John Forbes Kerry
Jim Deal, Los Lunas, New Mexico, CosDiv 12 &16, 67-68: USS Washoe County LST 1165, 65-67
7-18-04
FINE PRINT
Seems that nowadays everybody includes "fine print". Well, I'm no exception. My fine print is now after my opinion.
" I was in the same place, running the same rivers, at the same time as John Kerry and I'll be damned if I ever witnessed any behavior that resembled an atrocity. I was with a few thousand other Swifties during that year and knew hundreds of them by sight and none then or after ever hinted the word. That assertion along with his traitorous behavior with the likes of Fonda and the others have put a stain on what was the honorable service of TF-115 and as far as I'm concerned the entire Mobile Riverine Force. It's an shameful affront to all those still on patrol.
I'll be damned if someone the likes of him is going to darken the service me and all the others gave our country and the South Vietnamese people. I'm proud of my service and theirs and will be from now on.
He should never have reached the position he now holds, much less the presidency.
The people of this country should never, ever put him in that office."
Signed,
Steven A. Renfro RD3
RVN 8/'68 8/'69
CosDiv 11, 14, 15
PCF 38, 47
Fine Print: Two of my mates are caught up in the hoopla, glitter and excitement that is a political party's convention and rally. However, friendship means more to me than political leanings. That said, know this, I'll not stand idly by while anyone, and I mean ANYONE, calls them names, harasses them or their families or insults and abuses them in any way. We were in gunfights together and steadier hands you'd never want, than these two brave, honorable and patriotic Swifties.
5-11-04
Not Fit
Since John Kerry started his campaign we have heard countless times from him of his heroism in Vietnam. Just today in one of his speeches he talked about his patriotism but he very rarely brings up the years after his return. On 5/4/2004 an historical event took place in Washington DC. Vietnam veterans who served with Kerry in Vietnam from seaman to Rear Admiral came out to declare John Kerry unfit to be Commander –In – Chief. Every commanding officer that Kerry served under, 19 of 23 officers who served with Kerry, and hundreds of enlisted men from Kerry’s swift boat unit, signed a letter calling Kerry unfit. These are the men that would know if John Kerry deserved the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.“ They were There.“ Quoting Admiral Hoffmann, Commander of Coastal Surveillance Force Vietnam “ I signed this letter because I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the U.S. this is not a political issue. It is a matter of his judgment, truthfulness, reliability, loyalty and trust- All absolute tenets of command.”
My problem with Kerry and his tour of duty in Vietnam was he left his crew and his obligation to duty. I personally have searched to find someone who used the Navel Regulation 1300.39 ( three combat wounds rotates you home ) that John Kerry used ( At his own request ) to leave Vietnam . I can’t find anyone who knew the rule existed. Doctor Louis Letson who cared for Kerry’s first wound said the wound was very superficial required no anesthesia or sutures he applied a band-aid. It’s a very rare situation when you get to write the action reports that award you a bronze or silver star. You begin to wonder that Kerry knew of 1300.39 even before he got to Vietnam.
A patriot is one who loves and will defend his country. Kerry joined the anti war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War ( VVAW ) who are described as “revolutionary Communists. “ At his first anti war rally the first speaker said quote “ I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist.” That same day Kerry marched in rallies where the American Flag was carried upside down, the Vietcong flag, the flag of North Vietnam, the Russian flag and the flag of communist China were the flags of the day. Portraits of Communist leaders were held high. Placards in support of China, Cuba, the USSR, N. Korea and the Hanoi government were in abundance. Kerry became the poster boy for the Communist Daily World newspaper. Kerry’s speeches were used by the Viet Cong to demoralize American soldiers held as POW’s. Kerry as a private citizen traveled to Paris to meet with leaders of Communist Vietnam . Where in the above is the anti war ? Kerry’s actions in the above were down out right Anti American and un patriotic. For this reason John Kerry should never be Commander-In-Chief of our military. Our enemy fears the day when OUR Country stands as one.
God Bless all for their service and sacrifices.
