Free Republic

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry claimed on Sunday that he's already released his medical records, including those that would prove he deserved three Purple Hearts in Vietnam - though reporters have been clamoring for weeks for Kerry to make the documents public. Asked if he would "agree to release all your military records," Kerry told NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert, "I have. I've shown them." In the next breath, however, Kerry pulled back from the claim that he had publicly released his Vietnam records, telling Russert, "They're available to you to come and look at. . ....

<p>April 15, 2004 -- John Kerry was facing questions about his celebrated war record yesterday after his former commanding officer in Vietnam said Kerry didn't deserve his first Purple Heart medal because his injuries were just a scratch. Lt. Cmdr. Grant Hibbard, who was division commander of then-Lt. j.g. Kerry's Navy unit, told The Post he opposed Kerry's petition for the Purple Heart, awarded to service people wounded in combat, for an encounter with Viet Cong smugglers Dec. 2, 1968.</p>

<p>April 15, 2004 -- Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry has never been forthcoming about how he earned three Purple Heart medals in Vietnam - and the reason for his reticence appears now to be coming clear. At least the first of the decorations - awarded for wounds suffered in combat - was received in circumstances that can best be described as dubious.</p>

Kerry faces questions over Purple Heart By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 4/14/2004 WASHINGTON -- John F. Kerry's tour of duty in Vietnam, distinguished by Silver and Bronze stars and the close-range killing of an enemy fighter, is highlighted in his campaign ads and cheered on the trail. Even the campaign of President Bush, who did not see combat, hasn't tried to make an issue of his opponent's service record. But as the presidential campaign heats up, some Vietnam veterans are using the Internet and talk radio to question the Democratic candidate's military record. They complain that Kerry's three Purple Hearts...

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry insisted on being awarded his first Purple Heart in Vietnam even though his injury amounted to no more than a "fingernail scrape," his commanding officer at the time now says. Retired Lt. Cmdr. Grant Hibbard tells the Boston Globe that he can still recall Kerry's wound, and that "it resembled a scrape from a fingernail," the paper said. "I've had thorns from a rose that were worse," Hibbard insists. Still, the former Navy man remembered that Kerry insisted on receiving a Purple Heart for the wound he said was incurred during a Dec. 3,...

"But as the presidential campaign heats up, some Vietnam veterans are using the Internet and talk radio to question the Democratic candidate's military record. They complain that Kerry's three Purple Hearts were for minor wounds and that he left Vietnam more than six months ahead of schedule under regulations permitting thrice-wounded soldiers to depart early...."