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Copyright 2003 Newhouse News Service All Rights Reserved

Newhouse News Service

December 16, 2003 Tuesday

HEADLINE: Kerry's Life Philosophy Was Shaped During War Years

BYLINE: By JOHN HASSELL; John Hassell is a staff writer for The Star--Ledger of Newark, N.J.

On a day in mid--February 1969, David Thorne walked through the doors of the USO Club in Saigon, looking for his old college buddy, John Kerry. The two young Navy officers Thorne newly arrived in Vietnam, Kerry already hardened in combat greeted each other with wide smiles as they fell into an embrace.

It had been a year since the men were together, and nearly three since they graduated from Yale University. Kerry had changed in that short time, Thorne noticed. His natural exuberance was tempered, and his deep--set eyes were somehow darker.

"There was a sense of relief at just seeing your friend, and also a little bit of a sense of swashbuckling," Thorne recalls.
"At the same time, there was a sense of deep fear and misgiving." Kerry, Thorne says, "was struggling mightily with the morality of the war."
Kerry left Vietnam not long after that reunion to become a most unusual celebrity: an anti--war protester boasting three Purple Hearts for combat wounds and the Navy's Bronze Star and Silver Star for bravery. The tall, clean--cut war hero quickly earned a place in the national spotlight, and a spot on President Richard M. Nixon's enemies list.

That was Kerry's first step in a long march toward political prominence, and toward his present underdog bid for the White House a march that has been haunted, at numerous points along the way, by his experiences in Vietnam during a war that shaped his generation.

Kerry's Vietnam years specifically, the tension between his desire to serve his country and his political opposition to the war continue to influence his decision--making to this day, friends say. Among other things, this tension helps explain his recent vote in the Senate to authorize the use of military force against Saddam Hussein, and his subsequent criticism of President Bush for invading Iraq.
"
John is an incredibly thoughtful person, and he can understand the arguments on both sides of any given issue," said Harvey Bundy, a Chicago money manager who roomed with Kerry at Yale. "So when he begins to explain what he believes, it's not as simple as, 'I'm against the war in Iraq.' He also believed he had an obligation to give the president the necessary tools to confront Saddam."

You can't fully appreciate Kerry, his friends say, without understanding his time in Vietnam. "His life is defined by it," Thorne says. "Personally, I think the experience was deeply traumatic and deeply shook the foundation of his belief system, and I think it comes into play all the time."

John Forbes Kerry, 60, grew up in the rarefied world of Boston's Brahmin class, and from the age of 10 he was sent off to elite boarding schools in Switzerland and New England. His father was an American diplomat, and his mother was descended from the wealthy Forbes family.

After graduating in 1962 from St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., Kerry went on to attend his father's alma mater, Yale, where he briefly dated Janet Auchincloss, the half--sister of first lady Jackie Kennedy.

During most of Kerry's time at Yale, he roomed with Bundy, whose uncles William and McGeorge Bundy had been key architects of the Kennedy administration's policy of communist containment in Southeast Asia. William Bundy, then an assistant secretary of state, visited the Yale campus in Kerry's senior year and talked about Vietnam.

"What we took away from that," Harvey Bundy recalls, "was something Bill said, which was: 'We need you guys to serve. We need people of your caliber to serve if we're going to do this thing.'" William Bundy's sentiments found an especially receptive audience in Kerry. "I thought it was important for people to share the responsibility for serving the country and I believed it fell to people of privilege, as well as to people who were less privileged," Kerry says.

Kerry enlisted in the Navy after he graduated from Yale in 1966. But even then, he was entertaining doubts about Vietnam. When he was selected to give the class speech at graduation, Kerry spoke those doubts out loud. "We have not really lost the desire to serve," he told his classmates. "We question the very roots of what we are serving."

If Kerry had misgivings then, they quickly deepened after he arrived in Vietnam. In letters to friends and in journals recently compiled by the historian Douglas Brinkley, Kerry began to agonize over what he was seeing.

"The world I am part of out there is so very different from anything you, I, or our close friends can imagine," he wrote to David Thorne's sister, Judy, who would later become Kerry's first wife. "It is filled with primitive survival, with destruction of an endless always seemingly pointless nature and forces one to grow up in a fast--no holds barred fashion."
Shortly after his arrival in the Mekong Delta, Kerry was drawn to the small patrol craft, known as Swift boats, that zipped along the coast, bristling with .50--caliber machine guns and an 81--millimeter mortar. He volunteered to command one.

James Wasser of Kankakee, Ill., was one of five enlisted men on Kerry's first vessel, PCF--44 (the acronym stands for Patrol Craft Fast), and he was initially wary of the tall, preppy officer with his patrician accent.

"For three days, I sat back and looked," Wasser says. "The new guy is always on the chopping block, whether he's an officer or enlisted. And this guy was clearly a child of privilege. But I could see pretty quickly he had it together. He never backed down from anything; he was aggressive. But I liked that, because so was I." Kerry impressed everyone with his courage in combat. Michael Bernique, a legendary Swift boat skipper who served alongside Kerry, said he found Kerry somewhat aloof and stand--offish. But, he said, "You want someone who is tough and someone who's not going to run, and John is a courageous man. Courageous almost to the point of folly. I'm pretty well--decorated myself, and I will admit I was occasionally afraid. I'm not totally convinced John ever felt fear."

During the early years of American engagement in Vietnam, the Navy's Swift boats were assigned relatively safe coastal patrols. A month before Kerry began his second tour of duty in January 1969, however, the mission became far more dangerous. Swift boats were given the job of launching assaults in the Mekong Delta, which often meant navigating
narrow waterways with dense jungle on either side. They were sitting ducks for ambushes.