Jerry McDevitt
Washington Twp NJ
This is a letter to the editor of the Gloucestor County Times
5-7-04
I was disappointed to see the press conference in Washington by members of Swiftboat crews that served with John Kerry sink as a one day wonder. I understand that the pictures of abused prisoners in Iraq are more important than a close scrutiny of a Democrat running for president, but I had hoped someone somewhere would remark on the fact that most of the officers -- including two of Kerry's direct supervisors -- consider him unfit to become commander in chief.
While it can be argued that Kerry's Vietnam awards may have been a bit inflated, it is silly to deny that he did not take his place on the line, in harm's way, and serve as a successful Officer in Charge of a Navy Swiftboat. It is what happened later, when he came home, that is most disturbing. His performance before Congress in 1971 was a disservice to the comrades he left behind, to all who served, whether they came home or not and, most importantly, a disservice to America.
He painted all American soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen as baby killing, terrorizing, rapists, going from village to village, burning, destroying food supplies, slaughtering animals and stealing anything that caught their eye. "Not since the days Genghis Khan," were his exact words. I suppose Lieutenant Calley and few others of his ilk cried "Huzzah!" but most of the more than 3,000,000 Americans who served in Vietnam had a distinctly different reaction.
On a visceral level, that anti Kerry reaction remains strong. To have your service and sacrifice dishonored by this articulate, long haired ruffian before the Senate of the United States was a heavy blow. He was not challenged by the committee that day nor by the host of TV talking heads who tried to bask in his reflected glory in the following weeks. Dick Cavitt did find someone to debate him, but that former Naval officer was dismissed as a Nixon "dirty trickster." Thirty years later, the press would accept the Kerry campaign claim that the same man was now a Bush "dirty trickster." A long career for a registered Democrat.
Thirty years ago, no one, especially no one in the media, would speak against Kerry, this dashing bearer of tales from his Winter Soldier Investigation. Stories were told at that Jane Fonda founded "investigation" that were the underlying "data" for Kerry's Senate speech. There were stories of Vietnamese women being skinned and left on fence posts to rot. The electricity to the genitals came from this investigation. Souvenir ears. Casual rape and cruelty were recounted by returning veterans before the hearing panel. This gaggle of impostors and pretenders found Kerry to be a blank sheet upon which to write.
Just prior to his appearance, Kerry had been making the rounds of the talk shows as part of his "Dewey Canyon" operation. He appeared with another officer of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), Al Hubbard, on "Meet the Press." On the day of Kerry's Senate testimony, Hubbard was revealed to not have been an Air Force pilot, wounded in service on a flight over Saigon as he claimed, but, in fact, to have been an Air Force mechanic who never got west of Hawaii.
The US Marine Corps began an immediate investigation of the testimony before the Winter Soldier Investigation. They identified only one story teller as a former Marine and he had loaded helicopters in Chu Lai, probably never leaving the base. The book, 'Stolen Valor," drove the final nail into the coffin of Kerry's Winter Soldier Investigation. None of the allegations nor accusers could be validated.
The illegitimacy of Kerry's charges were known viscerally to veterans at the time. The passing have years have clearly revealed that this birth of his political career had no known father.
To citizens with no attachment to Vietnam, Kerry should appear as an enigma. A war hero opposed to the war. A protester who did or maybe did not toss his medals over the wall. A Senator who voted against the 1991 Gulf War and for the 2003 version. A Senator who did and then did not vote for the $82 billion to support the war.
He has been an all sides of all issues since at least 1971. He has been all things to all people, revealing a man with no center, no core. And revealing a man unfit to serve as commander in chief.
Stewart M. Harris
Vietnam service: USS Black (DD-666) 1-65 to 7-65
Staff, ComDesRon 12 embarked in USS Davis (DD-937) 5-66 to 7-66
Senior Advisor, Coastal Group 16 4-68 to 4-69
5-6-04
As someone who served in the same unit as John Kerry and at the same time I
believe I have a rather unique perspective of what is now going on with Veteran's Against Kerry.
