SwiftVets.com

[forgivenjojo]

I just caught a quick couple of lines about a discrepency of Rassmans account of which boat he was on. Did anybody else catch that?

[The bandit]

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

What did you catch, forgivenjojo?

Inquiring minds....
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[hanna]

Yep, I caught it....typical.

[forgivenjojo]

Attention Navy Navy Navy

Hanna caught it too. Something about Rassman claiming that he was on John Kerrys boat when the mine hit.

More research needed.

[carpro]

[forgivenjojo]

What does the book (UNFIT FOR COMMAND) say about this?

I think it is neccesary that we nail this issue down. It is a pretty simple question?

Which boat was he on?

Let's get to the bottom of this.

[carpro]

The book says he was on Kerry's boat and fell off when Kerry accelerated to clear the area. Ther was no mine exploasion under Kerry's boat.
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"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

[forgivenjojo]

So why have I read somewhere on this site that Rassman was on another boat and fell off when their boat hit a mine?

Am I the only one who has read that here - somewhere - and am I the only one who has been lead to believe that Rassman was blown off of another boat?

[hanna]

That seems most logical to me. I have read numerous accounts that Rasmussen has given of the event and him being thrown off the boat as Kerry fled fits.

[carpro]

[hanna]

Some versions of Rasmussen's story I have.

Some of the versions...

Rasmussen - While returning from a SEA LORDS operation along the Bay Hap River, a mine detonated under another swift boat. Machine-gun fire erupted from both banks of the river, and a second explosion followed moments later. The second blast blew me off John's swift boat, PCF-94, throwing me into the river.

On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry’s when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore.

Rassmann, a first lieutenant in the Army special forces, was eating a chocolate chip cookie on Kerry’s patrol boat as it pulled back from a fire fight when a nearby boat hit a mine. During the ensuing combat, Kerry’s boat was rocked by another explosion, which injured Kerry and tossed Rassmann into the water.

Rassmann “Our boat was hit by something and I was blown overboard, and whatever that was that blew me over also wounded John Kerry in the arm. The V.C.s started firing at me from both banks and I started to swim underwater towards the north bank. Every time I came up for air, I'd get more fire and this went on until I finally came up for air about the fifth time. And I noticed that the boats had come back to the rescue.

[carpro]

FOUND IT.

Knew I had read it somewhere.

In a doug Brinkley account, Rassman was on another boat:


Here's the account from Brinkley:


Almost casually, the Swifts formed up and headed out from the village. The five boats had gone about half a mile when the blast came. Right where they had been hit on an earlier mission, a mine exploded directly beneath Lieutenant James Rassman's PCF-3 near Kerry's port side. Rassman's Swift lifted about two feet up out of the water, engulfed in mud and spray, then settled, rocking so hard from side to side that the boat started zigzagging from the banks to the middle of the river. Everybody on board PCF-3 was wounded. "At the same moment, we came under a hail of small-arms fire from both banks," Kerry recorded in his journal. "I turned the boat into the fire on the left with the intention of trying to get the troops ashore on the outskirts of the ambush, but Sandusky, who was driving the boat and who had his eyes glued on the crippled 3 boat, pointed out to me how badly hit they had been. We veered back toward her then and tried to provide cover from the engaged side. Suddenly another explosion went off right beside us, and the concussion threw me violently against the bulkhead on the door, and I smashed my arm. At the same instant, Jim Rassman was blown overboard, although nobody knew it. But we continued sidling up to the 3, and as we came closer I could see that her twin-.50 mount over the pilothouse had been completely blown out of its stand and had landed on the gunner. No one was moving on the stern. [PCF-3 crewman] Ken Tryner, on his first real river expedition, was kneeling dazed in the doorway with a small trickle of blood down his face, aimlessly firing his M-79."

I think Brinkley just made a mistake and used Rassman's name for both boats. But it has caused some confusion.
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"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

[soccer4ever]

Something doesn't add up with those stories
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[ASPB]

Please see Rassman on Rassman here:

http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2590
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