[LOC1]

"My name is Steve Gardner. I served in 1966 and 1967 on my first tour of duty in Vietnam on Swift boats, and I did my second tour in '68 and '69, involved with John Kerry in the last 2 1/2 months of my tour. The John Kerry that I know is not the John Kerry that everybody else is portraying. I served alongside him and behind him, five feet away from him in a gun tub, and watched as he made indecisive moves with our boat, put our boats in jeopardy, put our crews in jeopardy... if a man like that can't handle that 6-man crew boat, how can you expect him to be our Commander-in-Chief?"
-- Steven Gardner

The above quote was from a press conference given at the National Press Club in Washington on May 4, 2004. You may view Steven’s comments at the following web site. Just scroll down to Steven’s picture and click on it.

http://swift1.he.net/~swiftvet/index.php?topic=SwiftVetQuotes

Searching through that web site, you will find 250 men who served on Swift boats, including the entire chain of command above Lt. Kerry, agree with Steven Gardner that Kerry is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief. That compares to the 13 crew members who support his candidacy.

[G.Mason]

Great article!

Bookmarked, and sent out to all the "Paul Revere's I know.

Thanks for the post.

[Carling]

You just put every major "investigative reporter" in America to shame.

Excellent post!

[Key West Girl]

Excellent article!

[lonevoice]

Bravo. Very very well done.

[Steven W.]

From DNC Thursday Night Speaker List:

9:00 pm Performance by Carole King
Andre Heinz
Vanessa Kerry
Alexandra Kerry
John Kerry Biographical Film
John Kerry's Vietnam Swiftboat Crewmates
Jim Rassmann of Florence, Oregon will speak
The Reverend David Alston, Columbia, South Carolina
Skip Barker, Selma, Alabama
Steve Hatch, Niagra Falls, New York
Jim McDevitt, Wrenthem, Massachusetts
Mike Medeiros, San Leandros, California
Pat Runyon, Eaton, Ohio
Wade Sanders, San Diego, California
Del Sandusky, Dunedin, Florida
Fred Short, North Little Rock, Arkansas
Gene Thorson, Ames, Iowa
Jim Wasser, St. Anne, Illinois
Drew Whitlow, Huntsville, Arkansas
Bill Zaladonis, Sanford, Florida
The Honorable Max Cleland Former United States Senator, Georgia
John Kerry
Finale

[Steven W.]

Please reconcile what you've learned with this report from earlier last year:

Sen. Kerry Reunites With Vietnam Crewman

Tuesday, April 29, 2003
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Painful memories of three North Vietnamese ambushes became a matter of joyous pride for Fred Short as he was reunited with the Navy patrol boat commander who he said saved the whole crew by charging into the teeth of the enemy attack.
It had been 34 years to the day since Short of North Little Rock last saw that lieutenant: current Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry.
...
Short recalled the third of three ambushes on their group of boats on March 4, 1969, when his twin 50-caliber machine guns couldn't tilt low enough to shoot a Viet Cong soldier lying in a ditch, aiming a rocket launcher at their boat.
"We were in a small canal and normally we would have tried to exit, but Mr. Kerry ordered us to charge," Short said. "While I shot high, he and Tommy Bellodeau charged under me, right at the guy, and we routed them. That's why Mr. Kerry won the Silver Star."
Short said the crew avoided any casualties, even though 800 of 900 American troops caught in that zone died that day. He said it was a few weeks later, April 28, 1969, that he finished his tour and last saluted Kerry.

[VOA]

bump

[VOA]

for lurkers/posters, check out comments on the "Kerry-in-Cambodia-on-Christmas-Eve-1968".

Go to
http://www.hughhewitt.com
and either scroll down (about one page length) or use page search for "Cambodia"

[Steven W.]

Here are more public utterances by Short: Veteran Supporters Rebut Criticism of Kerry
By Lance Gay - Scripps Howard News Service

...
"I was there when Sen. Kerry got shot, and I've seen his blood on the deck of a swift boat. And I can assure you it's American red, and there's not a speck of blue in that blood," said Fred Short, 56, of Little Rock, Ark.
Short, who served as a gunner's mate under Kerry's command, said he knows how Kerry earned his three Purple Heart medals and one Silver Star in Vietnam, and he is angry that people who never served under Kerry now are questioning whether Kerry earned the medals he received.
"What boat were they on when they make these claims?" Short said. "They are just making up tales to support their view. I'm sorry George Bush does not have that record that John Kerry has. Life is full of choices. You can go, or you can stay," he said.
...
Short said he vividly remembers the incident for which Kerry received the Silver Star when the swift boat came under attack from two ambushes. After a Viet Cong fighter aimed a rocket-propelled grenade at the boat, Kerry beached his boat and jumped in the water to shoot the man.
"If that RPG had hit the boat, I would not be at this convention - none of us would," said Short, who was operating the twin machine guns on the boat and had a view overlooking the firefight. The commendation given Kerry for the action credits him with "extraordinary daring and personal courage."

