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Kerry's Vietnam Doc: Wound Accidentally Self-Inflicted
NewsMax.com ^ | 5/04/04 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on 05/04/2004 9:43:25 PM PDT by kattracks

The Navy medic who treated Sen. John Kerry after he sustained his first battlefield wound in Vietnam said Tuesday that he thought that the injury had been inadvertently self-inflicted - raising new questions about why Kerry sought a Purple Heart after the incident.

Contacted by National Review Online, Dr. Louis Letson recalled that Kerry insisted during treatment that he was injured by enemy fire while his swift boat was patrolling the Mekong Delta on Dec. 2, 1968.

However, "some of his crew confided that they did not receive any fire from shore," the Navy doc told NRO.

Instead, his crewmen claimed that Kerry "had fired a mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore."

One crewman told Letson that he thought Kerry's injury "was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar round when it struck the rocks."

Concluded Letson, "That seemed to fit the injury which I treated."

He described the top Democrat's wound as "a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm.

"The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle."

Letson recalled that he "simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps.

"I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.

"The wound was covered with a bandaid," Dr. Letson said.

Based on the bandaid wound that was likely a result of a mortar round he fired, Kerry sought and eventually received his first Purple Heart.



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bandaid; kerry; kerrylies; louisletson; medic; medicalrecord; militaryrecord; swiftboatveterans; unearnedpurpleheart
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1 posted on 05/04/2004 9:43:26 PM PDT by kattracks
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To: kattracks
Can anyone tell me about the supposed "shrapnel" he still has in his leg?
2 posted on 05/04/2004 9:48:41 PM PDT by Captainpaintball (All it takes for Liberalism to triumph is for Conservatives to fail in their responsibilities.)
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To: kattracks

Al Gore angling for a Purple Heart.

3 posted on 05/04/2004 9:49:43 PM PDT by martin_fierro (Chat is my milieu)
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To: kattracks
Oooooops!
4 posted on 05/04/2004 9:50:11 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Any day you wake up is a good day.)
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To: kattracks
"The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter.

"I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm "

The fragment was less than 1/2 inch long, 1/8 inch wide and under the skin by 1/4 inch.

Visualize an ingrown hair.
5 posted on 05/04/2004 9:50:58 PM PDT by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: kattracks
The event has already been memorialized in song -- BAND ON THE RUN
6 posted on 05/04/2004 9:52:22 PM PDT by doug from upland (Don't wait until it is too late to stop Hillary -- do something today!)
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To: kattracks
It's obvious what needs to be done here--

1) Smear Dr. Letson, claiming he's a pawn of the GOP;
2) Express outrage that anyone could dare question the patriotism of St. Kerry;
3) Wonder aloud, "Why, oh why are we dredging up the Vietnam War? Let's move on.";
4) Discuss in detail St. Kerry's Vietnam War record.

7 posted on 05/04/2004 9:52:36 PM PDT by randog (Everything works great 'til the current flows.)
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To: martin_fierro
Don't be so harsh! Maybe he couldn't tell the difference between a camera and a carbine...
8 posted on 05/04/2004 9:53:24 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Any day you wake up is a good day.)
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham
It is inconceivable that anyone could be a bigger liar than Bill and Hillary, but Kerry may actually take the record once elected.
This VN fiasco called for a courtmartial and not a sivler star, more investigation is needed.
9 posted on 05/04/2004 9:54:15 PM PDT by MarthaNOStewart
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To: kattracks
Just remember unless you were there. Do not question Kerry!
10 posted on 05/04/2004 9:54:39 PM PDT by Brimack34
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To: Carl/NewsMax
Nice headline.
11 posted on 05/04/2004 9:54:51 PM PDT by Petronski (Hubris knows no editor.)
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To: Wild Irish Rogue
The fragment was less than 1/2 inch long, 1/8 inch wide and under the skin by 1/4 inch.

Damn, it must have taken a real effort to keep to something like that from just falling out by itself.

12 posted on 05/04/2004 10:02:42 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY
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To: kattracks

13 posted on 05/04/2004 10:07:03 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (Must get Moose and Squirrel ... B. Badanov.)
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To: GATOR NAVY
Damn, it must have taken a real effort to keep to something like that from just falling out by itself.

What I've been wondering is just how long Kerry had to carry that fragment in his pocket before he got a scratch big enough to use it in.

14 posted on 05/04/2004 10:11:27 PM PDT by Ah Beng ("Back bone... not back down")
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To: kattracks
Max Cleland lost three limbs in a non-combat accident with an explosive. No Purple Heart for him.
15 posted on 05/04/2004 10:11:39 PM PDT by ntnychik
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To: kattracks
It's bad enough he got out of Vietnam early based on this fraud and now is campaigning on his fake purple hearts... but it makes a mockery out of all those maimed and killed who earned them.
16 posted on 05/04/2004 10:15:45 PM PDT by Tamzee (Kerry's just a gigolo, and everywhere he goes, people know the part he's playing...)
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To: kattracks
My kids have been hurt worse from falling off their bikes. I thought a purple heart was supposed to mean something. Like walking around with a gimpy hand like Bob Dole or something. John Queery disgusts me. Gigilo liar!
17 posted on 05/04/2004 10:19:50 PM PDT by SusanTK
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To: kattracks
bump for truth about this lying, over-priviledged, french-looking pseudo soldier with no kahunas....
18 posted on 05/04/2004 10:25:21 PM PDT by I'm ALL Right! (I'll only vote for a candidate who is comforable with JEANS, a COWBOY HAT and a RIFLE!)
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To: GATOR NAVY
" Damn, it must have taken a real effort to keep to something like that from just falling out by itself."

Can't you just see Kerry running around, with his hand over his arm-not to apply pressure, but ,to keep the miniscule metal splinter from flying out !
19 posted on 05/04/2004 10:59:57 PM PDT by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: Captainpaintball
I read in the Boston Herald about a week ago that the "shrapnel" in Kerry's leg measures about 2mm by 2mm. I don't know what their source was except to say that it was measured from x-rays.

I've been wondering what kind of shell is only 2 mm thick at best.
20 posted on 05/04/2004 11:23:32 PM PDT by dougd
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