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"Vet with L.B. roots backs Kerry
Long Beach Press Telegram ^ | 08/27/04 | Greg Mellen

Posted on 08/28/2004 2:47:39 AM PDT by conservative in nyc

Vet with L.B. roots backs Kerry

Sanders says hopeful took enemy fire during Vietnam missions.

By Greg Mellen Staff writer

LONG BEACH — Before the controversy about John Kerry's service in Vietnam, launched by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, fully runs its course, a swift boat commander with Long Beach connections wants to reiterate that Kerry was a legitimate war hero.

Wade Sanders, who attended Long Beach area high schools, Long Beach City College and graduated from Cal State Long Beach, served with Kerry in Vietnam, took on enemy fire alongside the Democratic presidential nominee and bristles at the claims by the rival veterans group that questioned Kerry's service.

Although several of the swift boat veterans group's most serious charges have been discounted by official records and eyewitnesses who fought with Kerry, the issue is not quite dead.

Sanders, now a lawyer in San Diego, has been an active campaigner for Kerry, a longtime friend and one of his staunch supporters and allies.

Describing Kerry as "the kind of guy you want to have your back," Sanders said he was a fellow swift boat commander in Vietnam and fought with Kerry on several missions during which the boats faced enemy fire.

"When you're directing 50 caliber machine gun fire, you're fully exposed to enemy fire," Sanders said. "We could see each other and what we were doing."

Sanders said in those instances, Kerry was aggressive, brave, focused and well-respected.

These are sentiments that many who served on the boat with Kerry have echoed.

Although not a part of any of the missions in which Kerry received his three Purple Hearts, Sanders, who has a Purple Heart of his own, has no doubt about the veracity of Kerry's claims.

It has also been the source of humor.

"I always joke that I was faster than he was," Sanders said.

There was nothing funny, however, about their time in combat

Sanders said he and Kerry "got into the (Mekong) Delta during the most vicious period in the war."

As the Kerry campaign gained momentum, particularly among veterans, for Kerry's war service, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, led by Kerry's former swift boat fleet commander, retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, launched political advertisements assailing the candidate, questioning both his war record and his patriotism. It continues to run ads on a Web site.

Sanders and others in the Kerry campaign have been quick to note that some of the leaders of the anti-Kerry group formerly supported the senator and praised him both verbally and in written reports. And when it comes to war conduct, Sanders has a particularly harsh appraisal of Hoffmann.

Democrats have accused the swift boat group of being orchestrated by President Bush's re-election campaign. It has been bankrolled by a group of conservative Republicans with ties to Bush, including Texas millionaire Bob Perry. On Wednesday, Benjamin Ginsberg, national counsel for the Bush campaign, acknowledged he had done legal work for the group and resigned. Also Ken Cordier, a member of the group who appeared in an ad, was later dismissed as a volunteer on the Bush campaign.

Bush finally criticized the commercial Monday, more than a week after the ad stopped running and more than three months after the anti-Kerry group launched its campaign. Bush said such attacks had no place in a presidential campaign.

On Thursday, after Sen. John McCain renewed calls to condemn the ads, the president said he would team with McCain to crack down on independent groups spending millions of dollars on political attack advertisements. The president did not disavow the ad, but did say he did not believe Kerry had lied about his service, according to The New York Times.

The Times also reported lawyers for Bush were filing two lawsuits. One, they said, is intended to expedite their complaints that Moveon.org, The Media Fund, and America Coming Together, liberal groups running ads against the president, were illegally coordinating with Kerry. The other lawsuit, they said, would seek tighter restrictions on the groups' fund raising.

The swift boat group recently released a new Internet advertisement, again calling Kerry "a liar."

Nationally, reports of overlap between local Republican committees and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth continue and several county Republican parties from New Hampshire to California were directing visitors to their Web sites to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth site, according to, The New York Times .

{{{Sanders' connection with Kerry dates back to before when the two served in Vietnam. Sanders and David Thorn, Kerry's brother-in-law, were shipmates and shared an apartment in Belmont Shore, where Kerry "became a resident of our couch," according to Sanders.

Through the years, Sanders said he and Kerry have remained friends. Sanders, who was a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, has been campaigning for Kerry across the country. He has also been critical of Bush on veterans' issues for many years.}}

As the Republicans head into their national convention on Monday, the swift boat issue appears to be receding, which is just fine with Sanders.

"I think it's a dying story," Sanders said. The anti-Kerry group has "so lost credibility. I think they're at the end of their rope.""

This is the first I have heard of Sanders and being "former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy," raises questions as WHEN this guy was deputy assistant secretary of the NAVY????

Also I can't help but wonder if there is a Sanders and Rassmann connection??????