Just what are the "Hanoi John" Democrats, including "Harkin" doing with the "Swift Boat Vets for Truth" Veterans. Are the these any less honorable, than America's other Vets.
THE PING!Posted on 08/23/2004 3:15:07 PM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
Why does John Kerry not mention the USS Gridley CG-21
Shipmates that actually served with him,
on the same ship,
at the same time remember him.
So since John Kerry is on the campaign trail I'll remind him.
Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines. ........
I lived on base at Subic Bay and was a member of the Olongapo Jaycees..... 1966/67. There were no corpses in the Olomgopo river, there were no starving mothers or children.
There were tons of children it's the Philippino way. There was poverty but the Zambales provence is Rural. There are more prostitutes/square foot than any place I have ever been but when the Big E came to port she brought with her a shore party of 10,000 sailors.
Kerry is confusing the realities of Olongopo with the left wing sobstories about Tondo, an area of severe poverty near the dump in Manila. More fiction from the Senator.
Lastly, my son was born in the US Naval Hospital, Subic Bay.......his official place of birth Olongapo, Zambales, Republic of the Philippines, Try to write all that in the Place of Bitrth application blanks..
I was wondering about two of his fitreps from the Gridley. In the Sep67-Mar68 fitrep it references a letter from Mr. Kenneth D Clements and his Mar68-Jul68 fitrep references a letter from the Honorable John F. Henning. The messages which are referenced in the same blocks are attached to the file, and are congratulatory messages to the ship for activities not specific to Kerry. I wonder what the letters are and why they aren't included in the file?
Anybody who was in Subic knows this is just another Kerry lie.
Anybody but the media.
Well, it took two of us but we have managed to come up with the correct name for it:
It's the National Defense Service Medal.
AFAIK, anyone serving at the time got one regardless of branch and reserve/active status.
Senator Kerry’s record in the senate has a similar pallor of disingenuousness to it. This is a playboy playing at politics – gets him into places the average man cannot go.
THE PING!Excellent Post! I wonder about his heroics in OCS/etc.
"Anybody who was in Subic knows this is just another Kerry lie."
It never did smell very good, but, oh, such fun. AND, back then San Miguel beer wasn't pasteurized, it tasted mahvelous!!! Especially at one P per bottle, 25 cents.
"It's the National Defense Service Medal."
In the Navy, it was referred to, even in boot camp, as the Geedunk medal, the Geedunk being the little shop you went to for a snack. Everybody goes, everybody gets a medal.
I'm not sure if you're joking or not but you're right on target. Kerry was basically the janitor-in-chief on the Gridley in that position. The division he led which included the boatswain mates and those either not striking for any rate or striking for boatswain mates was typically responsible for the cleaning and upkeeping of the decks, main passageways and yes the enlisted mens' head. They also took care of and operated the ship's small boats.
Doesn't exactly fit in with Kerry's Apocalypse Now fantasies.
Why does he not mention that he tried to get a deferment, but was denied?
Well, I dont want to stick up for Kerry, but I was in the Po several times, Feb 1980, June 1980, Feb 81 and June 81
I saw LOTS of poverty, lots of women begging in the streets in 1980, lots of street walkers, toothless street walkers, syphilitic street walkers, saw the streets cleaned up by June 81 when Martial Law was ended. They even paved a sidewalk, took out the boards that separated the sidewalk from the street and made a real sidewalk!
I will never forget the little kids begging for Pesos, nor will I forget the Shit River Queens at night in their Bonka Boats, (Please, Sir, Throw me coin), or the kids who scuba dived for coins off the bridge in the daytime. (Hey, Joe! Throw me coin Please!)
I remember the men coming to greet us in the field when we did an op in the Zimbales before leaving for Iran, trying to sell us anythng and everything, Bolo knives mostly, and seeing the women who came out there to sell their own daughters to the Marines in the field.
There was tons of poverty.
I NEVER saw a human floating down the river, I did see a dog and some birds and something quite rotted once, but never a human.
Because it suits him.
I have emphasized certain areas for your review and consideration.
Their website is http://www.navalinstitute.org
“Interview: Douglas Brinkley”
(See p. 56, May 2004 Proceedings)
Captain James F. Kelly, U.S. Navy (Retired)---Every candidate for public office probably has some excess baggage to carry that he’d rather not have. With Senator John Kerry, it’s undoubtedly his anti-Vietnam War activism that followed his heroic naval service in Vietnam.
John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as first lieutenant, the office in charge of the deck division, and I was executive officer. I remember him as a serious and intelligent young ensign, seemingly mature beyond his years. The skipper and I were mightily impressed with him in spite of his inexperience. He had excellent verbal skills and great poise so we assigned him a collateral duty as public affairs officer. Because of these duties and his basic responsibilities for seamanship evolutions and the overall external appearance of the ship, I had close, daily contact with him. (In other words, I would be all over his case if the ship wasn’t shipshape.) Turns out he didn’t need too much supervision in that regard. He was a fine division officer, and his men obviously respected him.
We deployed from San Diego to the Vietnam theater in early 1968 after only a six-month turnaround, and spent most of a four-month deployment on rescue station in the Gulf of Tonkin, standing by to pick up downed aviators. It was a fairly grueling tour of duty. Our helicopter was hit trying to rescue a downed pilot and the door gunner was killed. The crew performed well, and John Kerry’s performance in all aspects of his duty was outstanding. Drafting his fitness report was an exercise in the use of superlatives. In fact, of the 30 or so officers, I counted him in the top half dozen, no mean feat for an ensign.
I tried to interest him in a naval career. Silly me! It was obvious he had bigger fish to fry. I drafted the favorable endorsement on his request for swift boat duty on the rivers of Vietnam, where he distinguished himself in combat. Before he left, he gave me his bridge coat and several other uniform items, saying that he wouldn’t be needing them in the “brown water” Navy. Aside from a Christmas card and an aborted phone call, I didn’t hear further from John until I read about his antiwar antics, including his appearance with Jane Fonda and the famous episode of throwing medals onto the steps of the Capitol during a protest. While he was protesting against the war, many of us were still fighting in it. Many of us felt betrayed that one of our own, a decorated hero, would give comfort to the enemy by such actions. Think what you want about the wisdom of getting involved in that war. Two presidents, both Democrats, committed the armed forces they commanded to fight it. Make no mistake: actions by people such as Fonda and Kerry were damaging to our morale, gave aid and comfort to the forces we were fighting, and altered the eventual outcome in a manner less favorable to the United States than if they had kept their mouths shut.
The time for antiwar protests is before the war starts.
That's the one he truly deserves, too.
The Olangapo exaggeration is truly revealing. Not only Navy, also a big Marine hang-out, but noone else ever saw what Kerry saw. I am still curious about how he did as an electrical officer as opposed to commanding 30 enlisted and doing PR. I am curious since he does not seem to have done well in manning the radar in his swift boat according to Gardner.
Thanks for the ping!
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