Posted on 08/10/2004 10:04:15 AM PDT by Dales
Edited on 08/10/2004 10:15:25 AM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
Check out this, which Captain Ed mentioned at the bottom of a post regarding some of the Swift Boat stories. I have blogged about it here as well.
First, from a Kerry campaign press release:
On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry’s when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore. Kerry was hit in the arm, while a mine blew Rassmann’s boat out of the water. With enemy fire coming from both sides of the river and swift boats evacuating from the area, Kerry’s crew chose to turn their boat toward the ambush to save Rassmann.Emphasis mine.“We were still under fire, and he was wounded at the time…,” recalled Rassmann. And with his boat’s gunners providing suppressing fire, Kerry extended his wounded arm into the water and the two lieutenants locked arms.
Then we have today's Wall Street Journal article by Rassman:
While returning from a SEA LORDS operation along the Bay Hap River, a mine detonated under another swift boat. Machine-gun fire erupted from both banks of the river, and a second explosion followed moments later. The second blast blew me off John's swift boat, PCF-94, throwing me into the river. Fearing that the other boats would run me over, I swam to the bottom of the river and stayed there as long as I could hold my breath.It is just so hard to keep the details straight, iddinit?
Pingeroo
Odd that the man who the Kerry campaign and the MSM are touting as the one with the definitive account of the incident was self-admittedly UNDER FREAKING WATER when it happened. Tough to get a good perspective of the situation from there...
Please send it to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Brit Hume form the FoxNews Channel.
hmmm I thought he fell out of the boat while eating a cookie after JFnK took off to get away.
Rassman must've misplaced his script. He was on a different boat that was blown by an underwater mine.
According to other vets who served on the other boats in the patrol, Kerry's boat fled from the scene, there was no gun fire, and they went about rescuing the personnel who had been tossed into the water. Of the four pulled from the water that day, Kerry pulled out Rassman as he returned to the scene.
The necessity of those who served on Kerry's boat to stick with him in this campaign is because with him they are a heroes. Without him, they served and supported a coward.
As far as I have heard, no other medals were awarded for actions that day besides Kerry's. Sort of odd since three other sailors/soldiers were pulled from the water... either they were under heavy fire, or they weren't. If they were, at least three other men deserve decorations.
"Paging Bill Oreilly, paging Bill Oreilly". Bring Alan Colmes with you too.
Page 106, " John F Kerry, The Official Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best "
Rasmussen's swift boat was following Kerry's, in a flotilla of 5 cruising a narrow canal.
" Rasmussen was eating a chocolate chip cookie in the pilothouse, when his craft was rocked by an explosion."
He was thrown overboard and stayed underwater for as long as he could, avoiding enemy fire.
ALL the swift boats turned to rescue him, Kerry's boat was the closest, Rasmussen swam over, grabbed netting and started to pull himself up.
In his weakened condition he was struggling.
Kerry , bleeding from the quarter inch wound in his arm, reached down and gave him a hand.
Rasmussen only weighed 135 lbs at the time.
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1181302/posts?page=13#13
just wait until you read about how his fellow veterans describe the incident... that is the veterans in the other boats.
Here's betting Mr. Rassmann will have a comfortable retirement with that County Sheriff's pension!
I have been trying to keep up with all the tales coming out. ah what a tangled web Kerry weaves
Rassmann, a former Green Beret, remembered sitting on the deck of the pilothouse of Kerry's boat, eating a chocolate-chip cookie, when an explosion under a nearby boat blew him into the Bay Hap River and caused Kerry to smash his arm.
Rassmann said he instinctively swam to the bottom of the river to avoid being run over by the escaping Swift boats. But every time he came up for air, the enemy shot at him. He swam for the north bank, expecting to be captured and probably executed.
After five or six dives, Rassmann said, he looked up and saw Kerry's boat coming back for him. He met the boat at the center of the river and then grabbed a heavy net made of rope hanging over the bow. He climbed the arch of the bow, but could not pull himself over the lip.
That, he said, is when Kerry came running.
"Kerry dropped to his hands and knees ... and pulled me aboard," Rassmann said. "The fighting continued until we got out of the kill zone, and we managed to get out to the Gulf of Siam."
Details, details. That's the problem with making up stories. It's hard to remember what you told to whom.
I guess Rassman now has to be on Kerry's boat, otherwise he gets lumped in with the Swifties who "didn't serve on Kerry's boat."
On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry's back when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire ...
Actually, the fact is that Kerry is a phony. I'll be surprised if his campaign makes it to November.
That is a very good point.
The boats were attacked by exploding "land" mines?
As an interrogator, I would be asking, "Were you lying THEN or are you lying NOW?"
