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'Trying to acquire Purple Hearts'
The Washington Times ^ | August 26, 2004 | Martin L. Fackler

Posted on 08/25/2004 11:36:53 PM PDT by neverdem

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

'Trying to acquire Purple Hearts'

By Martin L. Fackler
Published August 26, 2004

John Kerry has presented his Vietnam record as his major qualification to be president of the United States. It is, therefore, the duty of the American public to scrutinize that record carefully. And it is the duty of candidate John Kerry to facilitate that scrutiny. If all the senator's claims about his four months in Vietnam are factual, it would be to his great advantage to facilitate such scrutiny.


    Before we get to his record in Vietnam, however, we should examine the widespread misconception about how he got to Vietnam. The oft-repeated claim that Mr. Kerry volunteered to go to Vietnam misleads: He apparently volunteered only after the draft deferment he had applied for was turned down -- thus allowing him to choose service in the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army.


    I served as a combat surgeon in DaNang, (U.S. Naval Support Hospital) from Dec. 10, 1967, through Dec. 11, 1968. While there, I evaluated and treated hundreds of severely wounded combatants.


    During my year in DaNang, a few combatants urged me to verify small abrasions as "wounds" so they could get a Purple Heart. Each freely admitted trying to acquire Purple Hearts as rapidly as possible to take advantage of the policy allowing those with three Purple Hearts to apply to leave Vietnam early. I refused them. But some went shopping for another opinion. Unfortunately, we had some antiwar physicians in Vietnam who were happy to become accomplices in these frauds. Most with valid Purple Hearts didn't need to apply to leave Vietnam: The seriousness of their wounds demanded it.


(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: kerry; purplehearts; vietnam

1 posted on 08/25/2004 11:36:54 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
During my year in DaNang, a few combatants urged me to verify small abrasions as "wounds" so they could get a Purple Heart. Each freely admitted trying to acquire Purple Hearts as rapidly as possible to take advantage of the policy allowing those with three Purple Hearts to apply to leave Vietnam early. I refused them. But some went shopping for another opinion. Unfortunately, we had some antiwar physicians in Vietnam who were happy to become accomplices in these frauds. Most with valid Purple Hearts didn't need to apply to leave Vietnam: The seriousness of their wounds demanded it.

Hahaha........medal shopping!

2 posted on 08/25/2004 11:39:51 PM PDT by Howlin (John Kerry & John Edwards: Political Malpractice)
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To: neverdem

Thanks; nice article.


3 posted on 08/25/2004 11:42:53 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: neverdem

I recently read that Alan Alda was suggested as
a new cast member on The West Wing. (hang on, I'm
approaching the topic circuitously . . .)

Given Alda's smart-ass, anti-war persona in the 70's
sitcom M*A*S*H*, I wonder whether he was reflecting
his own bias, or whether he relied on caricatures
of existing smart-ass, anti-war enlisted MD's.

Perspiring minds want to know . . .


4 posted on 08/25/2004 11:47:09 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: All

Martin L. Fackler is "Mr. Ballistics". He's very well-known and respected in firearms and military circles. Very interesting to see him weigh in like this. Of course, the media will try to ignore the increasing drumbeat for Kerry to actually deign to release all his records to the peasants having the temerity to question his right to rule over them.


5 posted on 08/26/2004 12:24:11 AM PDT by BushMeister (You can't Botox your way out of this one!)
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To: grey_whiskers
Given Alda's smart-ass, anti-war persona in the 70's sitcom M*A*S*H*, I wonder whether he was reflecting his own bias, or whether he relied on caricatures of existing smart-ass, anti-war enlisted MD's.

Those with an MD degree, and those with a DO degree(Doctor of Osteopathy) are commissioned officers. They are not enlisted service men or women, regardless of joining voluntarily or being drafted.

6 posted on 08/26/2004 12:25:53 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

Just excellent. Another surgeon dismisses the boo-boos!


7 posted on 08/26/2004 12:48:05 AM PDT by lainde (Heads up...We're coming and we've got tongue blades!!)
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To: neverdem
In the absence of the medical records that Mr. Kerry apparently declines to make public, the only details we have about his second and third Purple Hearts are that he also based them on wounds too minor to require hospitalization. My reason for refusing to verify insignificant wounds as the basis for a Purple Heart was the regulation covering Purple Heart awards. In Part B, Paragraph 2, of the Army Purple Heart Regulation (600-8-22 of 25 February 1995), we find "the wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by a medical officer."

Dr. Louis Letson was entirely correct in turning down Lt. Kerry's first Purple Heart — even if the wound had been the result of enemy action. Can there be any doubt that the tiny metal sliver could have been removed easily, and safely, by a Navy corpsman? It certainly did not "require" treatment by a medical officer (an MD).

8 posted on 08/26/2004 1:03:53 AM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: Howlin

Hey, the Doc says purple heart wounds needed to be treated by an MD, not a corpsman.

Wasn't the report on Kerry's 1st purple heart signed by a medical corpsman?

Didn't the Kerryites slime the Swiftboat MD, who said Kerry didn't deserve a P. H., by saying he didn't sign the medical report?

Didn't it turn out that it was signed by the M.D.'s corpsman?

Thus wasn't it an error for Kerry to recieve his 1st Purple Heart?


9 posted on 08/26/2004 1:08:59 AM PDT by BillSharp
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To: neverdem
Excellent article. Thanks for the post.
10 posted on 08/26/2004 4:02:22 AM PDT by Malesherbes
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To: BillSharp

This is the "wound", that he later writes in his journal - "9 days and still not shot at"....


11 posted on 08/26/2004 5:27:19 AM PDT by bitt
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To: neverdem

That was sloppy writing on my part, my bad.
And you are of course, correct--I recall
Major Pierce, Major Burns, Major Hot-Lips, etc.

What I intended to convey was "within the ranks"
rather than civilian.

Thank you for your correction.

Do you have any thoughts on the substance of the post?


12 posted on 08/26/2004 6:50:29 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: neverdem

Sen.Kerry,

Please SIGN STANDARD FORM 180 so we can put this whole controversy behind us.


13 posted on 08/26/2004 7:25:28 AM PDT by AFPhys ((.Praying for President Bush, our troops, their families, and all my American neighbors..))
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To: grey_whiskers

M*A*S*H* was soft commie agiprop. It demeaned the Army endlessly.


14 posted on 08/26/2004 9:11:28 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

Yes, I agree.

That was that starting point of my post.

My question was if anyone knew how much of it sprang
from Alda's imagination and how much of it was based
on actual MDs within the armed forces that he had
met or known.

Any ideas?

Cheers


15 posted on 08/26/2004 8:22:36 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers
Any ideas?

Hollywood had a large lefty predisposition already. They were whining about being blacklisted in the fifties. The hard left was fairly well established in Hollywood and the dems by the 1950s. The "Reagan" dems weren't aware of what was going on, IMHO.

16 posted on 08/26/2004 8:51:41 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: BillSharp

Isn't it funny, Clinton dodged the draft and kept his political viability. Kerry entered the service, and lost his.


17 posted on 08/27/2004 12:55:40 AM PDT by Defiant (The Democrat ticket has Johnarea, an STD (SocialisticallyTransmitted Disease).)
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