Kerry is not now a brother in arms nor has he ever been. In fact after
recommending himself three times and receiving Purple Hearts for phantom
wounds (none of which caused any bleeding or hospital time, nor whose records
exist) a Bronze Star for pulling a man out of the water and a Silver Star for
killing a wounded soldier he immediately put himself in for an early out and
left his brothers in harms way as quickly as he could to start his political
life, a life based on false testimony in front of the foreign relations
committee, testimony that demeaned each and every man and woman who
served during the Viet Nam era.
In nineteen years as a the most liberal Senator in the nation one only has to
look at his record to find his convictions. You will quickly see that their
are none. John Kerry is a fraud and a disgrace to all veteran's and it's time
people realized it.
Richard K.O'Mara
Joe La Voie, CosDiv 13&14, 1967 ,68 & 69
5-4-04
My Statement at the Washington Press Club on May 4, 2004
Swift Veterans Statement
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is Bernard Wolff.
I’m a Georgia boy who joined the Navy to avoid the draft. After a couple of years in a safe, secure assignment in California, I felt an obligation to follow in the footsteps of my forebears and fight for my Country. I aimed high and volunteered for Swift Boats. I was privileged to be accepted.
I served as a Swift Boat Skipper in three Coastal Divisions during my one year tour from August 1967 to 68: Cam Rahn Bay in central Vietnam, An Thoi covering the west coast of Vietnam to Cambodia, and Da Nang in the Northeast covering up to the Demilitarized Zone. Thus I saw all areas of the conflict during my tour.
Like so many combat veterans, I returned to civilian life, earning an MBA and joining the business world.
Why am I here? Three reasons:
1. I want to affirm that I have signed the Letter to John Kerry in hopes that releasing his Navy medical records will clarify the credibility of his statements in 1971 that defamed those of us who served in Vietnam.
2. I want to refute Kerry’s assertions regarding Swift Boat crews engaging in war crimes. We went out of our way to protect innocent Vietnamese, even when it placed us in deep peril.
John Kerry’s statements not only brought heartbreak to Vietnam Veterans and their families. They contributed to the imposition of tyranny upon the Vietnamese people.
3. My 30 years of business travel in the Far East have provided a sad testament to Vietnam’s plight. I have seen citizens of neighboring countries enjoy growing prosperity and a bright future, while our former friends in Vietnam have languished in isolated poverty and hopelessness.
This is John Kerry’s legacy.
I deeply resent John Kerry’s using his Swift Boat experience, and his betrayal of those who fought there as a stepping stone to his political ambitions.
5-4-04
My Statement at the Washington Press Club on May 4, 2004
I'm David Wallace from Atlanta, GA.
In 1969-70 I was assigned as Officer-In-Charge of a Swift boat in the
Republic of Vietnam with Coastal Division 13.
I was privileged to meet and serve with some of the most outstanding men in
my life. With a volunteer rate of 90%+ we knew why we were there and what
we had to do. The officers and men with whom I served were honest and
honorable.
I can only speculate went on with John Kerry's boats and crews. I do know
that I didn't see anything remotely resembling war crimes committed by
American sailors, soldiers, marines, or airmen. To the contrary, I saw time
after time where American fighting men knowingly placed themselves in
greater danger to protect civilians and avoid what the politicians called
"collateral damage."
John Kerry returned to this country and was sworn before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. Instead of telling the truth, he told my parents, my
brother, my sister, my neighbors, everyone I knew, and everyone I would ever
know that I was a killer, a rapist, that I tortured prisoners, and committed
other unspeakable acts of barbarism.
That wasn't the worst. He told these same lies to the parents, brothers,
and sisters of 58,000 brave men: not only had they died in a stupid,
senseless conflict - but they were war criminals as well. Imagine losing a
son, brother, husband, or a close friend - an unbearable tragedy. Imagine
hearing John Kerry on TV swearing that they were just war criminals anyway.
