SwiftVets.com

[NavyBrat]

Thanks to POW/MIA's Families against John Kerry for Providing
wonderful Information and a Great Service!

http://www.powmiafamiliesagainstjohnkerry.com/formerpows/formerpows.htm

Comments of former POW, MIKE BENGE

I keep hearing Vietnam Veteran everytime this joker makes a speech. Below adds some perspective.

As Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, considers a bid for the White House, Americans should know a few things about him that he might prefer go unmentioned - and I don't mean his $75 haircuts.

When Mr. Kerry pontificated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day, a group of veterans turned their backs on him and walked away. They remembered Mr. Kerry as the anti-war activist who testified before Congress during the war, accusing veterans of being war criminals. The dust jacket of Mr. Kerry's pro-Hanoi book, "The New Soldier," features a photograph of his ragged band of radicals mocking the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, which depicts the flag-raising on Iwo Jima, with an upside-down American flag.

Retired Gen. George S. Patton III charged that Mr. Kerry's actions as an anti-war activist had "given aid and comfort to the enemy," as had the actions of Ramsey Clark and Jane Fonda. Also, Mr. Kerry lied when he threw what he claimed were his war medals over the White House fence; he later admitted they weren't his. Now they are displayed on his office wall.

Long after he changed sides in congressional hearings, Mr. Kerry lobbied for renewed trade relations with Hanoi. At the same time, his cousin C. Stewart Forbes, chief executive for Colliers International, assisted in brokering a $905 million deal to develop a deep-sea port at Vung Tau, Vietnam ??? an odd coincidence.

As noted in the Inside Politics column of Nov. 14 (Nation), historian Douglas Brinkley is writing Mr. Kerry's biography. Hopefully, he'll include the senator's latest ignominious feat: preventing the Vietnam Human Rights Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate, claiming human rights would deteriorate as a result. His actions sent a clear signal to Hanoi that Congress cares little about the human rights for which so many Americans fought and died.

The State Department ranked Vietnam among the 10 regimes worldwide least tolerant of religious freedom. Recently, 354 churches of the Montagnards, a Christian ethnic minority, were forcibly disbanded, and by mid-October, more than 50 Christian pastors and elders had been arrested in Dak Lak province alone. On Oct. 29, the secret police executed three Montagnards by lethal injection simply for protesting religious repression. The communists are conducting a pogrom against the Montagnards, forcing Christians to drink a mixture of goat's blood and alcohol and renounce Christianity. Thousands have been killed or imprisoned or have just "disappeared." The Montagnards lost one-half of their adult male population fighting for the United States, and without them, there might be thousands more American names on that somber black granite wall at the Vietnam memorial.

As Mr. Kerry contemplates a run for the presidency, people must remember that he has fought harder for Hanoi as an anti-war activist and a senator than he did against the Vietnamese communists while serving in the Navy in Vietnam.

MICHAEL BENGE Foreign Service officer and former Vietnam POW
(1968 to 1973)
_________________
Laura~

[NavyBrat]

Comments of former POW Joe Crecca


Seattle Post Intelligencger
February 8, 2004

Kerry doesn't deserve veterans' support

By JOE CRECCA
GUEST COLUMNIST
The rigors and hardships of being a POW aside, I remember the so-called "peace movement" and peace marches and rallies that were taking place back home in the United States.

Our captors were more than willing, within their means, to provide us with any and all anti-U.S. and anti-Vietnam War propaganda. Without a choice in the matter, we listened to the "Voice of Vietnam" broadcasts by "Hanoi Hannah" and were shown newspaper and magazine photos and articles about those opposing the war back in the states.

One of the peace marchers' standard slogans was, "Bring our boys home now and alive." The warped thinking of such people was that by demonstrating against U.S. involvement in Vietnam, they'd be shortening the war and reducing the number of American casualties. These demonstrators would also try to make one believe that their efforts would bring POWs like me home sooner. They were utterly wrong on both counts, not to mention the detrimental effect their actions had on the morale of our troops and our POWs.

John F. Kerry was not just one of these demonstrators. He was leading them.

These demonstrations for peace had the exact opposite effect of what they purported to accomplish. Instead of shortening the war the "peace movement" served only to protract the conflict, resulting in a vastly greater number of Americans killed and wounded, greater economic burdens and longer periods of incarceration for Americans held captive in Vietnam. The war would have been over much sooner and with a much more favorable result if those in the "peace movement" would have rallied behind the commander in chief to accomplish our mission and then withdraw.

