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Touch the photo to see which Swift officers support John Kerry
The purpose of this photo is to correct the misleading use of our images --
against our will -- to further John Kerry's campaign.
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This photograph of John Kerry and 19 other Coastal Division 11 Swift boat officers was taken at Ton Son Nhut Air Base on January 22, 1969, immediately following a meeting with General Abrams and Admiral Zumwalt.
The Kerry campaign featured the photograph in an advertisement released in May titled Lifetime. Swift Vets and POWs for Truth has contacted surviving members of this group to find out how many actually support John Kerry, and discovered that of 19 Swift boat skippers pictured other than Kerry, 12 consider him unfit, 2 are neutral, two have died, and 3 now support Kerry. Four other officers were not present for the photo session; 3 oppose Kerry and one is neutral.
August 23 update: The Kerry campaign has evidently persuaded formerly neutral Swift officers Rich McCann and Rich Baker to support John Kerry's candidacy. We have adjusted our graphic display and text to reflect this change.
Only 3 of John Kerry's 23 fellow Swift boat commanders from Coastal Division 11 support his candidacy today.
Click here for a morphing video of the "before" and "after" images above.
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Here's a breakdown of the Swift boat officers in the photo showing where they stand:
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On June 1, 2004, Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (then named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) sent a cease and desist letter to John Kerry for President, Inc. on behalf of 11 officers shown in the photograph, pointing out that using their images in a campaign advertisement "wrongfully and incorrectly suggests their present endorsement of his candidacy."
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