Posted on 08/14/2004 2:04:20 PM PDT by Wisconsin
Apparently David Alston was not wounded in head on January 29 when Lt. Peck was wounded.
Some of the speculation about Alston having not been a crewman with Kerry centered around the fact that he received a head wound that would have been dishabilitating. According to this story in the Charlotte newspaper this was not the case.
A lot of Freepers seem intent on jumping the gun on this one! On a prior thread, the poster stated that Alston was sent to the hospital due to the same battle which wounded Peck AND THERE WAS NO RECORD OF HIS RETURN TO DUTY.
At that point, everyone wanted to jump to the conclusion that he hadn't returned to service. There were constant calls to "alert the media".
Some Freeper analytical skills rise to the level of Micheal Moore! All we need is Rush and Fox News proclaiming stuff like this on the air when it could be easily divulged in Alton's records that he returned to duty the next day. We simply don't know!
Let's stick to known facts rather than jumping to convenient conclusions. There are certainly plenty of solid, verifiable facts to indict Mr. Kerry.
Where is Drudge when you need him :)
Level headed ping.
Where you see that? And how "withdrawn?"
How do we know anything stated in this article is correct?
They are not giving any specific information regarding timeframes.
It also says Alston spent 4 months alongside Kerry, which is definitely not the case.
If anyone wants to read the article, go to
http://www.bugmenot.com
enter the URL of the paper: http://www.charlotte.com
and get the sign-in ID & password.
AWFA: GMG2 DAVID MARION Alston, USN, 99T 57 46 BRAVO: ACTIVE DUTY, ATTACHED TO COASTAL DIVISION ELEVEN AT AN THOI, RVN CHARLIE: INJURY, HOSTILE FIRE DELTA: 29, JAN 69, 1030H, SONG CUA LON - SONG BO DE, WHILE SERVING AS FORWARD GUNNER ABOARD PCF 94, ENGAGED IN CORDON AND SEARCH OPERATIONS IN THE ABOVE RIVER, GMG2 Alston RECEIVED SHRAPNEL WOUNDS TO HIS HEAD WHEN PCF CAME UNDER INTENSE HOSTILE ROCKET AND A/W FIRE. ECHO: CONDITION GOOD, PROGNOSIS GOOD. PRESENCE OF NOK IS NOT MEDICALLY WARRANTED AS REPORTED BY CORPSMAN. FOXTROT: MRS. IDA MCQUILLAR ALSTON, MOTHER GOLF: NOK NOT OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED. REQ NOK NOT REPEAT NOT BE NOTIFIED. HOTEL: SERVICEMAN TREATED BY CORPSMAN AND MEDEVACED TO 29TH EVAC HOSP. BINH THUY. 2. PATIENT ABL TO COMMUNICATE WITH NOK. 3. NO FURTHER INFO WILL FOLLOW
This is Alston's WIA report courtesy of www.captainsquartersblog.com--he got it from Kerry's website. He's been following the Alston issue carefully, and I'd take a look at his coverage. Interestingly, this WIA report has since been removed from Kerry's site. Wonder why?
http://www.heraldonline.com/local/story/3710894p-3317616c.html
The Herald
Rock Hill, South Carolina
A picture of Rev. Alston's head wound can be found here:
http://idexer.com/articles/alston_kerry.htm
July 28‚ 2004
Ida Alston will support the man who helped get her son home alive.
"Oh, my son," Ida Alston said. "My son on the TV. And speaking so well."
Ida Alston saw the war wound on her son's head on the television.
"David joined the Navy," Alston said. "He didn't have to. My daughter, Ida Mazetta, wanted to go to college. He told me that the only way we could afford it was for him to join up and save some money."
Ida Mazetta went to college. David Alston went to Vietnam and got shot in the head and shoulder, his mother said.
He lived and came home to Boyd Hill and his sweetheart, Lunice Lowery. They married and had two sons. Alston worked at a box factory, then managed the Wendy's restaurant on Cherry Road. A transfer moved the family to Columbia about 20 years ago, and Alston now works in an industrial plant: "It's dangerous, and he has to dress up like an astronaut," his mother said.
And why were the reports for December 1968 never on the site?
I suspect his handlers already knew the Cambodia problem shown by the previous changing of his story to "near" Cambodia.
Answering my own post. I apolodige for placing the photo URL in the middle of the paper's ID. The Herald, Rock Hill, South Carolina.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002249.php Alston was wounded and medavaced off the boat on Jan 29--Kerry took over on January 30.
