SwiftVets.com

[Me#1You#10]

Dear Friends,

The pundits believe that credit for November 2nd goes to the "values voter." To that, I would add veterans - military veterans and their supporters.

On November 2nd, veterans as well as values emerged victorious.

It has been a distinct honor and pleasure to have served with men of principle like Admiral Roy Hoffman. I have built friendships with some of the most noble people I have ever met in my life - SwiftVets, POWs and their heroic wives - and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to know them and serve with them. This effort will go down in my professional if not personal history as the most memorable, the most unique and the most positive.

The wonderful memories are too numerous to count: working with Jack Chenoweth and Van O'Dell in graphics for the "Bronze Star" incident; the drama of digging for the truth with "Navy Chief" in the Vietnam Archives in Texas; working with conscientious reporters like Thomas Lipscomb; helping Mike Solhaug with news interviews in Norfolk when the candidate stopped there on his voyage to the convention in Boston; the daily challenge of new developments; the nightly (and often early morning) discussions with Jay, our world-class forum administrator, on breaking news; managing the strategy reunions in Washington when we cut our ads; the blessing of working with an old friend, Jim Warner, when we merged with the POWs; the honor of getting to know truly great men, like Congressional Medal of Honor winner Bud Day.

All of it - every moment, every person, every encounter - was memorable.

In my first encounter with Admiral Hoffmann, he emphasized to his leadership team that dignity and principle would be the driving force behind Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth. I am happy to say that we remained faithful to the Admiral and to his commitment to dignity and principle. This is no small feat, as we routinely operated in the political and communications equivalent of rough seas and uncharted waters.

This morning, in what was to be our last daily conference call together, the Admiral emphasized that this campaign was, from start to finish, a team effort through and through. So true. As part of our vast network of volunteers and supporters, you, too, were part of the team. You served with dignity and based your actions on principle. I want to thank each and everyone of you for your service to this cause. Without you, our word would not have gone out. Without you, the truth would have been left out in the pelting rain of mainstream media bias. You helped immeasurably and, on behalf of Admiral Hoffmann and the entire SwiftVets/POW family, I thank you for your service.

We achieved our goal of getting the truth out to the American people about a man who had grossly misrepresented his record of service and grossly misled the American people about the noble service of military veterans.

But we did more than that.

As I observed to the leadership team in the conference call this morning, there was a parallel victory of our campaign for the truth every bit as important as the victory we read about in the news November 3rd. That other victory? Setting the record straight about the honorable service of military veterans in general and Vietnam veterans in particular.

This morning, I waded through a sea of thoughtful thank-you notices posted on our forum. I failed to find the one I wanted that I thought would prove my point, but I found others.

A woman named "Beth0791" who wrote: "You.helped a dear friend of mine stand proud for his service to this country. My dad. He would never talk about his time in the service. I see a fight in him now that I have never seen, and he now has the understanding that I want to hear his story. I've waited a long time to hear it."

A blogger who goes by "baldeagl" in our forum wrote: "May God heal the hearts of the Vietnam vets who now have the comfort of knowing that their true story is finally being told."

"You are our national treasure," wrote a woman from Pennsylvania expressly to the POWs on our team.

"Thank you also for my deceased husband - Americale Division 1968-69-70," aid "veterans' advocate."

A cousin of "Hellfire" served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam and was mistreated when he returned home. "We lost the Marine a few years ago to cancer. We miss him so much. I so wish he would have lived long enough to see what you SwiftVets have done for our country by restoring Honor" to Vietnam veterans.

Sadly, I could not find the thank-you I wanted to share. I believe it was penned by "Mimi." Perhaps she will forgive me if I paraphrase her incorrectly, but in Mimi's thank-you posting, she wrote that we had defended the honor and dignity of all Vietnam veterans. Including her late father.

"Mimi" wrote that she was going to visit her father's grave site. She hoped she might convey to him her love and a single message:

"You have been vindicated."

I wish you all fair winds and a following sea.

In deep appreciation for the opportunity to serve with you, I remain,

Yours sincerely,

"Tom"
Thomas C. Wyld
Commander, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Communications Coordinator
SwiftVets and POWs for Truth