Starting a year or so ago, our very own "Summer Soldier" began parading
around in a Navy flight jacket festooned with patches. He even told a
camera crew that the jacket had brought him luck in Vietnam. I was there
three times longer than John Kerry and I didn't see anyone wearing a leather
flight jacket in the 90+-degree weather with sopping wet humidity.
Now that it suits his purpose, he wants to be a war hero with an
affectionate band of brothers tagging along. Now he wants all of us to
believe just one more lie - this time the biggest one so far.
I want a Commander-In-Chief who knows what's right and decent. My
Commander-In-Chief should know the difference between the truth and a
bold-faced lie. From what I've seen, John Kerry doesn't come close.
5-4-04
My Statement at the Washington Press Club on May 4, 2004
5 of the 6 men on my Swift Boat volunteered to serve in Vietnam because we believed in America’s cause to defend the people of South Vietnam from the Communist’s bid to take over their country.
Over the past several weeks we’ve heard Move On.Org run advertisements about John Kerry’s 4-month tour in Vietnam.
They boast, “He didn’t leave one man behind.” That is true, he didn’t leave one man behind. He left his entire boat crew behind as he abandoned them and fled for America. He left 10’s of thousands of men behind who were fighting against the advance of Communism on South Vietnam.
Not only did he leave them behind, but, for political gain, he betrayed them.
Last week, John Kerry said that Iraq “May be our last chance to get it right,"
But last month on Meet the Press, John Kerry had is last best chance to get it right, and missed it.
He should have admitted that he lied when he said that war crimes committed by the American military against Vietnamese civilians were "not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis..."
He should have admitted that he lied when he said "So what I am saying is, that, yes, there will be some recrimination, but far, far less than the 200,000 a year who are murdered by the United States of America..."
He should have apologized for illegally meeting with representatives of the Viet Cong in Paris and giving comfort and aid to the enemy and for marching under the Viet Cong flag while our sons were dying in Vietnam.
He should have apologized for handing out flyers that read,
"If you had been Vietnamese" American infantrymen might have
"burned your house" or "raped your wife and daughter"
and "American soldiers do these things every day to the Vietnamese.”
He should have apologized for using "testimony" from the "Winter Soldier Investigation" as the basis for his war crimes charges although none of the witnesses there were willing to sign depositions affirming their claims.
Later - investigators were unable to confirm any of the reported atrocities, and, in fact, discovered that a number of the witnesses had never been in Vietnam, had never been in combat,
or were imposters who had assumed the identity of real veterans.
Kerry missed his last best chance to get it right when he failed to apologize and admit that he lied.
Instead, Kerry said in his interview with Tim Russert, that his charges against American atrocities in Vietnam were "a little bit excessive."
How can the charges of murder and rape be “a little bit excessive”?
I forgive John Kerry for betraying his country and for accusing his “brothers” of murder and rape.
We should forgive John Kerry, but never forget, and never let him lead the country that he betrayed.
B. Tony Snesko, BM2
Swift #58,
Qui Nhon, Chu Lai, Da Nang, Cua Viet
June 67-June 68
Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
"When they outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." Louis L'amour
5-4-04
The VVAW shifts to designations of the North Vietnamese communists and the Viet Cong, stripping their offices all American flags.
The VVAW plans Al Hubbard’s [remember the imposter combat vet?] trip to Hanoi. [All the while the communist DAILY WORLD is featuring the group’s support of the PRG and the North Vietnamese Communists. Special attention is given the young LT, Junior Grade, John Forbes Kerry, featuring a photo of John Kerry publicly speaking in support of the PRG’s and North Vietnamese communists’ peace plan.
