SwiftVets.com

[Jerry M]

Alston Never Served Under Kerry Captain's Quarters ^ | 8/14/2004 | captain ed

Posted on 08/14/2004 7:15:31 AM PDT by stayout

For those of you who have not been fully following the Swift Vet's story, one of Kerry's traveling entourage (David Alston) claimed he
was under Kerry's command on a PBF and found Kerry to be a great leader. He even gave a speech to that effect at the Democratic
National Convention, where he said the following:

I know him from a small boat in Vietnam, where we fought and bled together, serving our country. There were six of us aboard
PCF-94, a 50-foot, twin-engine craft known as a "Swift Boat." We all came from different walks of life, but all of us-including our
skipper, John Kerry-volunteered for combat duty. And combat is what we got.

However, one intrepid blogger now has proven that to be a lie, Alston never served under Kerry because Alston was wounded and
out of action before Kerry took command of Alston's boat. Here is the final bit of proof (published early this morning), I suggest you
go to Captain's Quarters to find all the previous analysis leading up to this astonishing coup de gras (pass the word):

Alston Never Served Under Kerry Thanks to reader Lori in Texas, I think we've just about pieced the record together on David Alston
and his supposed service under John Kerry's command. Lori points out a sympathetic article on Dale Sandusky, one of the few
Swift boat veterans supporting Kerry and one that served on his boat, specifically gives the timing on Kerry's command of PCF-94:

In January 1969, Sandusky's boat, PCF-94, came under attack during one such ambush. Lt. Ted Peck, the officer in charge, and
another crewman were seriously wounded. Sandusky had to take command. The boat was sinking and on fire, but Sandusky
steered it back to safety. They counted 155 bullet holes in the boat and found a live enemy rocket in the main cabin. It had come to
rest in a sack of potatoes. For his actions, Sandusky would receive the Bronze Star.

With their officer headed home, the crew of PCF-94 needed a leader. And Lt. j.g. John Kerry, whose crew on PCF-44 had rotated
back home, needed men to lead.

"I was sure glad he came along," Sandusky said, "because to be honest, I didn't want to take command."

From Jan. 30 to March 13, 1969, Kerry and the crew of the PCF-94 would conduct 18 missions in the Mekong Delta river system. In
that time, Kerry would earn a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and add two Purple Hearts to the one he received earlier.

Bingo! Yachtzee! Alston received his serious wounds in that same exact battle that took Peck out of service. On January 29th,
Alston was medevaced out to a hospital with head wounds and no records indicate that he ever returned to the unit. Kerry took
command of PCF-94 the next day. Alston never served a day under Kerry's command. In fact, Kerry received a replacement, Fred
Short, on 28 February as a replacement for Alston. Now what does that tell us about Kerry and his Viet Nam narrative?

1. He and Alston conspired to deceive people about Alston's service under Kerry. That conspiracy was intended to give John Kerry
cover against exactly the kind of campaign he faces from the other Swiftvets.

2. The "end of January" language on Kerry's website was intentionally vague in order to fuzzy up the timeline and keep Alston's true
status a secret. Obviously, Sandusky remembers the dates well enough, and Kerry could easily have gotten them from him if he
wanted to be as specific as his other dates on the timeline.

3. The DNC either were saps or actively participated in the conspiracy in order to assist Kerry in his Viet Nam mythology.
Otherwise, why would they have allowed David Alston to speak at the convention about his experiences serving with John Kerry on
the boat?

4. Kerry's band of brothers have some complicity in this cover-up as well. Those who served on PCF-94 surely remember that Alston
never served under Kerry; Sandusky specifically recalls Peck being wounded and removed from command, but he wouldn't
remember that Alston left at the same time?

5. One could argue that they served on the same boat, of course, and I look forward to that Clintonian parsing used in Kerry's
defense. After holding Alston up as an expert on his leadership, he'll be hard pressed to explain how that expertise came to Alston
from a hospital bed miles away from Kerry and his old PCF.

If this gets out to the mainstream media, this story kills Kerry's campaign. This isn't just a guy embellishing his war record -- this is
a deliberate and longstanding attempt to mislead and defraud people by creating his own witnesses after the fact. That he could
have done such a clumsy job should disqualify him for higher office on that basis alone.

There must be more to this story...........anybody hear anything?

Admin note:Topic amended. Please refrain from posting speculative and unsupported allegations.
Admin note: Please include a link to a legitimate source when reproducing non-original content in this forum. Thanks

[baldeagl]

This is correct but it doesn't complete the story. So far as is known at this time, Alston may have served with Kerry from about 4 Mar 69 to 13 Mar 69. Fred Short, who became the tub gunner on PCF 94 (Alston's position before he was injured) on 18 Feb 69 has stated that he left PCF 94 on 4 Mar 69. A FOIA has been made, and when the documents are obtained we may know the truth about Alston's service and whether or not he spent one week with Kerry or no time at all.
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antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

[SandiM]

Evidence Shows The Rev. David Alston Could Not Have Served Under Sen. Kerry



by The Bandit
This document is hereby placed in the Public Domain by its author.
Last updated August 16, 2004.

http://idexer.com/articles/alston_kerry.htm
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Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. (Winston Churchill)

[Tom Poole]

[Tom Poole]

[zinfella]

Thanks, that one's OK.
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