For Swift boat vet, words still sting

Concord Monitor ^ | Sept. 18, 2004 | AMANDA PARRY

[FairOpinion]

very few years since the early 1990s, Bub Morgan has met up with Navy pals from his time in Vietnam. But at a 2003 reunion in Norfolk, Va., Morgan was surprised and unhappy to spy a vet he hadn't seen in years.

"When John Kerry arrived I said to my friend, 'What is he doing here?'" said Morgan, a Wilmot resident and former officer in charge of a Navy Swift boat.

Morgan's disdain for the Massachusetts senator stemmed from Kerry's assertion in the early 1970s that Americans had committed atrocities in Vietnam.

Earlier this year, with Kerry running for president, Morgan was one of 192 Navy veterans to sign a letter asking Kerry to release his military records and to "correct misconceptions" about his conduct in Vietnam. The letter from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - now numbering close to 260 - also accused Kerry of "grossly and knowingly (distorting) the conduct of American soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen."

"We wanted the American people to know the truth about Kerry's service," Morgan said. "We feel the American people should know what kind of character this man has."

Originally from Phoenixville, Pa., Morgan served as the officer in charge of a Swift boat from December 1968 to mid-November 1969. Designed for coastal patrol, the 50-foot aluminum boats were used to ship supplies, South Vietnamese troops, special forces and medical teams up Vietnam's muddy rivers.

Initially a member of Coastal Division 14, Morgan was soon transferred to Coastal Division 11, stationed on the island of An Thoi. It was the same division with which Kerry had served.

Kerry was gone by the time Morgan arrived at An Thoi,

sent home after four months based on a military rule that allowed men leave if they had received three Purple Hearts. (Kerry had served a previous tour aboard the destroyer USS Gridley, although all of his wounds were received during his Swift boat duty.)

Many of the men who were in An Thoi with Morgan had also been there with Kerry. From what Morgan heard, Kerry had been unpopular. Some officers questioned his conduct, he said.

By the early 1970s, Kerry was active with the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War and testified before a Senate committee on atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers.

Later, on Meet the Press, Kerry said he and other Swift boat veterans had routinely committed war crimes.

For Morgan, it was a slap in the face. He had served in the same place at almost the same time as Kerry. And yet, he said, he had never witnessed or even heard of war crimes or atrocities being committed.

"He provided no evidence," Morgan said. "There were no affidavits, no real investigations. Yet he went in front of the country and told people that this had happened."

Already Morgan had been dealing with what had become the stigma of serving in Vietnam. He often kept quiet about his service because to mention it invited tirades.

"There was this stereotype of Vietnam veterans," he said. "We were supposedly all crazy. We had supposedly all done horrible things to the Vietnamese. That was already the case when I got back, but guys like Kerry and the VVAW made it worse. They turned my stomach."

Some of Morgan's most enjoyable missions with the Swift boat fleet were ferrying and distributing food and medical supplies to South Vietnamese villages.

"We brought medical teams to provide vaccinations," he said. "We gave the children candy. Wherever we went, we drew a crowd. A waving crowd."

But while Morgan believed Kerry was lying, he made no attempt to counter his testimony. All Morgan wanted to do was move on with his life, and he hoped Kerry's influence would fade.

A graduate of Bucknell University, Morgan moved to Connecticut and worked as an investment banker. He married and had three sons. Ten years ago he moved with his family to a farm in Wilmot.

From time to time, Morgan would hear about Kerry at Swift boat reunions from fellow vets who had read about his latest political victory. But he didn't pay much attention until earlier this year, when Kerry triumphed in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

It was around this time that Tour of Duty, a book on Kerry's military service, was published. Written by historian Douglas Brinkley, it was based on Kerry's journal entries and letters and on interviews with fellow sailors and family members.

The book stirred public discussion once again about alleged war crimes by Swift boat veterans. He took offense that Kerry would promote his war record after he had spent so many years protesting the war.

"I think we decided we'd had enough," Morgan said.

Morgan attended a meeting of Swift boat vets in Washington, D.C. He put his name on the open letter to Kerry. Right now he doesn't have any activities planned with the group, although he said if he were asked to get involved in something, he would consider it.

