Records Counter A Critic Of Kerry

Fellow Skipper's Citation Refers To Enemy Fire

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 19, 2004

Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal
critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying
about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of
events.

In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who
commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly
disputed Kerry's claim that the Massachusetts Democrat's boat came under
fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969.
Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day.

But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to
The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several
references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all
units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day,
and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift
boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."

As one of five Swift boat skippers who led the raid up the Bay Hap River,
Thurlow was a direct participant in the disputed events. He is also a
leading member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a public advocacy group of
Vietnam veterans dismayed by Kerry's subsequent antiwar activities, which
has aired a controversial television advertisement attacking his war record.

In interviews and written reminiscences, Kerry has described how his 50-foot
patrol boat came under fire from the banks of the Bay Hap after a mine
explosion disabled another U.S. patrol boat. According to Kerry and members
of his crew, the firing continued as an injured Kerry leaned over the bow of
his ship to rescue a Special Forces officer who was blown overboard in a
second explosion.

Last month, Thurlow swore in an affidavit that Kerry was "not under fire"
when he fished Lt. James Rassmann out of the water. He described Kerry's
Bronze Star citation, which says that all units involved came under "small
arms and automatic weapons fire," as "totally fabricated."

"I never heard a shot," Thurlow said in his affidavit, which was released by
Swift Boats Veterans for Truth. The group claims the backing of more than
250 Vietnam veterans, including a majority of Kerry's fellow boat
commanders.

A document recommending Thurlow for the Bronze Star noted that all his
actions "took place under constant enemy small arms fire which LTJG THURLOW
completely ignored in providing immediate assistance" to the disabled boat
and its crew. The citation states that all other units in the flotilla also
came under fire.

"It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case," Thurlow
said last night after being read the full text of his Bronze Star citation.
"My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the
rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It
is sickening and disgusting."

Thurlow said he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy
fire was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire,"
he said. He speculated that Kerry could have been the source of at least
some of the language used in the citation.

In a telephone interview Tuesday evening after he attended a Swift Boat
Veterans strategy session in an Arlington hotel, Thurlow said he lost his
Bronze Star citation more than 20 years ago. He said he was unwilling to
authorize release of his military records because he feared attempts by the
Kerry campaign to discredit him and other anti-Kerry veterans.

The Post filed an independent request for the documents with the National
Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which is the central repository for
veterans' records. The documents were faxed to The Post by officials at the
records center yesterday.

Thurlow and other anti-Kerry veterans have repeatedly alleged that Kerry was
the author of an after-action report that described how his boat came under
enemy fire. Kerry campaign researchers dispute that assertion, and there is
no convincing documentary evidence to settle the argument. As the senior
skipper in the flotilla, Thurlow might have been expected to write the
after-action report for March 13, but he said that Kerry routinely "duked
the system" to present his version of events.

For much of the episode, Kerry was not in a position to know firsthand what
was happening on Thurlow's boat, as Kerry's boat had sped down the river
after the mine exploded under another boat. He later returned to provide
assistance to the stricken boat.

Thurlow, an oil industry worker and former teacher in Kansas, said he was
angry with Kerry for his antiwar activities on his return to the United
States and particularly Kerry's claim before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee that U.S. troops in Vietnam had committed war crimes "with the
full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

" 'Upset' is too mild a word," said Thurlow, a registered Republican, of his
reaction to Kerry then. "He did it strictly for his own personal political
gain, and it directly affected every single one of us as we were trying to
put our lives together."

Two other Swift boat skippers who were direct participants in the March 13,
1969, mine explosion on the Bay Hap, Jack Chenoweth and Richard Pees, have
said they do not remember coming under "enemy fire." A fourth commander, Don
Droz, who was one of Kerry's closest friends in Vietnam, was killed in
action a month later.

The incident featured prominently in an anti-Kerry television ad produced by
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth earlier this month. "John Kerry lied to get
his Bronze Star," says Van Odell, a gunner on PCF-23, one of the boats that
came to the rescue of the stricken boat. "I know. I was there."

The Bronze Star controversy is also a major focus of an anti-Kerry book by
John E. O'Neill, "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against
John Kerry," which will hit No. 2 on The Post's bestseller list this
weekend. The book accuses Kerry of "fleeing the scene" and lying repeatedly
about his role.

Members of Kerry's crew have come to his defense, as has Rassmann, the
Special Forces officer whom he fished from the river. Rassmann says he has
vivid memories of being fired at from both banks after he fell into the
river and as Kerry came to his rescue. The two had an emotional reunion on
the eve of the Iowa Democratic caucuses in January, an event that some
political analysts believe helped swing votes to Kerry at a crucial time.

The Bronze Star recommendations for both Kerry and Thurlow were signed by
Lt. Cmdr. George M. Elliott, who received reports on the incident from his
base in the Gulf of Thailand. Elliott is a supporter of Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth and has questioned Kerry's actions in Vietnam. But he has refused
repeated requests for an interview after issuing conflicting statements to
the Boston Globe about whether Kerry deserved a Silver Star. He was
unreachable last night.

Money has poured into Swift Boat Veterans for Truth since the group launched
its television advertisement attacking Kerry earlier this month. According
to O'Neill, the group has received more than $450,000 over the past two
weeks, mainly in small contributions. The Dallas Morning News reported
yesterday that the organization has also received two $100,000 checks from
Houston home builder Bob Perry, who backed George W. Bush's campaigns for
Texas governor and for president.

Bush campaign officials have said they have no connection to Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth, which is not permitted to coordinate its activities with
a presidential campaign under federal election law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13267-2004Aug18?language=printer