Many fewer names would be engraved into the black granite of the Vietnam Memorial if these people had supported our efforts instead of trying to derail them. After all, fighting against a political regime that up to that time had murdered more than a hundred million people couldn't have been all bad. But Kerry thought and acted differently. How many more names on the wall can he take credit for?

After the war ended, some of the war protesters hung on to their anti-war postures for a while. Some of them realized the errors of their ways almost immediately, but it took others 20 to 25 years.

Some, like Kerry, have not realized there was anything wrong with what he did. Instead, he hopes we will see him as a courageous Vietnam veteran. I do not. He hopes we will admire his bravery. I do not. I remember him more for his misdeeds upon his return from Vietnam.

However, in the present political arena, he evidently has succeeded in gaining the support of some well-meaning but misled Americans. Given his past record, it is just astonishing that he has garnered any support from our nation's veterans.

I hope people will reconsider their support for Kerry in light of his actions, which were so detrimental to our Vietnam combat soldiers, sailors and airmen, many of whom are not here today to tell you themselves.

Joe Crecca
Vietnam POW
22NOV66-18FEB73
_________________
Laura~

[NavyBrat]

Comments of former POW Jack Van Loan, Col., USAF (Ret.)

The State (Columbia, SC)
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Letters to the Editor

Throughout all the rhetoric in Iowa, it has been troubling to me that Sen. John Kerry's affiliation with the anti-war group, The Vietnam Veterans Against the War, has received almost no mention.

I believe it is important for all to remember that this group, by its very existence, gave comfort to the North Vietnamese leadership and by so doing lengthened the war, thereby causing more American casualties and, not incidentally, lengthened my stay as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton.

Though I have attempted through a mutual confidant to obtain an explanation from Sen. Kerry, none has been forthcoming. Thus I have concluded he clearly lacks the judgment and credibility to represent his party in our national election, much less be our president.

JACK VAN LOAN
Col., USAF (Ret.)
_________________
Laura~

[NavyBrat]

Comments of Former POW Sam Johnson, as reported by the Washington Times Feburary 11, 2004

"Rep. Sam Johnson, Texas Republican, who spent nearly seven years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Vietnam, said yesterday the photograph of Mr. Kerry and Miss Fonda will hurt him nevertheless.

"I think it symbolizes how two-faced he is, talking about his war reputation, which is questionable on the one hand, and then coming out against our veterans who were fighting over the other," Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Johnson recalled that his North Vietnamese captors played recordings of Miss Fonda telling U.S. troops to give up the war. "Seeing this picture of Kerry with her at antiwar demonstrations in the United States makes me want to throw up".
_________________
Laura~

[NavyBrat]

Comments of former POW Paul Galanti, as reported by John M. Gilonne of the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 2004

"Paul Galanti learned of Kerry's speech while held captive inside North Vietnam's infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison. The Navy pilot had been shot down in June 1966 and spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war.

During torture sessions, he said, his captors citied the antiwar speeches as "an example of why we should cross over to (their) side."

"The Viet Cong didn't think they had to win the war on the battlefield."Galanti said, "because thanks to these protesters they were going to win it on the streets of San Francisco and Washington."

He says Kerry broke a covenant among servicemen never to make public criticisms that might jeopardize those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy.

Because he did, Galanti said, "John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served with."

Now retired and living in Richmond, VA., Galanti, 64, refuses to cool his ire toward Kerry. "I don't plan to set it aside. I don't know anyone who does," he said. "The Vietnam memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him."
_________________
Laura~

[NavyBrat]

Comments of former POW Mark Smith

WHO IS JOHN KERRY?

"John Kerry Vietnam War hero." Everyday the media tiptoes around John Kerry as if he is an icon of service to the Nation. But why is his service to the nation in war not balanced against his return to longhaired freakdom to march against his fellow veterans still in the war, including myself? I was especially incensed when my communist captors quoted him in propaganda.

I had a discussion with Senator Kerry in Bangkok Thailand. He made some surprising statements during that exchange. He stated emphatically that I should provide him with any information I had on missing Americans. This he stated he would take to Hanoi to discuss with the Communists. He didn't seem to understand the Communists knew where the POWs were and needed no help from him to "find them." Expert on war? Hardly! He then stated that no matter what I had there would be no military operation to rescue them. In other words, Senator Kerry felt that Americans were worth talking about, but not worth fighting for.