[mcshot]

I'm appalled that I don't even see a hint of the truth in these Kerry stories. This is more than an election, the future of our country is at stake.

mc

[Steven W.]

Some more on Short: Vietnam vet praises Kerry

Short, 56, wasn't supposed to be on Kerry's boat. A gunner's mate 3rd class, he was assigned to PCF 94 to replace a gunner who had been wounded. That wounded gunner, the Rev. David Alston of South Carolina, was one of the speakers at the convention Monday.
Short was with Kerry, who was called ``Skipper'' during the combat that won the man now running for president one of his three Purple Hearts and his Silver Star.
``His blood is American red -- all American. There's not a drop of blue in it,'' Short said of Kerry.

[Steven W.]

This seems funny ... now the guy is running up a ridge. First he's in a ditch, now he's on a ridge. Short may well be winging it here. Also seems funny he got to leave Vietnam a month after joining up with Kerry.

Swift boat gunner says Kerry's blood red, not blue

"Unlike they would like you to believe, his blood is crimson red, all American," he told the Ohio delegation yesterday. "There's not a drop of blue in it. I've seen it." Mr. Short was present when Mr. Kerry received a Silver Star and his second Purple Heart medal.
Mr. Short was a 21-year-old replacement gunner in 1969 on the swift boat captained by Mr. Kerry in Vietnam. Proceeding up a narrow canal, the boat came under fire.
"The senator chases the [Viet Cong] up the ridge, and sees him standing up, getting ready to let go his weapon," he said. "I'm 90 feet away now and I'm dead in the water. If he was a good pitcher, he could have taken me out with a baseball. ... Sen. Kerry takes him out and, in doing so, allows me to be here to speak to you this morning."

[Petronski]

House of lies? You're too generous.

I humbly submit it is a "Cathedral of Deceit."

[Helms]

Lets Make This Kerrys "Last Night On The Town"

Wright's first claim was that as his former commanding offcier, Wright frequently had to confront Kerry over willful disobedience to orders aboard Swift Boat patrols.

On frequent occasions Wright stated that Kerry would randomly fire at "things he thought were moving" along the shoreline. Wright stated that the protocol was only to fire when the unit was receiving hostile fire. Wright explained that part of the Swift Boat patrol's goal was to develop contacts with non-combatants living along the rivers being patrolled.

Wright's boldest claim was that after Kerry had in fact received his third purple heart, Wright along with two other ranking officers basically flat out asked Kerry to leave Vietnam. The reason being his behavior continually put the group in greater vulnerability and danger.

According to Wright, Kerry claimed he would not leave, "but was out of there by morning."

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/kmc/

[Steven W.]

Might be some more discrepancies here ... seems Mr. Short misstates distances, one time it's 90 yards away, another it's 30, but, regardless, he's got the eyes of an eagle and can pick out distinct facial features:

ABC News - A Bad Day

Feb. 28, 1969, was a day that started out badly and got much worse. Kerry and his crewmates were given a mission to take their Swift boat up a canal off the Bay Hap River, surrounded by thick mangrove brush and many, many Vietcong. There were two ambushes.
"I guess we had gotten 800 yards or 1,000 yards at the most," recalled crewmate Fred Short. "And this time, another B-40 rocket hit, and maybe a couple more. But this one was close aboard. It blew the windows out of the crew cabin. I see out of a spider hole a Vietcong stand up dressed in a loin cloth, holding a B-40 rocket."
...
They saw their enemy up close, Short noted. "I would say he was so close that I could see that he had a mustache, a very weak mustache, that he was growing. I could see the mustache on his face. And things were going slow-motion now, because you feel you were, you know, this is really getting scary."
...
Tommy Belodeau was manning the boat's M-60 machine gun, Short said. "Tommy in the pit tank winged him in the side of the legs as he was coming across," he said. "But the guy didn't miss stride. I mean, he did not break stride."
...
The man was still running down a path when they got to the bank. Kerry, Belodeau and Michael McDarris, in hot pursuit, saw the Vietcong soldier. Short recalled: "The guy was getting ready to stand up with a rocket on his shoulder, coming up. And Mr. Kerry took him out … he would have been about a 30-yard shot. Which, we were dead in the water up on the bank, point blank. If he missed us, he would have to, you know — there's no way he could miss us. He could've thrown a rock and taken me out."

[lonevoice]

Bump

[IrishCatholic]

add this to the kerry file.

[rolling_stone]

A couple of interesting wartime pictures showing who was on the boat on feb 28, 1868 and again in march 1969,,,I can't see the wound on Kerry's arm...bandaid must have fallen off...

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com/page2.html

[mtntop3]

First-class and eminently useful post. As are the incisive comments.