I believe he started with most of his crew members if not all, but now only two support him.
The picture that he used early in the campaign has about 18 - 19 people, there are only two of those men that still support him.
EMAIL THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST
In January 1969, Sandusky's boat, PCF-94, came under attack during one such ambush. Lt. Ted Peck, the officer in charge, and another crewman were seriously wounded. Sandusky had to take command.
The boat was sinking and on fire, but Sandusky steered it back to safety. They counted 155 bullet holes in the boat and found a live enemy rocket in the main cabin. It had come to rest in a sack of potatoes.
For his actions, Sandusky would receive the Bronze Star.
With their officer headed home, the crew of PCF-94 needed a leader. And Lt. j.g. John Kerry, whose crew on PCF-44 had rotated back home, needed men to lead.
"I was sure glad he came along," Sandusky said, "because to be honest, I didn't want to take command."
From Jan. 30 to March 13, 1969, Kerry and the crew of the PCF-94 would conduct 18 missions in the Mekong Delta river system. In that time, Kerry would earn a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and add two Purple Hearts to the one he received earlier.
Bingo! Yachtzee! Alston received his serious wounds in that same exact battle that took Peck out of service. On January 29th, Alston was medevaced out to a hospital with head wounds and no records indicate that he ever returned to the unit. Kerry took command of PCF-94 the next day. Alston never served a day under Kerry's command. In fact, Kerry received a replacement, Fred Short, on 28 February as a replacement for Alston.
Now what does that tell us about Kerry and his Viet Nam narrative?
1. He and Alston conspired to deceive people about Alston's service under Kerry. That conspiracy was intended to give John Kerry cover against exactly the kind of campaign he faces from the other Swiftvets.
2. The "end of January" language on Kerry's website was intentionally vague in order to fuzzy up the timeline and keep Alston's true status a secret. Obviously, Sandusky remembers the dates well enough, and Kerry could easily have gotten them from him if he wanted to be as specific as his other dates on the timeline.
3. The DNC either were saps or actively participated in the conspiracy in order to assist Kerry in his Viet Nam mythology. Otherwise, why would they have allowed David Alston to speak at the convention about his experiences serving with John Kerry on the boat?
4. Kerry's band of brothers have some complicity in this cover-up as well. Those who served on PCF-94 surely remember that Alston never served under Kerry; Sandusky specifically recalls Peck being wounded and removed from command, but he wouldn't remember that Alston left at the same time?
5. One could argue that they served on the same boat, of course, and I look forward to that Clintonian parsing used in Kerry's defense. After holding Alston up as an expert on his leadership, he'll be hard pressed to explain how that expertise came to Alston from a hospital bed miles away from Kerry and his old PCF.
If this gets out to the mainstream media, this story kills Kerry's campaign. This isn't just a guy embellishing his war record -- this is a deliberate and longstanding attempt to mislead and defraud people by creating his own witnesses after the fact. That he could have done such a clumsy job should disqualify him for higher office on that basis alone
www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002251.php
Really??? That is one well-kept secret then. Maybe I've been concentrating too much on the Swift Boat Veterans to hear that some of Kerry's boatmates have withdrawn support. Who? What is the count now? When did this happen? Those are facts that need to be widely known, especially if after the convention!
Any South Carolina Freepers who can look for a newspaper article in 1969 about Alston coming home? It would be news in a small community. I don't know which paper(s) you would look in, but they should be on microfilm at the library.
"All we need is Rush and Fox News proclaiming stuff like this on the air when it could be easily divulged in Alton's records that he returned to duty the next day. We simply don't know! "
I agree completely. At this point, we don't have proof that Alston didn't return to duty on PCF94, although it does seem unlikely. If solid proof of his whereabouts during the period from Jan. 30, 1969 to Feb 28, 1969 are generated, then it would certainly be reasonable to claim they never served together. I say Feb 28, 1969, because that is the date of the Silver Star incident, and there is no evidence that Alston was on board then. Kerry shipped out on March 13, and I think there was limited action between Feb 28 and Mar 13. So I would say that the month of February, 1969 is the one that needs to be nailed down.
As an alternative, it would work to establish who exactly was on board PCF94 with Kerry during that month. If that doesn't include Alston, then QED.
Same for the other Lt. he allegedly served under when he received the wound.
Where is Alston's medal for his wound?
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