SwiftVets.com

Dabba55 · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 10:57 am Post subject:

From 6/28 USA Today:

Vietnam crewmates steady at Kerry's side

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
BOSTON — Thirteen of the men who fought with John Kerry in Vietnam will be on the podium Thursday night, helping introduce the nominee before he gives a speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president.

John Kerry takes a water taxi across Boston Harbor with fellow Vietnam veterans.

Graying and near retirement, they were the boatswain and gunnery mates, the petty officers who crewed 50-foot aluminum swift boats skippered by Kerry when he was a rail-thin 25-year-old Navy lieutenant (j.g.) in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. They are, the Kerry campaign says often, his very own Band of Brothers.

The phrase is from the title of a book by the late Stephen Ambrose about World War II paratroopers bonded by the horror of war, an emotional linkage as old as human conflict. It's a theme of the Democratic convention this week: that Kerry's courage under fire is a measure of his character.

His crewmen were with him as Kerry arrived in Boston on Wednesday. They laughed and swapped stories on the water-taxi ride from Logan International Airport to the Charlestown Naval Yard. Jim Rassmann, whose life Kerry saved when he pulled him into a swift boat while under fire, was made to wear a life vest.

Then they turned serious, awed not just by the importance of the moment in Kerry's life but also by the simple fact that they survived and came to this moment together.

"We all fought together at a very crucial period in our lives when literally we could die within the next breath," says Fred Short, 56, a computer programmer from North Little Rock In 1969, he was a gunner's third mate aboard PCF-94, the second of two boats Kerry commanded.

Tonight, he and the others will attest to Kerry's courage and leadership and, they say, worthiness to lead America.

"I've seen his mettle in action. I know he's a cool character under fire," Short says of his ex-commander, who earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts during a tour of duty that lasted several months. "Anything I can do for Sen. John Kerry is the very least I can do for him."

The Kerry campaign has a goal: 1 million veterans campaigning for one of their own. In six weeks, 100,000 have signed up, says organizer Max Cleland, the former senator from Georgia who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam. "This is a powerful movement," he says.

Democrats also see it as good political capital compared with the pilloried record of President Bush, whose service in the National Guard during the Vietnam era has been questioned.

"I know what 'mission accomplished' means," says James Wasser, referring to the banner behind Bush after he landed in a jet on an aircraft carrier and proclaimed major combat over in Iraq. "We've been on missions, and we've accomplished them. Just flying onto an aircraft carrier doesn't make it."

Promoting veterans is a fresh approach for a party with a legacy of peace activism. Kerry himself personified the anti-war movement when he demanded withdrawal from Vietnam during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

But the emphasis today is on Kerry's combat experience. Cleland says his heroism in the treacherous Mekong Delta "sets up a powerful sense of gravitas, sense of meaning ... that we haven't had in the Democratic Party since Jack Kennedy."

At the core of this movement are the men who served with Kerry. They have star status here in their blue polo shirts bearing insignia of the boat on which they served with Kerry. When they speak, reporters and delegates mob them.

Steven Gardner, a former gunner's mate, isn't here. He has been critical of how Kerry uses his war record and refused to join the shipmates. Critics say Kerry has capitalized on his combat stint to further his political goals.

But Wade Sanders, 61, one of the ex-skippers, doesn't share that feeling. "I had to be with him, win or lose," the San Diego lawyer says.
The Kerry crewmembers struggle to explain this. "I say, try to imagine what it's like if you come to a really difficult crisis in your life and the people you love come closer to you," Sanders says.

"The only difference is that in combat, it happens a lot quicker, and your life depends on it."

For the Rev. David Alston, 57 — then a gunner's mate aboard PCF-94, the second of two swift boats Kerry skippered in Vietnam, and now a Baptist minister from Columbia, S.C. — his devotion to the candidate led to an invitation to address the convention by himself Monday night. It was something that terrified him at first.

But Alston pulled it off. ]"When the shooting stopped, he was always there, with a caring hand on my shoulder asking, 'Gunner, are you OK?' I was only 21, running on fear and adrenaline.

"It's not hard, when somebody has put their life on the line, to help him," he says. "It's not hard at all."

rlmorel · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:06 am Post subject:

I agree, NavyNavyNavy. I tend to see the Kerry SBV guys as, not dupes (that is a bit harsh) but guys who got caught up in the thing. Kerry is running for president, and I am sure he cultivated those ties. I wouldn't want to be in their position. Anyone know them personally and want to comment?
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Military Brat, USN Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class 1975-1979

one more captins mast · LCDR Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 438 Location: Texas

They are in the back of Jane Fonda's limo, and it can not be found.

Last time Jane put here head up it was in a little cafe in Isreal,

when her advance people went into the cafe, they saw only

4 little old ladies at a table to the side. so they went out and

told her it was safe.

When she went in , the little old ladies look at her and after a

moment of disscussion, "got up" demanded their check

then went to "Janes" table and call her names ect. and

left her there alone.

Where is Jane , now the Kerry needs her.???????
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the strange mr aj

rbshirley · Founder Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 394

jack white · Seaman Joined: 04 Aug 2004 Posts: 179

Here's the money quote from that blog:

<<

Of the thirteen, only nine ever served with Kerry, and only six served when Kerry was receiving any his medals. One is either lying or grossly mistaken. One is mistaken about what happened. One could only have served in the same area for a few days at most plus one night on the "Boston whaler". One served with him during his "quiet" period aboard PCF-44, and one saw action with him several times while commanding another boat.

>>

If that is TRUE, there's John O'Neil and whoever else's talking points response to the "these men were on the boat" charade.

ArmyWife · Lieutenant Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 218

"His crewmen were with him as Kerry arrived in Boston on Wednesday. They laughed and swapped stories on the water-taxi ride from Logan International Airport to the Charlestown Naval Yard. Jim Rassmann, whose life Kerry saved when he pulled him into a swift boat while under fire, was made to wear a life vest. "

I watched as much of this as there was on TV...and I'm sure lots of other people did, too. I remember talking to my husband on the phone and telling him that I thght it was weird the guys on the boat were hardly smiling at all. It looked to me like a bunch of guys that hadn't seen each other for many years and couldn't figure out what to talk about...or maybe a bunch of guys that didn't know each other at all. Did anyone else watch the TV coverage and think the same thing? I can't be the only person to have noticed the body language there.

While we are on the subject of a so-called Band of Brothers...where are Rassman's SF team mates? You would think one or two of them might have a comment.

4moreyears · Former Member Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 591

Good observations Very Happy

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kerry returned to the United States on July 22, 1971, held a press conference publicly calling on President Nixon... for the surrender of the United States to North Vietnam.