Teresa's speech

Well, to be correct, he received 3 purple hearts and, thus, his right to ask to go home. The fact that one of the purple hearts was for a scratch that did not require medical care belies the phoniness. The fact that he requested that he be transferred home, as was his right, differentiated him from many, many other soldiers who stayed on to fill their full deployment no matter how many awards they received. And, then, the fact that he threw his ribbons (everone gets ribbons) over the White House gates confirms the phoniness. John Kerry is a three dollar bill.

Regarding his first purple heart, Kerry picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and fired a grenade that exploded too close to the boat, causing a small piece of shrapnel to stick in the skin of his arm. Kerry himself did not report receiving hostile fire that night, which would have been required, and there is no record of hostile fire for the mission.

Kerry succeeded in keeping the small piece of shrapnel in his arm until the following day, when he was treated by Dr. Louis Letson, whose version of the event matches William Schachte’s account rather than Kerry’s.

The following morning, John Kerry arrived at the office of Coastal Division 14 Commander Grant Hibbard to apply for a Purple Heart. Having already been informed by Schachte that Kerry’s injury was self-inflicted rather than the result of hostile fire, Commander Hibbard told him to “forget it.” Hibbard recently said of Kerry’s minor scratch, “I�ve seen worse injuries from a rose thorn.”

Military regulations state that to qualify for a Purple Heart, an injury must come “from an outside force or agent,” and treatment for the wound must “have been made a matter of official record.” While John Kerry managed to satisfy the second criterion by insisting that an amused Dr. Letson provide an official Band-Aid, nicking himself with a fragment from his own poorly-aimed grenade fails to meet the first qualification.

Source: http://www.swiftvets.com/

Ken,

You mean like flying jet aircraft in support of our country. Why all the slander against reservists and National Guard? George Bush acutually requested assignment to Vietnam but was turned down since the ware was winding down and he did not have enough flight hours for combat.

I spent 20 years in the Navy and I normally give Kerry a pass on how he got his medals, though there is some question as to the injuries substained. The way he acted after the war though was shameful . He now mentions continuosly that he has three purple hearts. If he was so proud why did he engage in the act of throwing medals over the White House fence? What if you were a POW in Vietnam and you heard a tape played by your captors of John Kerry’s congressional appearance where he accused his fellow soldiers of war crimes (even thought he never witnessed any)? This is exactly what happened to some POWs.

If this is a mistake in his youth, then where is his apology to those slandered veterans?

First, I have not denigrated the anti-life/anti-family presumptive Democratic Party nominee, John Kerry. What is listed above is taken directly from reports of those who served with Kerry in Vietnam.

It was John Kerry and not I who made his 4-month combat tour in Vietnam a focus and centerpiece of his bid for the Presidency. Most of the combat veterans who served with Kerry in Vietnam do not see him as reliable, truthful or capable of being the Cammander-in-Chief.

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Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was launched on May 4, 2004 at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. Eighteen Navy combat veterans and commanders went on the record opposing John Kerry’s bid for the Presidency, including the entire chain of command above Lt. Kerry in Vietnam, and men who had fought at his side.

More than 250 Swift boat veterans have now signed an open letter to Senator Kerry challenging his fitness to serve as commander-in-chief of America’s armed forces.
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It appears that someone else’s behavior is shameful and I, for one, have no reason to feel ashamed for having presented the information above. The fact remains that at least one of the Purple Hearts he received was awarded under questionable circumstances. If it requires further investigation, then so be it.

Lastly, if one is to be honest with oneself, one should evaluate the testimony of those with whom he served rather than relying on Kerry’s own self-appraisal. Much like his self-described position of being a faithful Catholic, one might conclude that his version of his truth regarding his service in Vietnam must also be questioned.

John,

I was on the U.S.S. Ranger in the early 80s after I had crossdecked from the Midway. They still had F-4s when I was on her.

Jeff: Ah, the F-4. What an aircraft. Proof of the well established aerodynamic principle that with enough power behind it, even a brick can fly. I loved the Ranger, though. And, truth be told, I loved my beast, even with all its warts. Never was on the Midway, but did spend some time on the Kennedy.

If Kerry’s first purple heart did not require medical treatment why is there a doctor claiming to have treated his wound? And why is that doctor a member of an anti-kerry group?

AS to the requirement that the wound be from outside fire, Friendly fire does qualify. Check the Military Order of the Purple Heart website. moph.org

Oh, and Bush did *NOT* apply for Vietnam duty. Read his book. He talked about it, he did not do it.

And there is still the fact that no one can show one full year of his service time. His own people admit they can’t even begin to show one quarter of that year. Best they have done is a witness who claims to have seen him in alabama 4 months before he applied, and a dental record from Alabama 6 weeks after he went back to Texas.