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America: Section 3; "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or any State, who having previously taken oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
5-2-04 I was not a witness to the events for which LTjg Kerry received his Silver and Bronze Stars. I’ve often wondered about a man who recommended himself for three Purple Hearts for what appear to have been very minor "wounds" and quickly requested to leave his shipmates. The Swift boat officers and crew with whom I served typically declined Purple Hearts for trivial wounds – be it "macho" behavior or just old-fashioned "honor." People see things from different perspectives and it tells us a lot about their leadership. For example, there is a Swift boat in a memorial in Coronado, CA, that has been completely restored through the donations and volunteer labor of retired Brown Water Sailors and active duty sailors. In the boat’s main cabin are pictures of each "Swiftie" killed in action and it’s surrounded by a memorial to all Navy personnel killed in Vietnam, listing each person’s name. This memorial was conceived, paid for, and accomplished by veterans of the Brown Water Navy. In Washington’s Navy Yard there is another Swift boat on display. The plaque near it has only two names on it: John F. Kerry and Wade R. Sanders. One honors those who paid the ultimate price, the other a couple of politicians. My serious problem with Mr. Kerry begins after he left the Navy. He appeared before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 and testified under oath to my parents, my neighbors, my brother and sister, and everyone I knew and would ever know that I and all my shipmates have committed unspeakable war crimes as a matter of course. How does a man serve with brave men under sometimes terrifying conditions, where shipmates are willing to die for one other, and within a year do this to them? Mr. Kerry falsely painted his shipmates and all Vietnam veterans with an image we would never overcome. He made legitimate the clanging bells of the Jane Fonda’s of the time and condemned his "band of brothers" to the mini-hell of baby-killers and rapists in what should have been a joyous homecoming and time to remember our fallen brothers. He wasn’t standing at the infamous "gauntlet" at San Francisco International Airport where they spit on me and tossed eggs at the hundred of us that had just de-planed from flying 27 hours to come home – but he told the protestors it was the right thing to do, that we deserved their scorn and ridicule. He didn’t personally torture a single American POW, but he encouraged our enemies. We’ve all read the stories of how North Vietnamese captors used American newspaper stories of the anti-war movement and quoted an ex-Navy Lt. named John Kerry during their interrogation and propaganda sessions. He didn’t load the guns that killed American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen still serving honorably in Vietnam, but he sent a clear message to the enemy: "Hold on over there, help is on the way!" He did tell the grieving families of over 58,000 brave young men that their dead sons and brothers were not heroes, but baby-killers, rapists, torturers, and worse, and has never admitted these claims were false as the blackest lie ever told. By his support of anti-war radicals John Kerry let everyone know those dead young men got just what they deserved. Now that it suits him, John Kerry wears his Vietnam war service as a badge of honor and it makes me ill. The hundreds of Vietnam veterans I know served with honor and courage in Vietnam, whether on Swift boats, in the jungle, or in the air; and like me they resent this "sunshine soldier" and his convenient manipulation of his fanciful "war record." But after thirty years, there’s no apology for this vicious slander; no acknowledgement that history has proven that he was just dead wrong. If he does apologize, I hope I am man enough to accept the apology. What about those 58,000 names on the black granite who watch him every day of his life? What about their families? Would they accept this suddenly revised account? For that, Senator, it’s too late. David Wallace Atlanta, GA Former Officer-In-Charge, PCFs 32 & 65 Coastal Division 13, Coastal Squadron ONE United States Navy
September 1969 March 2004
4-28-04
I wish all the Viet Nam veterans out there would just sit back and not think of the political party you belong to or get caught up in all the hoopla of following a supposedly Viet Nam veteran on his quest to the Presidency of this great country we live in. I am a Swift Boat Veteran of Vietnam and I believe John Kerry has had one goal in life and that is to be in politics and become president. Yes he volunteered for Swift Boat duty because he thought it was safe. His information was wrong. Sailors where being killed and wounded on those little boats long before he volunteered just like the Army, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. Some of us went to try and stop Communism, others to follow their brothers in arms and some just went because they were asked to go just like our fathers, grandfathers and family before us. I am not a historian, but just maybe when the truth is told and all is thought through people will realize that we won. What other country after Viet Nam was taken over by Communism? What is happening there now?