Yeah, how can land mines blow boats out of the water? Uh...
Study the WSJ Rasmussen article. Aside from his version of the incident, he mostly scolds the swiftnet veterans of extensive vicious lying to attack hero Kerry. I counted the number of lies he said they made. Zero! Couldn't he come up with a few little lies, and maybe 1 or 2 big ones to justify his intense moral criticism of his companions in arms? He criticizes the swifnet veterans Republican financial support. Why not such support? I doubt that George Sorus would come across.
Well, the mines were sitting there, minding their own business in their natural habitat. Thinking they were being threatened by what appeared to be waterbourne SUVs, they lashed out and attacked in self-defense...
No, Rassman was a Green Beret on Kerry's boat for the day and fell off when Kerry abruptly turned the boat to flee the area, assuming that a battle was going on, not realizing that it was just a mine explosion.
Ha! that's a good one!
Well, you know, that was 35 years ago, so its unfair to expect Rassmann to remember the details. However, its obvious that the 250 members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are experiencing some sort of collective group delusion.
Actually, he didn't serve on John Kerry's boat:
Rassmann, a Green Beret, was...returning from a SEA LORDS operation along the Bay Hap River...he was just hitching a ride back on Kerry's boat, not "serving on the boat".
1. Technically, the cargo net saved his life, and Kerry's intervention just enabled him to dry off on the ride home.
2. We're supposed to believe this Green Beret couldn't throw himself over the bow of a boat after climbing up a cargo net while moving?
I guess Rassman was on Kerry's swift boat before he was not on it. Works for me.
I guess Rassman was on Kerry's swift boat before he was not on it. Works for me.
I guess Rassman was on Kerry's swift boat before he was not on it. Works for me.
I was a witness to an assault 35 years ago and can still remember the details quite clearly.
(Of course, I don't suffer the "necessity" to try to "keep my story straight" ;'}
Kerry rescued Rassman while "bleeding from a quarter inch wound on his arm"... a QUARTER INCH???
I wonder if this is the same land mine that blew Kerry's beloved dog (hamster?) 25 feet in the air before he miraculously landed on the deck of a nearby boat.
Wait a minute ... don't the latest RAT talking points say that Swift boats never get closer than "half-a-football-field" to each other? That dog must've really sailed through the air.
I'm a bit curious. Kerry could not have been alone at the scene. There were crewmen for at least three boats. So why is he singled out?
"While exiting the river, a mine detonated under another Inshore Patrol Craft and almost simultaneously, another mine detonated close aboard his Inshore Patrol Craft knocking a man into the water and wounding Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY in the right arm. In addition, all units began receiving small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks. When Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY discovered he had a man overboard, he returned upriver to assist. The man in the water was receiving sniper fire from both banks. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY directed his gunners to provide suppressing fire, while from an exposed position on the box, his arm bleeding and in pain and with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard."
Dales...you did good here.
Real good.
That should be "exposed position on the bow" not "exposed position on the box". Sorry.
How curious.
You must get this info out beyond FReepers!!!!
Oh Johnny, Do you hear that? What is that sound?? LOOKOUT Truth is coming for you...
WHAT DID YOU MISS JOHNNY???
No, a naval mine, not a land mine. These were typically home-made by the VC, and were made in both command-detonated and contact fused versions.
Think of it as an underwater IED.
Very similar devices were used in the 1950's by the Viet Minh against the French Dinassaut river flotillas.
Incredible. Literally - anything about Kerry has no credibility.
Like Clinton, though, he also seems to infect everyone around him with this virus.
Rassman I think put in for a medal for Kerry.
So if the other vets are proven as telling the truth, then Rassman lied to secure a medal for Kerry, and Kerry knowingly accepted a medal he didn't deserve.
It is in their best interest to squash this as fast as possible. And all Kerry has to do is release all of his military records. The legal shenanigans only make him look guilty of working the system in Vietnam to secure medals.
A way to reconcile all accounts -
There were five boats in all.
Very likely the boat crews, after the explosion of the mine or mines, started spraying the riverbanks. This gunfire could easily have confused Rassman, Kerry, and others into thinking the boats were under fire when they were not, as stated by the Swift veterans.
It does not seem like a good justification for a bronze star to me either.
I will try to call the Kerry campaign and ask some questions this week sometime when I have the time.
BTTT
You mean they don't know what they're talking about? ;o)
I'm not sure, but I think it's something along the same lines as, "Sand Shark! Everyone in the water!..."
Just curious. Does anyone know how a LANDmine explodes underwater?
Maybe the guys shooting from the shore were yelling,"This land mine! Yankee go home!"
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