Morgan said his decision to participate had nothing to do with party politics. He is registered independent, and he said he'd be doing the same thing if Kerry were a Republican.

"I just felt it was about time we all spoke up," he said. "I feel like Kerry has been using us for his political career for a long time. It needs to stop."

[AFPhys]

My wife who is Vietnamese (now American citizen) grew up on the Delta, and has relatives everywhere in the area - ... On the issue of "atrocities", she's never heard a whisper, a peep, a rumor or anything else from her family or friends while growing up on the Delta, nor anything from her many Vietnamese-American friends here in the States...

PING ... Thanks for this.

68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub, et al, you may wish to ping your list to this reply#19 for them to refer to.

[AFPhys]

There are many who do not recall VietNam. It is important for you all to realize how sKerry deeply hurt and angered our fine military men.

I was just getting into the USAF as Vietnam was winding down.
I was personally spit on, as were many of my friends.

A buddy of mine here at Cornell had blood thrown at him, and others were assaulted by the peaceniks.

This was due to sKerry's "testimony" of lies at the "hearings" as much as anything else, though we could mention Fonda, SDS, the Communists, and others. But, sKerry gave great credibility to knee-jerk egotistical pacifist isolationists. His charges against our brave military men have not been forgotten - but the Swifties are reminding the 'Nam vets and their families EXACTLY WHO did that testimony, and many of us who remembered that testimony had forgotten who had created such lies.

The effect on the morale of our troops was devastating. The leadership of the country was devastated, too. They had already been in a defensive mode to begin with instead of an aggressive "win the war" mode - they went into a "buy our way out of it" mode. Some pointed with credibility to sKerry's lie that "we'd only have to protect 3000 S.Vietnamese who might be harmed by the NV" --- that was always complete bunk, but people WANTED to believe it. Over Three MILLION were killed after we left. sKerry was wrong there, and he lied about the rest, too. If the hearings had been more positive, it might have defused the peaceniks a bit, and we may well have gone on to make an attempt to stop micromanaging that conflict, and let our guys win the war.

Many of the culprits have recognized they were wrong - take David Horowitz as an example, as well as many FReepers who have stated as much here. Many are angry at the way Walter Cronkite and the rest of the lamestream press duped them. sKerry is still trying to defend his indefensible actions.

Kerry's a bona fide liar. He and his VVAW buddies encouraged others to lie. He is as close to a traitor as anybody I know of.

I stated (at length in discussions) on a thread a some time ago that this is now not only a battle between the SwiftVets and the peaceniks of the 60s and 70s, but that this campaign has become a battle - a great battle - between the Old Media Fraudcasters and other mediots, and the New Media - with talk radio/ internet/ blogs.

This has become a battle to the death. Only one will be left standing. The 'Nam Vets (including me and many of my fellows in arms) are not going to be able to be silenced by the President or by the Demodogs or by the Fraudcasters. We know the truth. There is a great well of support we can draw on, and righteous anger about the way we have been treated. Many others are just as angry about how they have been misled by the Fraudcasters and the NYSlimes, et al, and they are now seeing a way to "get a bit of their own back.

WE THE PEOPLE, INCLUDING THOSE OF US AT FR, HAVE TO TAKE BACK THE NEWS MEDIA. WE CAN NOT GIVE UP, WE CANNOT GIVE IN, WE CANNOT REST UNTIL sKERRY IS CRUSHED. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THIS EFFORT.

please feel free to add to this, plagiarize it, or otherwise use this rant against the traitors to our brave men.

Give the VietNam Vets the Parade They Never Got

DEFEAT KERRY !!!

[JLO]

Don't quote me or anything...but this is OLD news.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Please read this post by angkor

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1220175/posts?page=19#19

[Jet Jaguar]

Thanks for the post. Really. Good read.

[MEG33]

Bumped and bookmarked

[angkor]

I will put my 5-foot-zero wife's 25 years experience on the Delta against Lurch's 3 months of self-inflating narcissism, any day of the week.

He's a bastard, a liar, and a phan boi to Americans AND to the people of South Vietnam.

I can confidently tell you that the South Vietnamese commmunity now in America will NOT be voting for John "Phan Boi" Kerry. They loathe him as much as they do anyone in Hanoi.

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks, Tonk.

