Kerry was not asking for replacement medals, he was asking for a rewrite of the commendation with different wording, leaving out the fact that he shot a wounded, retreating teenager in the back.
"Kerry was not asking for replacement medals, he was asking for a rewrite of the commendation with different wording, leaving out the fact that he shot a wounded, retreating teenager in the back."
Yeah, now that's skullduggery. Nothing to do with his discharge, but it's improper all by itself.
We don't know what Kerry was requesting because we don't have his actual request. We do know that he received replacement citations and certificates for all of his medals in June in June 1985. The Silver Star citation originally sign by Adm Hyland was not changed by the Lehman signed citation except for the boilerplate last sentence. We need to know if Kerry received replacement medals as well. In 1971 he said he threw his medals away. In 2004 on GMA, he said he threw his ribbons away and someone else's medals. He explained away his 1971 statement by saying the medals and ribbons are interchangeable.
Kerry's Bronze star citation signed by Lehman was exactly the same as Zumewalt's original.