John Kerry's Silver Star...Naval Archive Report

[MonsterMark]

Ah, the truth is finally starting to come out, or it is, the story of John Kerry is starting to unravel.

http://www.foxbaltimore.com/uploads/franchise/point/point-20040913.shtml
KERRY AND THE KILLING


In his campaign book Massachusetts Senator John Kerry notes there was fine line between actions that merited a court martial or a medal. He reported that medals were given for questionable activities in order to boost morale.



This narrow distinction figures into the controversy that has raged for a several weeks regarding the Silver Star Kerry was awarded for killing a Vietnamese man.



For more than 30 years, Kerry has portrayed a heroic version of a life and death struggle -- of staring down a suspected guerilla who was about to fire upon Kerry's swift boat. It was kill. Or be killed. At least, that's the version Kerry tells.



Eyewitnesses offer a far different account. They allege Kerry shot a wounded teenager retreating from battle.



Kerry has made public, hundreds of pages of official Navy documents to bolster his many claims. Conspicuous by its absence is the official after action report of what actually happened that day. The after action report written by John Kerry, himself.



In an exclusive, The Point has obtained this document from U.S. Navy archives (you can see it here). The pertinent section reads:



"PCF 94 beached in center of ambush in front of small path when Viet Cong sprung up from bunker 10 feet from unit. Man ran with weapon towards hootch. Forward M-60 machine gunner wounded man in leg. Officer-in-charge, LTjg Kerry, jumped ashore and gave pursuit while other units saturated area with fire and beached placing assault parties ashore. Kerry chased VC inland behind hootch and shot him while he fled -- capturing one B-40 rocket launcher with round in chamber."



So there you have it. The official record written by John Kerry supports what the critics have alleged rather than the John Wayne Kerry version the Massachusetts liberal has been telling.



Death is a reality of war. Events occur that are not for the faint of heart. Yet, John Kerry's account of killing what turned out to really be a wounded man while he fled continues Kerry's pattern of lies, exaggerations and embellishments.



Killing a wounded man while he retreated from battle is not an action that most servicemen would brag about. But then again, most servicemen would not return home and attack the very country they were supposed to fight for.

 

[Joeychgo]

Apparantly, someone, more likely several people, who deal with combat operations and the awarding of medals, felt his actions were deserving of a Silver Star.

But to be clear, your not questioning the accuracy of the report, and not claiming he is lying, just that he wasnt deserving. So I can assume I wont be hearing anymore about how Kerry is falsifying reports to get his Silver Star?

 

[92 Arizona Towncar]

Killing a wounded man while he retreated from battle is not an action that most servicemen would brag about. But then again, most servicemen would not return home and attack the very country they were supposed to fight for.

It happens all the time, and yes, men do brag about it... The enemy is told to retreat, and when doing so, a few get shot as they are retreating... you're telling me that if a person is firing at you, trying to kill you, the minute he gets the order to stop and retreat to safer spot for him, you are going to stop firing at him, even if he is wounded? I don't think so...

Personally, I don't like either one of these candidates, and both of them have made some questionable decisions. If it came down to who had the balls, I would pick Kerry... He WENT to Vietnam, he FOUGHT in Vietnam, while the other had a cush job on the sidelines... yes, Kerry turned around and protested against the war, but again, he FOUGHT for what he believed in. Who knows what Bush did, at one point the reports say he was an alchoholic, dabbled in drugs, and so on...

 

[Kbob]

I'm not saying Kerry was or was not deserving of his medal for that incident. But to be fair, the enemy soldier was reported to have a loaded rocket launcher that could have been used against Kerry's boat. And we have teenagers in our army as well. As far as Kerry having more guts than Bush, Bush could kick Kerry's teeth in no problem if he could get away with it, but that's just my opinion.

 

[MonsterMark]

I'm starting to tire on this whole Kerry thing.

Here is what Kerry wrote in HIS report. And remember, it is the contention that he wrote all of the reports that his awards are based on. This is just the 1st after action report that has actually surfaced.

"PCF 94 beached in center of ambush in front of small path when Viet Cong sprung up from bunker 10 feet from unit. Man ran with weapon towards hootch. Forward M-60 machine gunner wounded man in leg. Officer-in-charge, LTjg Kerry, jumped ashore and gave pursuit while other units saturated area with fire and beached placing assault parties ashore. Kerry chased VC inland behind hootch and shot him while he fled -- capturing one B-40 rocket launcher with round in chamber."

Kerry writes 'man" in the report while everybody acknowledges it was a kid. And "shot him while he fled" sounds alot like 'shot him in the back' unless the kid was running backwards.

Now, instead of doing all the work for you, you folks can go and see what Kerry has said and written about this event. How he looked death in the eye, how there were numerically superior forces that day. Even his commanding officer said he was torn between giving him an award and pulling his command for beaching his boat. Do you really think he would have beached his boat (which by the way rendered his 50 caliber gun in the front of the boat inoperable and almost cost the crew their lives if the child didn't freeze under duress) against superior forces. What a joke. Read up on it please.

Sure, give him a Silver Star for shooting a wounded young kid in the back. I don't care, and I don't blame him for doing it. The kid had a weapon. Heck, we have cops here in the United States that will put 4 rounds into the chest of a guy holding a baseball bat from 20 feet away (and the report is always written up as he 'lunged' at me, b.s.) so I have no problem with that happening in war.

The Silver Star episode is another "proof" of how Kerry fabricated all his activites. In this one, however, he even had the balls to go out and reenact it and record it. The guy is the lowest low-life I have ever had the pleasure of voting against.

 

[MonsterMark]

If it came down to who had the balls, I would pick Kerry... He WENT to Vietnam, he FOUGHT in Vietnam, while the other had a cush job on the sidelines....

Kerry requested 4 deferments. On his 5th, he was denied and only then 'volunteered' for the war. (He even tried to go to Paris for a year. Imagine that. Kerry in Paris. We'll come back to that.) In the Navy, no less. No action there. Then when he saw that Swift Boats were harmless too, he volunteered. 2 weeks later, the Navy moved the boats into Coastal action. Kerry protested, but it was too late. He then figured out that all you need is 3 purple hearts and your out. Fabricated all of them. The 1st purple heart he requested was turned down and he was thrown out of the office. He waited 3 months for those commanding officers to move on and then put back in for the reward. We all know about the other 2. His fellow officers were all too willing to get rid of Kerry. The pompous, arrogant, a-wipe, seen as unfit for command by the plurality of his fellow officers.

yes, Kerry turned around and protested against the war, but again, he FOUGHT for what he believed in.

Kerry is very good at turning around. That is why he is a flip-flopper. He turned his boat around and fled the scene when his crewmates were in danger, then turned around and came back when the coast was clear. He turned around coming back from the war, turned to treason for political gain, met with the enemy while an officer, costing the lives of thousand of American soldiers and a million plus Vietnamese and Cambodians. He only believes in whatever will gain him a political advantage. Even his marriages were for privilege and political advantage.

If this is a guy you want to put on your team, more power to you. As John O'Neill has stated, paraphrasing: If you ask me to choose between Kerry and No One to lead me into battle, I would choose No One.

 

[92 Arizona Towncar]

yes... that is what troubles me about Kerry... "questionable decisions" like I stated earlier... I don't know if what you say is true about the defferment(haven't checked it out), but let's assume that is fact, he still WENT...

I love how everyone is very judgmental in what Kerry should have done in Vietnam in the heat of battle... Like they know what they themselves would do... Everyone likes to think they would stay and fight, but who knows what they will do unless they are in the thick of it...