SwiftVets.com

[geek49203]

I'm wondering about combat medals awarded to Kerry's swift boat crew members. I can't find answers. I've spent a few hours on Google and there is NOTHING about the crew getting medals.

Here's my understanding of the issue -

Kerry filed reports stating that the crew responded to enemy fire, resulting in wounds to himself. Obviously, that would imply that his crew came under the same fire, and suffered wounds that would have resulted in them being awarded Bronze and Silver stars, Purple Hearts, etc. Indeed, we would expect some of his crew to be wounded severely or even killed in action.

To date, we haven't heard of any of of those crew who've been awarded any medals, or severely wounded in combat, or KIA. That would tend to indicate that Kerry's crew was either the luckiest crew in the Navy, or that the publicity machine has somehow forgotten those details, or that the Kerry record is dubious. The best that I can find is that Kerry arranged for
"safer duty" for his crew when he was sent home. Is this another example of "if we don't see them then they never existed"?

OTOH, if those individuals DID get medals on the basis of Kerry's reports, and those reports do prove to be bogus (as the dissenting vets are saying) then that would cast doubt on the medals of those sailors as well. In other words, the crew would have a vested interest in keeping Kerry's account valid.

Thanks!

Tim

[baldeagl]

Go to my blog and click on the "Previous Kerry posts" link. Everything you want to know is there, including the answer to the question you just asked. Use the search function to find whatever you want to know.
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antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/

[jalexson]

I'm wondering if Kerry recommended his crew for medals and someone up the line decided Kerry should get a higher medal as a result.
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"That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoe making and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poor house."
-- Mark Twain