SwiftVets.com

[TXBear]

Probe request comes as ex-chief Lehman calls Silver Star citation 'complete mystery'

The Department of Defense says it has informed Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England of a formal request to investigate alleged military code violations in Sen. John Kerry's Silver Star award.

The request was made by the public interest group Judicial Watch after news reports revealed Kerry's campaign website displays a document listing a "Silver Star with combat 'V'" even though the combat "V" device is never given with the nation's third highest award for heroism.

Also, there are three citations for the award, with the third, issued more than a decade after the event, bearing the signature of former Navy Secretary John Lehman.

Lehman, however, says he had nothing to do with the citation.

"It is a total mystery to me," he told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me."

Judicial Watch's director of investigations and research, Chris Farrell, told WorldNetDaily he spoke this afternoon with a Navy inspector who said the complaint is on his desk.

The inspector, according to Farrell, said he is awaiting instructions from "someone with a much higher pay grade."

Jerome Corsi, author of "Unfit for Command," the New York Times No. 1 best-seller by Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, told WorldNetDaily he considers the Judicial Watch complaint "an important and serious investigation."

"We believe the secretary of the Navy will validate the charges we've made in 'Unfit for Command,'" he said.

In a letter responding to Judicial Watch's complaint, the inspector general of the Defense Department, John R. Crane, cited Section 8(d) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, which states "the IG of the Department of Defense shall expeditiously report suspected or alleged violations of chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice), to the Secretary of the military department concerned or the Secretary of Defense."

The letter says, "We have informed the secretary of the Navy of the allegations."

Judicial Watch filed the complaint Aug. 18 and then, Aug. 31, called on Kerry to remove the Silver Star citation from his campaign website pending a review of the U.S. Navy's granting of the award.

"We hope that this is the beginning of the actual investigation into the legitimacy of Kerry's awards," Farrell told WND.

"Any investigation that finally uncovers the facts and lays out the ground-level truth of the story behind these medals is good for the American public," he said. "We just need the unvarnished truth to come out."

Gary Comerford, spokesman for the Defense Department's inspector general, told WND the inspector general has simply processed the complaint.

"We get a lot of complaints," he said. "When they come in, we look at each one and forward it to where the information is."

But Farrell, a former Army officer, says he sees the speed of the response as an indication that the investigation has a chance to go forward.

"My experience has been that normally there is a tendency with a large military bureaucracy for these things to languish or for there to not be a tremendous sense of urgency," he said.

He noted that in the course of Judicial Watch's many investigations, requests often have taken years to generate a response.

"The fact that they are reacting in a relatively quick way, we find very encouraging," he said.

Navy spokesman Lt. Ohene Gyapong told WND he could not comment immediately and would call back later.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40272

[DerbyRed]

Cx out NewMax article on Navy looksee @ jfk’s awards. I have a question for Navy Vets: How did USN designate campaign participation for ships/crew members. I can’t find a ‘lineage & honors’ breakdown for U.S.S. Gridley (DLG-21). If y’all lingered on-station in South China Sea/Gulf of Tonkin, did the Navy recognize that as RVN duty and award respective campaign stars [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/vncmp.htm]?

If that was the Navy policy . . . and jfk is claiming 4 campaign stars, he may actually have gotten ONE thing right in this whole deal -- the way I have it figured. IAW DLG-21’s history (and jfk’s timeline), the Gridley departed San Diego on 9 Feb 68 for a WESTPAC cruise which included port calls @ Subic Bay, R.P. and Wellington, N.Z. They also spent time (NFI) on-station off VN before they left WESTPAC to sail to Long Beach, CA on 27 May 68. Depending on when that “spent time” occurred, the Gridley/jfk could have been awarded 1 or 2 campaign stars [Tet Counteroffensive ~ 20 Jan - 01 Apr 68 a/o Counteroffensive, Phase IV ~ 02 Apr - 30 Jun 68] And then, of course, he definitely has the two that BuPers recognizes for his PCF time [Counteroffensive Phase VI ~ 02 Nov 68 - 22 Feb 69 and Tet 69/Counteroffensive ~ 23 Feb - 08 Jun 69]

This all may seem ‘nit-noy’ . . . but it’s something else to distract the kedward campaign and derail its attempt to “stay on message.” It also puts the campaign in a bind -- after touting the “official Navy records” as gospel . . . they sure can’t come out now and whine about “reporting glitches” and “clerical errors” > > > GBA/cul/dmm

NewsMax
September 2, 2004

Navy Challenging Kerry's Medals

The United States Navy is challenging the authenticity of Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War medals, in a development that could prove to be the most damaging yet to the embattled Democrat's presidential campaign.

A Navy spokesman is calling Kerry's Silver Star citation with Combat V "incorrect" as it appears on his campaign Web site, explaining in an interview with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Thomas Lipscomb that the Navy has never issued a Combat V at any time for the Silver Star.

The Navy also is questioning the listing on Kerry’s Web site of four bronze campaign stars for his service in Vietnam. The official naval record credits Kerry with just two Vietnam campaigns.

"That is sufficient for the wearing of the Vietnam Service Medal for one campaign bearing one campaign star for the additional campaign — not four," reports Lipscomb in today's New York Sun.

Kerry's campaign has repeatedly cited the Navy as the ultimate authority on the candidate's war record, saying the Navy wouldn't have awarded him medals he didn't deserve.

But with the Navy now publicly challenging Kerry's decorations, that defense has been rendered inoperative.

Noting that Kerry has refused to authorize the release of his full military records, the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch called on Kerry this week to remove any questionable citations from his Web site pending a formal investigation by the Navy.

"It is to your best interest to have your record in good order," Maj. Gen. Thomas Wilkerson, publisher & CEO, U.S. Naval Institute, told Lipscomb. "If it is wrong, you are accountable. And if you use it to advance your career, it is even more important.”
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"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." --John Adams "