Very informative post, angkor.
Thank you.

[AFPhys]

I intended to state in my rant an invitation, ANYONE please feel free to expand on or plagiarize this rant. The most important thing is that we all get this out to the people who are still considering this man for CINC

[Ragnar54]

Someone should pose a question to Kerry:
"Have you stopped working for the enemies of this country?"

[JLO]

angkor
Since Nov 9, 2000
view home page, enter name:



~ About ~ Links ~ Contact ~ In Forum ~ Mail To ~ Return


angkor hasn't created an about page.

[JLO]

angkor
Since Nov 9, 2000
view home page, enter name:



~ About ~ Links ~ Contact ~ In Forum ~ Mail To ~ Return


angkor hasn't created an about page.

[angkor]

"we'd only have to protect 3000 S.Vietnamese who might be harmed by the NV" --- that was always complete bunk...Over Three MILLION were killed...

He said this in his debate with O'Neill, as if 3,000 dead South Vietnamese was no big deal. Trivial and inconsequential. Something only a budding narcissist could say.

But you're right, it turned out to be 2 million Cambodians; almost 1 million tortured in NVA "reeducation camps"; and several tens of thousands killed on the spot in 1975.

Among the family of my Vietnamese wife, at least 6 went for "reeducation" (reeducation was administered in three-year terms).

Two came home permanently crippled from NVA beatings. All were subjected to torture, the favored method being to hang the subject from the feet, stuff a rag in his mouth, and pour "nuoc mam" (fermented fish sauce) down the nostrils.

In 1971, John Kerry repeatedly asserted that only major South Vietnamese political leaders would be subject to NVA retribution. He was a liar.

Millions of South Vietnamese were subjected to direct retribution, and millions more suffer at the hand of the Hanoi government to this very day.

John Kerry is responsible for the abject misery of 25 million South Vietnamese to this very day.

[Chieftain]

You can bet the DemocRAT 'smear the President and Swiftees' campaign will be kicked up to a whole new level now.

FReepers are key in getting the word out about the Swiftees who are EXPOSING KERRY'S FRAUD!

These Swiftee stickers get the word out to the driving public and displays your public support for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth! It even displays their website address. Best of all, it generates funds to buy more airtime!

Swiftee sticker thread! Freep mail for details on how to get yours!

[angkor]

angkor hasn't created an about page.

Angkor won't be doing that.

[angkor]

Don't quote me or anything...but this is OLD news.

Maybe to you, but not to the accepted American mythology about Vietnam.

What point specifically do you think is "old news"? Just curious.

[El Gato]

That's Concord New Hampshire, "Live Free or Die", not "Tax 'em til they Die", Massachusetts.

[GeekDejure]

The blood on Kerry's hands is 2 million Cambodians and hundred of thousands of South Vietnamese, post 1975.

I committed atrocities in Vietnam before I did not commit atrocities. I had blood on my hands before I did not have blood on my hands. I am a war hero and I've got the medals to prove it!

I am John Kerry and I approve this message.

.

[christie]

Someone should pose a question to Kerry: "Have you stopped working for the enemies of this country?"

The answer is NO!

The Vietnam Human Rights Act, (HR2833), which tied U.S. aid to Vietnam's human rights performance, passed by a 410-1 margin in the House of Representatives. Kerry, chairman of the Senate's East Asian and Pacific Affairs subcommittee in 2001, blocked the bill from coming to a vote in the Senate. Kerry said in a statement at the time that he and fellow Vietnam War veteran Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) "are concerned that denying aid to Vietnam would actually slow human rights improvements." Many Vietnamese living abroad, along with human rights campaigners, say conditions in Vietnam have deteriorated in the three years since Kerry blocked the legislation.

Kerry persuaded the MIA/POW Senate committee, which he chaired, to vote unanimously that no POWs existed in Vietnam in order to open up trade with Vietnam. (His cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO of Colliers Intl, received a contract for a huge commercial deal worth at least $905 million to develop a deep-sea commercial port at Vung Tau.)

More on the POW/MIA, a great article: When John Kerry's Courage Went M.I.A. - Senator covered up evidence of P.O.W.'s left behind

For more, check out the John F. Kerry Timeline. Email it to your friends.
.

[King Prout]

good to know.