Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

"Kerry took over command of Alston's boat, PCF-94, after a battle in which the boat's previous lieutenant had been injured. Alston was also wounded in that fight, a clean gunshot through the arm."

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.

1 posted on 08/14/2004 2:04:21 PM PDT by Wisconsin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


To: Wisconsin
This story offers no evidence to prove that Alston served with sKerry on the 94 boat. There has been other information out that indicates that that is not the case.

Several of Kerry's "Band of Brothers" have withdrawn their support of Kerry. I think in due time Alston will too.

John O'Neil said on Hugh Hewitt Friday that several of the people in the Band of Brothers were interviewed by a PI prior to the book and unknown to the Kerry camp.

The Kerry camp stopped any further interviews from the SBV and the PI.
2 posted on 08/14/2004 2:13:43 PM PDT by stockpirate (Kerry and The Taxocrates must be defeated! "Kerry wasn't in Cambodia before he was in Cambodia.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin

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.


3 posted on 08/14/2004 2:14:19 PM PDT by the_Watchman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin

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.


7 posted on 08/14/2004 2:16:53 PM PDT by FairOpinion (FIGHT TERRORISM! VOTE BUSH/CHENEY 2004.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin
If he wasn't wounded in the head, why was this on the Kerry site:

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?

9 posted on 08/14/2004 2:21:46 PM PDT by financeprof
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin
You better tell his Mamma he didn't receive a head wound. The important piece of information we DON'T have is when he returned from Viet Nam.

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.

10 posted on 08/14/2004 2:28:10 PM PDT by Lecie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin

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



15 posted on 08/14/2004 2:35:52 PM PDT by the Real fifi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin

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.


17 posted on 08/14/2004 2:42:19 PM PDT by Aliska
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin
Also, I wonder if Alston got any medal(s) for his wound(s). Interesting slant there if he didn't. If he was under Kerry's command and Kerry was so solicitous of his wellbeing, one would think Kerry would have put him in for a medal.

Same for the other Lt. he allegedly served under when he received the wound.

Where is Alston's medal for his wound?

20 posted on 08/14/2004 2:47:01 PM PDT by Aliska
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin
Good work, you guys (and gals)!!!!!! DAMN, YOU'RE DANGEROUS!!!!! lol ;^)
24 posted on 08/14/2004 3:02:47 PM PDT by soozla (Crime, sex, alcohol, drugs.........boy, do I LOVE DEMOCRAT POLITICS!!!!!!!!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin

Picked up from Captain's Quarters website. This is apparently in Brinkley's book:

"In addition to Kerry's Silver Star PCF-94's performance on February 28 also earned Bronze Stars for Tommy Belodeau and Mike Medeiros and Navy Commendation Medals with Combat V Devices for Del Sandusky, Fred Short, and Gene Thorson." - Douglas Brinkley

Where is Alston's medal? Racism? Not on the boat?


56 posted on 08/14/2004 4:00:13 PM PDT by Jim_Curtis (Liberals lie at the premise, accept their premise and you can only lose the argument.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin; maggiefluffs
"Kerry took over command of Alston's boat, PCF-94, after a battle in which the boat's previous lieutenant had been injured. Alston was also wounded in that fight, a clean gunshot through the arm."

Freeper maggiefluffs addressed this issue in this post. It appears the Observer confused Alston's injury with an injury to another Swiftie.

I do agree that raising the issue in public is permature, however. Someone should ask Kerry point-blank whether Alston ever served on any boat he commanded, and if so, when.

65 posted on 08/14/2004 4:50:27 PM PDT by Physicist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wisconsin
Maybe not a clean gunshot through the arm.

Evidence Shows Crewmate Rev. Alston Never Served Under Sen. Kerry

"..Only problem with the above statements is that the are flat out false because David Alston was never a crew member under Sen. Kerry nor could he had ever participated in combat operations with Sen. Kerry because they were from two different boats. From December to January 29, 1969 Sen. Kerry commanded the PCF-44 while David Alston was the Gunner onboard the PCF-94 under Lt.(jg) Peck. On January 29, 1969 both Peck and Alston were wounded and hospitalized. We know Alston was wounded on that date because his causality report was made available briefly by the Kerry Campaign before they removed it. Here is what it said:

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 confirms the date of David Alston's wounds, but it does not tell how seriously wounded David Alston was. There is no military medical records available for David Alston, and you cannot go by the causality reports description of good and prognosis is good because they will always say that even if you had both legs shattered -- and then there is the fact no medical doctor had yet evaluated him. But we can today see the severity of the wound Alston suffered as shown below from as Rev. Alston stood before recent Democratic Convention delegates...."

68 posted on 08/14/2004 7:49:21 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson