - bold text is
eRiposte emphasis:
As in the case of the
Silver Star, it was Elliott who recommended Kerry for the Bronze
Star. According to the recommendation signed by Elliott, a mine
exploded under a boat accompanying Kerry's craft.
''Almost
simultaneously, another mine detonated close aboard [Kerry's]
PCF-94, knocking First Lieutenant Rassman [sic] into the water and
wounding Lt. JG Kerry in the right arm."
Elliott then
described how Kerry ''managed to pull Lt. Rassman aboard despite the
painful wound in his right arm." Elliott concluded that Kerry
had been ''calm, professional, and highly courageous in the face of
enemy fire."
Elliott, in the
interview yesterday, said that based on the affidavits of the
veterans on other boats, he now thinks his assessment about the
Bronze Star and third Purple Heart may have been based on poor
information.
...
Elliott, asked about the contradiction between
his recommendation and his new questioning of Kerry's third Purple
Heart, responded, ''It makes me look kind of silly, to be perfectly
honest."
But he said: ''I
simply have no reason for these guys to be lying, and if they are
lying in concert, it is one hell of a conspiracy. So, on the
basis of all of the information that has come out, I have chosen to
believe the other men. I absolutely do not know first hand."
Thomas
Lang, Campaign Desk:
According to Lt.
Kafka, the U.S. Navy spokesman, the Bronze Star is awarded for
bravery, independent of any wounds a soldier may or may not
suffer in battle.
Matt
Kelley, Associated Press via Atrios
and Jules
Siegel:
A Navy report filed
five days after a disputed incident in Vietnam supports John Kerry's
version and contradicts critics who say the Democratic presidential
nominee never came under enemy gunfire when he won two medals.
The Navy task force overseeing Kerry's swift boat squadron reported
his group of boats being fired on during the March 13, 1969, incident.
...
The March 18, 1969,
weekly report from Task Force 115, which was located by The Associated
Press during a search of Navy archives, is the latest document to
surface that supports Kerry's description of the event. Crew members
on Kerry's boat and a Special Forces soldier Kerry pulled from the
water that day insist there was enemy fire, and they have appeared on
behalf of the Kerry campaign.
The task force report twice mentions the incident and both times calls
it "an enemy initiated firefight" that included automatic
weapons fire and underwater mines used against a group of five boats
that included Kerry's.
Task Force 115 was commanded at the time by retired Rear Adm. Roy
Hoffmann, the founder of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,
which has been running ads challenging Kerry's account of the episode.
...
The document, part
of thousands of pages of records housed at the Naval Historical
Center, is one of several that say Kerry and other servicemen were
shot at from the banks of the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969.
The anti-Kerry group has not produced any official Navy documents
supporting its claim.
1A.
SBV CLAIM THAT EVERY OFFICER ON DUTY THE DAY OF THE BRONZE STAR
INCIDENT BACKS THEIR STORY THAT THERE WAS NO ENEMY FIRE WHEN RASSMAN
WAS RESCUED BY KERRY
[via Daily
Howler]: O’NEILL (8/22/04): Now let's
move to the question of was there enemy fire when he finally
returned? Here's what we have. We have ten different people, every
other officer on the scene that day, all of whom, four of them,
who say there was no enemy fire after the original mine.
FACT
I guess Mr. O'Neill spoke for a dead person without checking if that
person would actually support SBV. No surprise there. REFERENCE
Daily
Howler:
But that other statement
was blatantly false too—the amazing statement about the four
officers. After all, one of the four other officers that day was
Kerry’s friend, the late Daniel Droz. Does O’Neill now claim to
speak for the dead? Here’s
what Droz’s widow says about his view of these matters:
JUDITH
DROZ KEYES (8/27/04): On Feb. 28, 1969, my husband was the
commander of one of three Swift boats traveling the Dong Cung in
Vietnam to carry troops and supplies upriver [Silver Star
incident]. The events of that day, and what happened almost two
weeks later on another Swift boat patrol [Bronze Star incident],
have become a source of controversy in the presidential campaign,
with a group of veterans saying that John Kerry did not deserve
the medals he won for what he did then. I know my husband
thought otherwise.
“I know my husband
thought otherwise,” she says, referring to O’Neill’s nasty
accounts of the Bronze and Silver Star events. She describes a
letter she received from her husband, and personal conversations
they had two weeks before his death.
Yes, Daniel Droz died
in Vietnam. And last Sunday, O’Neill went on This Week and
lied about Droz, right in Stephanopoulos’ face. But can your
“press corps” smell a dissembler? Stephanopoulos gazed into air
as O’Neill lied about the honored dead.
2.
SBV CLAIM THAT KERRY WROTE HIS OWN INCIDENT REPORT TO WIN HIS BRONZE
STAR/MEDALS
[via
NY Times]: Several veterans insist that
Mr. Kerry wrote his own reports, pointing to the initials K. J. W.
on one of the reports and saying they are Mr. Kerry's. "What's
the W for, I cannot answer," said Larry Thurlow, who said his
boat was 50 to 60 yards from Mr. Kerry's.
[via the
Washington Post]: In a telephone
interview, the head of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, retired Adm.
