SwiftVets.com

[Jack Mclaughlin]

The incident at Ca MauOn pg. 295 of Douglas Brinkley`s book, Tour of Duty, he cites David Warsh of the Boston Globe as raising the question as to whether Kerry had won his Silver Star by shooting a wounded, unarmed man in the back. Warsh`s source for the story was Tom Beladeau ( now deceased ) a crewmate on the PCF-94 swiftboat. Beladeau was one of two, besides Kerry, to witness the incident at Ca Mau first hand. Why would Beladeau make such a charge? Was he the irresponsible type? Not according to Brinkley. He describes Beladeau`s heroic efforts on pg. #264 and quotes Kerry as saying, " He was always dependable--always there for the rest of the crew."

Kerry took over PCF-94 after Tedd Peck was severely wounded and Beladeau was credited with saving Peck and his entire crew by rushing into the pilothouse to extinguish a fire in the nick of time before the fire detonated the explosives on board. ( pg. 265 ) So why would a man of such character and courage make such a charge? Can anyone shed some light on this? Also on pg. #136 Brinkley says Kerry took home a B-40 rocket as a souvenir. Did he mean a rocket launcher? If so, was it the one Kerry confiscated from the man he killed at Ca Mau?