The most harrowing ambush occurred on Feb. 28, 1969, as Kerry and the crew of his second Swift boat command, PCF--94, motored up the Dong Cung River, transporting a group of South Vietnamese fighters. Kerry remembers hearing some small--caliber fire and, fearing the enemy on shore might be carrying dangerous B--40 rockets, immediately ordered
his crew to beach the boat.

Kerry grabbed his M--16 rifle and ran ashore, just as a teenage Vietcong fighter hopped out of a hiding place with a rocket launcher on his shoulder. "From the look in his eyes, I think he was as surprised to see us on shore as we were to see him pop up like that," says Kerry, who chased the teenager, shot him and took the rocket launcher.

For that episode, Kerry received the Silver Star. And to this day, crewman Del Sandusky of Elgin, Ill., wonders that they managed to survive. "That was a him--or--us situation and Kerry didn't hesitate for a second. That rocket could have destroyed the boat, and us in it."
With each day and each firefight that passed, however, Kerry became increasingly convinced that the American war in Vietnam was futile.

"I know that most of my friends felt absolutely absurd going up a river holding a loaded weapon that was supposed to be used against someone who had never really done anything to you and on whose land you were now trespassing," Kerry wrote in his war notes. "I had always felt that to kill, hate was necessary and I certainly didn't hate these people." Kerry returned from Vietnam in April 1969, after requesting a transfer based on his three Purple Hearts.

In early 1970, he received an honorable discharge, and he quickly mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Congress. When that effort
failed, he decided to focus his attention on the anti--war effort.
Kerry joined a group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War. At the time, the VVAW was a marginal organization, but on April 22, 1971, Kerry took the veterans' case to Congress, and turned the group and himself into an overnight media sensation.

Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the young veteran delivered a speech that riveted the nation. "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam?" he challenged the senators. "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

Kerry also told the senators that American forces were guilty of war crimes in Vietnam a charge that drew angry criticism from some fellow veterans. Bernique, the Swift boat skipper who so admired Kerry's courage in battle, said his congressional testimony was "pure
unadulterated bull—-. It's my personal feeling that had the political climate been different John could have returned as a right--wing Republican. But I think John is an opportunist and he saw an opportunity."

Kerry returned to Massachusetts to run for Congress in 1972, and once again he failed. The loss convinced him to enter law school, and he then worked for six years as a prosecutor and private attorney before being elected lieutenant governor in 1982. Two years after that, he won the eat in the U.S. Senate he holds today.

Throughout his Senate years, Vietnam has helped to shape Kerry's political views, and he has remained engaged in Vietnam--related issues. One of his proudest accomplishments was his work with Sen. John McCain, R--Ariz., during the 1990s to account for Americans missing in Vietnam work that led President Bill Clinton to grant the Southeast Asian
country diplomatic recognition. Vietnam also weighed heavily in Kerry's Senate decision to authorize the use of force in Iraq a vote that has allowed Kerry's Democratic presidential primary opponent, Howard Dean, to emerge as the leading critic of the Iraq war.

Kerry says he believed the president needed to be able to make a credible threat against Saddam Hussein to enforce U.N. resolutions. But he remains incredulous that Bush went ahead and attacked without rounding up more international support.

In an interview last week, Kerry said his battlefield experience would have dictated a more cautious approach to the Iraqi enterprise. "That experience makes one think about the important questions that ought to be asked before you go to war. It also teaches you the importance of telling the truth, and the importance of knowing why you're asking people to make sacrifices."

At the moment, Kerry is facing an important question of his own: Will his background as soldier, protester and war--wary politician matter as he seeks the Democratic nomination? At the moment, he trails Dean badly in key states including New Hampshire, where Kerry was once the heavy favorite. Win or lose, Vietnam will continue to hover at the edges of Kerry's life, friends say. "To this day, Vietnam hangs around his neck, and to this day, it is very powerful stuff," says George Butler, who met Kerry 40 years ago and is working on a film about his life. "Even for those of us who know so much about John, it's hard to understand what he went through. The guy still dreams about Vietnam every night. It's locked into his psyche."


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[Jerald L. Parsoneault]

Thorne the author writes:

You can't fully appreciate Kerry, his friends say, without understanding his time in Vietnam. "His life is defined by it," Thorne says. "Personally, I think the experience was deeply traumatic and deeply shook the foundation of his belief system, and I think it comes into play all the time."

10 Weeks as an OIC of a Swift boat, 3 or 4 firefights (maybe) and the guy is scarred for life. . . . .doesn't sound like Commander-In-Chief maaterial to me.

Nalt

[lthrneck]

Kerry is an phony and piece of crap. He should of been tried of treason for negoiating with the enemy. He should of been court martialed for filing false after action reports and medals he didn't deserve. He should of been shun by the American people for the way he treated the veterans of vietnam. He's no hero he's a wussie.
_________________
"Old Breed, New Breed, There's not a DAMM bit of
difference so long as it's the MARINE Breed"
- Lt. Gen Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller

Semper fi
uuurah
Carry On!!

[shadowy]

[jimlarsen]

-WordNet Dictionary-
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?define=swash

Meaning of SWASH: [to] act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner.
Meaning of BUCKLE: [to] fold or collapse; "His knees buckled".

Meaning of SWASHBUCKLING: flamboyantly reckless and boastful behavior.

Take your pick.

[Boundless]

> Kerry's Life Philosophy Was Shaped During War Years

Not.

Kerry was born the son of a minor State Department
hack whose anti-American sentiments are echoed by
John Kerry. Kerry has always been a collectivist
sympathizer. Some things about this man have never
changed, and it is only these things about which he
can be expected to be consistent and predictable.

Here's a very revealing story on it from a pro-Kerry
source (The New Republic):
Kerry's World: Father Knows Best

Here's another view of the matter:
John Kerry's Fellow Travellers