Roy Hoffmann, who commanded all Swift boats in Vietnam, said he
believed that Kerry wrote the March 13 after-action report on the
basis of numerical identifiers at the top of the form.
FACT
False and false.
(i) The initials were those of the recipient of the report, not
the author! There were many after-action reports for incidents that
Kerry was not even involved in, that contained the same initials.
(ii) The numerical identifiers on top of the form referred to the
Swift Boat unit, not the author. And Hoffman, after coolly trying to
insert yet another lie into the media narrative, acknowledged that his
claim was "not cast-iron".
REFERENCES
Kate
Zernike and Jim Rutenberg, New York Times [via Hesiod]:
Mr. Kerry's middle
initial is F, and a Navy official said the initials refer to the
person who had received the report at headquarters, not the author.
Michael
Dobbs (Washington Post):
O'Neill has said that
the initials "KJW" on the bottom of the report
"identified" it as having been written by Kerry. It is
unclear why this should be so, as Kerry's initials are JFK. A review
of other Swift boat after-action reports at the Naval Historical
Center here reveals several that include the initials "KJW"
but describe incidents at which Kerry was not present.
...
Even if Kerry did
write the March 13 after-action report, it seems unlikely that he
would have been the source of the information about "enemy
bullets" flying around Thurlow. The official witness to those
events, according to Thurlow's medal recommendation form, was his own
leading petty officer, Robert Lambert, who himself won a Bronze Star
for "courage under fire" in going to Thurlow's rescue after
he fell into the river. Lambert, who lives in California, declined to
comment.
...
In a telephone interview, the head of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,
retired Adm. Roy Hoffmann, who commanded all Swift boats in Vietnam,
said he believed that Kerry wrote the March 13 after-action report on
the basis of numerical identifiers at the top of the form. He later
acknowledged that the numbers referred to the Swift boat unit, and not
to Kerry personally. "It's not cast-iron," he said.
3. SBV CLAIM
THAT KERRY (AND THURLOW) WON THE BRONZE STAR BASED SOLELY ON KERRY'S
REPORT
[via
Liberal Oasis]: ELLIOT: I did not expect
my officers to be submitting inaccurate reports.
FACT
False. Elliott contradicted himself.
REFERENCES
Liberal
Oasis:
From today's NY
Times:
The group says Mr.
Kerry himself wrote the reports that led to the medal.
But Mr. Elliott
and [Adrian] Lonsdale, who handled reports going up the line for
recognition, have previously said that a medal would be awarded only
if there was corroboration from others and that they had thoroughly
corroborated the accounts.
4. SBV CLAIM
THAT KERRY ADMITS "HE FLED" WHILE "EVERYBODY ELSE
STAYED"
[via Media
Matters]: O'Neill...claimed on Limbaugh's
show that Kerry "admits that he fled and everybody else
stayed."
[O'Neill
via Media Matters]: O'NEILL: It's not what
happened, Pat. ... John Kerry fled.
[via FactCheck.org]:
Others in the ad back up that account. Jack Chenoweth, who was
a Lieutenant (junior grade) commanding PCF-3, said Kerry's boat
"fled the scene" after a mine blast disabled PCF-3, and
returned only later "when it was apparent that there was
no return fire." And Larry Thurlow, who says he commanded a
third Swift Boat that day, says "Kerry fled while we stayed to
fight," and returned only later "after no return
fire occurred."
FACT
All the swift boats had left the enemy fire zone and Kerry
ordered his boat around as soon as he realized that Rassman had
fallen into the river and was continuing to take enemy
fire.
Larry Thurlow himself
admitted that Kerry did not "flee", contradicting his own
charge.
REFERENCES
Media
Matters:
Of the
incident in which Kerry rescued Jim
Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in Vietnam on March 13, 1969 --
which led to Kerry receiving the Bronze Star -- O'Neill falsely
claimed on Limbaugh's show that Kerry "admits that he fled and
everybody else stayed." As Media Matters for America has
noted,
O'Neill's claim that Kerry's boat fled while the other boats
remained is inconsistent not only with Rassmann's firsthand
account but also with the account of Kerry's actions in his Bronze
Star citation. As Rassmann noted, "[A]ll the swift boats
had left, and I was alone taking fire from both banks," before
Kerry returned to rescue him from the water.
Tom
Infield and Meg Laughlin, Knight-Ridder:
Swift boat veteran
Larry Thurlow flew in from Bogue, Kan., after the group offered to pay
his and his wife's expenses. Thurlow said he was hesitant to become
involved but Hoffmann kept asking him to join the group.
"The admiral
helped me to see in hindsight what was really going on with
Kerry," Thurlow said.
The veterans and a
Studio City, Calif., film producer, Harry Kloor, moved to a Washington
studio to film interviews for a later commercial that would be put
together by LaCivita and another political ad man, Rick Reed, a member
of a team that had worked for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in his 2000
campaign for president.
Thurlow said the vets
were told some of what to say, with the caveat that they weren't
expected to say anything they didn't believe.
"I was told to
say, `On the river that day, Kerry fled.' But `fled' connotes fear and
I understood why Kerry left, then returned, so I didn't use that
word," Thurlow said.
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