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How Did Kerry Get His Bronze Star
With all of the controversy over the testimony of the Swift Boat Veterans,
what can we say about Kerry's military record that does not depend upon
the
testimony of the Swifties. In this entry I will limit my investigation to
the day when Kerry received his third purple heart and his bronze star.

A good source for the events of that day comes from Kerry's own web site.
While Kerry refuses to sign a form to release all of his records, he has
cherry picked certain reports to enhance his image. One of those contains
the action report for 13 March 1969.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/SpotReports_March1969.pdf

The first sentence that jumps out at the reader of this report comes from
Kerry's Personel Casualty Report. In the report on Kerry's injuries we
find
these words. "LTJG Kerry suffered shrapnel wounds in his left buttocks
and
contusions on his right forearm when a mine detonated close abord PCF-94."
In another part of the same action report file we find a summary of the
wounds received in the action. In that summary are the words, "LTJG John
F.
Kerry, USNR, Shrapnel Wound Left Buttock and contusion right forearm
(minor);" So from these reports we know two things, A) that Kerry claims
to
have received a shrapnel wound in his buttock from a mine which blew up
close to his boat, and B) that Kerry also received a minor bruise on his
right forearm.

Now, let's look at the documentation of what happened earlier on that same
day from Kerry's own biographers.
"At one point, Kerry and Rassmann threw grenades into a huge rice cache
that
had been captured from the Viet Cong and was thus slated for destruction.
After tossing the grenades, the two dove for cover. Rassmann escaped the
ensuing explosion of rice, but Kerry was not as lucky -- thousands of
grains
stuck to him. The result was hilarious, and the two men formed a bond."
Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish, Brian C. Mooney and Nina J. Easton
write in their "John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography" (PublicAffairs
Reports, 2004).

In his biography Kerry reported this:
"The Nung blew up some huge bins of rice they had found, as it was assumed
as always, that these were the local stockpiles earmarked to feed the
hungry
VC moving through the Delta sumggling weapons. "I got a small piece of
grenade in my ***** from one of the rice-bin explosions and then we started
to
move back to the boats, firing to our rear as we went."
Douglas Brinkley, Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, 230.


Note: The Nung were mercenaries working for the South Vietnamese army.

The evidence is clear that Kerry did not receive the shrapnel in his butt
from any enemy mine explosion while in combat, but rather he received it
earlier in the day while blowing up rice bins. And there is a good chance
that it was self inflicted. Clearly, Kerry lied in the report about the
source of his wound. So we can conclude that Kerry received his third
purple heart either under false pretenses or due to a minor bruise on his
arm. And no self respecting soldier would ever take a purple heart for a
bruise on the arm. Considering that this, as well as at least one more of
his purple hearts, were not deserved, Kerry's leaving Vietnam after only
four month of service was also undeserved.

Now let's look at the case of the bronze star that Kerry received on that
same day and as a result of the same action. Kerry was recommended by
Rassmann for the award and the citation that he received from the Navy
read
as follows.

"The man was receiving sniper fire from both banks. Lt. Kerry directed his
gunners to provide suppressing fire, while from an exposed position on the
bow, his arm bleeding and in pain, with disregard for his personal safety,
he pulled the man aboard."

It is clear here that Rassmann is lying. As the action report shows in 2
different places, Kerry had a minor bruise, not an open and bleeding wound
as Rassmann describes it. Furthermore, why did Rassmann throw in the part
about Kerry being in pain. Did Rassman "feel Kerry's pain" or was he
simply
embelishing the report.

The last question that remains unanswered is if there was enemy weapons
fire
coming from the banks or if this is another invention on the part of Kerry
and Rassmann. If we go back and look at that same action report we see
that
the enemy fire is given as lasting for 5000 meters. That is about 3 miles
of enemy fire. Let us remember that there were 5 Swift boats in this
group
that were involved in this action. That means there were at least thirty
crewmen as well as some other military personel like Rassman. But if we
look at the casualty report we don't see a single person that was hit by a
bullet. All of the other injuries happened on the other Swift Boat, PCF-3
when the mine blew up under it. And most of the injuries were concussions
and back injuries.

Kerry and Rassmann claim that there was enemy fire from the banks. The
Navy
reports that are based upon the reports of Kerry and Rassmann therefore
support the contention that there was such fire. But the majority of the
other witnesses from that day's events claim that there was no such fire.
No one was wounded by the enemy fire. And there is no report of Swift
Boat
damage from enemy fire. So if Kerry and Rassman are telling the truth,
then
the 3 miles of enemy who were firing on them were the most incompetent
crew
that the Viet Cong ever had in the field.

One last point. When PCF-3 was hit by the mine, Kerry took his boat
PCF-94
and ran from the scene. The other boats remained with PCF-3. Later, when
Kerry saw that the coast was clear, he returned and fished Rassmann out of
the water. And there is no disputed testimony, even from Kerry, that he
left the scene after the mine explosion.
--
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