My Grandfather once told me "as I go through life don't do anything that will cause me to continue to look over my shoulder". Do you feel the heat mister Kerry? You have been lying to America and yourself for so long you may not know the truth anymore. Your flip-flopping and story telling is becoming an embarrassment to America. I speak for myself, but when I saw you at the Swift Boat Sailors reunion at Norfolk, Virginia in 2003, I was embarrassed to think I would have called you Brother. When you showed up with a camera crew and took over the ex-Swift Boat to take your people and camera crew on a ride with you driving when we were told that we would not be able to take control of the boat. I was embarrassed. When you left the dock with disabled veterans who had been standing on the dock waiting their turn, I was embarrassed. You're not a Brother to me. You have one purpose and that is for yourself. Your speech in front of Congress made me look over my shoulder until now. The truth is coming out and I can talk about it. I never killed Babies, I burned no one's house down and I don't know any of my Swift Boat Brothers who did. I did help bring Vietnamese babies into this world and probably didn't know if they were VC or SVN, but it was the right thing to do. How many villages did you enter to give medical help and teach the use of toothbrushes and soap? Or was your only reason to be there to raise hell and shoot you guns as often as possible, gather some medals like your idol JF Kennedy and leave as quickly as possible?
Let's talk about guns and weapons. The most powerful and useful weapon on a Swift Boat is the twin 50 caliber over the pilothouse. Why would you think to beach your boat in the middle of a firefight and take your best weapons out of the action? Why would you leave your boat to chase a severely wounded man? And why violate the Geneva Conventions by shooting a severally wounded soldier? I could go on and on. You met with the enemy in 1970, according to your testimony before the Congress April 22, 1971, you talked against all Viet Nam Veterans at that same Congressional Hearing, your words where lies and used against American prisoners being held by the North Vietnamese Communists. In North Vietnamese General Giap's memoir's he stated that the North was ready to surrender until Kerry ran his mouth and we decided to wait. Mister Kerry, have you gone to a VA clinic and stood next to a Viet Nam Veteran on one leg at the urinal and shown him your wounds from your Lavender Hearts. Someone should look at the 14th Amendment Section 3 of the US Constitution and then look at you. One last question; Did you ever fire a M-79 in a Monsoon rain and did anything come back and hit you.
Lead me, No Way.
Ken Briggs
CosDiv 11 An Thoi
5/67-5/68
PCF 9
4-24-04 I am ashamed that Mr. Kerry is a member of the Swift Boat Sailors in Vietnam. I too was a "Brown Water Sailor", and a Swift Boat Sailor who served in Vietnam. I knew Mr. Kerry, and would only trust him as far as I could throw a 2 ton rock up hill...... Wallace Benjamin Foreman, QM1, USN, Ret.
4-23-04
I am really worried about what is going on and very frustrated, because I have no idea how to correct it.
My own personal feelings about Mr. Kerry are as follows;
Decorated: Yes though probably not deserving the level he is; but this happens, especially to one who is well connected.
Hero: Not even, more opportunistic in my book;
Wounded: Three band aids do not rate three Purple Hearts much less an early ride home.
Brotherhood: He ran out on us and used us then, as he is using us now. He chose to dissolve his brotherhood with us.
Honor: He called us Murders, rapist and war criminals. So much for Loyalty.
Joe La Voie, CosDiv 13&14, 1967,68&69
John O'Neill was Officer in Charge on PCF-94, a part of Coastal Division 11.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/20/kerry.military/index.html
Alexander Rose on John O'Neill on National Review Online
O'Neill served in the same Naval unit as Kerry, and succeeded command from Kerry of the same five-person craft he commanded, PCF-94, a part of Coastal Division 11.
John Kerry's Nemesis Talks on The Glenn Beck Show
Discrepancies noted in Kerry's record
Ex-skipper says website wrong
Boston.com / News / Politics / Presidential candidates / john kerry / Discrepancies noted in Kerry's record
"It is a fact that in the entire Vietnam War we did not lose one major battle.
We lost the war at home and at home John Kerry was the field general."
- Bob Elder, Swift Boat Veteran For Truth
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