Kerry brought up his service on patrol boats in Vietnam in a very defensive way with me, "you weren't the only one in that war, I was on those patrol boats"; My answer, "Surely you are not attempting to compare anything you did in that war to my contribution to that endeavor!" I did not say that to belittle the Senator, but to only give him a reality check. He said he had an important appointment. The insinuation was it dealt with the MIAs.

I was invited to lunch by his staffer Francis. She stated in an adoring manner that John Kerry would someday be the President of the United States. My answer was short and succinct, "Based on what?" She said, "He's a war hero." I said, "But he then marched in a filthy uniform and threw his medals over the White House fence." She then told me the medals were someone else's. I merely stated it showed disrespect to honors received on the battlefield by "Someone." End of discussion on that.

Someone in the Asian customs stated a rumor that Senator Kerry purchased a tiger skin in Vietnam and officials were told to ignore it. Somehow Vietnam Veterans got the story and as far as I know, there has never been a denial from the great "environmentalist" John Kerry. But true or not it gives a good look at how Kerry operates. Take the "war hero" the next. Take the "Champion of MIAs" one day and the "we aren't going to war for them" the next day and you have John Kerry.

Senator Kerry threatened to order me before his committee unless I gave him intelligence to carry to Hanoi. My answer? "you do not have to order me before your committee, I'll be there." I waited but, when I called Francis and said I was in America and ready to put the record straight on the rumor about Ross Perot being spread by committee staff, she said. "I'm sorry Mark we have run out of money to bring you here." I said; "I have miles to burn and will pay my own way." She said she would discuss it with Kerry and get back to me. I never heard from her or the "War Hero" again. Vietnam Veterans beware. The best way to describe John Kerry's attempts to be all things to all people is, "Heinz 57."

There has been much sniping at President Bush for being a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard. Liberals who seem to believe September Eleventh was somehow our fault and most surely the President's, laugh at his flying to an aircraft carrier to welcome home U.S. Troops. They said he looked silly dressed as a pilot. No candidate for President had more right to dress like that, than George Bush; he is a fighter pilot. Where were these people, when the draft dodging Clinton wore a "Tanker Jacket" when visiting the troops? A part of a uniform he evaded wearing in time of war. I hope Kerry does not show up to see the troops, if elected, in the ragged field jacket and head band, he wore in the peace marches. When time to honor a battlefield hero, I hope he does not have a "flashback" and throw our Nation's highest award over the White House fence. After all, he does think throwing other people's medals over that fence is all right.

Lastly, as Guard and Reserve Troops fight and die for our freedom, I don't want any Commander In Chief who would think their service a joke. Further, if the big time Vietnam Veteran Kerry knew a thing about the Vietnam War, other than how deep the river was, he would know Guard and Reserve Pilots regularly flew combat missions in Vietnam. I for one appreciated the support.

"War Hero?" O.K., he received the Silver Star. But, "Expert" on war? No John, but those of us who are, will take the honest leadership of President Bush anytime over you. You have not changed a bit from the time of the Vietnam War. Your wet finger is still in the air checking the political winds, before making any decision or changing one already made. We are at war and I know war. Your brand of equivocation on every issue costs lives in a war and I don't want more dead and wounded here and abroad. You went to war and then marched against it and those of us who still fought.

I know you as "Springtime Patriot" and then as a "Winter Soldier." People should look up what you said during your "Winter Soldier" days. You voted for the present war and now you condemn it. You may be an Ivy League graduate, but, your war record is minor league and your leadership is straight out of the "Waffle House." If being President is going to be based on medals earned in battle, there are a whole lot of us in front of you, John Kerry. There is one last thing that places all of your fellow veterans ahead of you in the honor department, with the exception of a few of your fellow Solders. We had too much respect for our fellow warriors, who fell on the field of battle, to throw even our lowest award over the White House fence. If you keep running on the "warrior ticket," you will lose sailor! For on that ticket, you are who you have always been.......NOBODY.

Mark A. Smith - DSC
Major, USA, Retired
Member, The Legion of Valor
Returned Prisoner of War
Torrance, CA 90504
_________________
Laura~

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

GOOD GOING, NavyBrat!!!
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[NavyBrat]

Thanks EJ

Someone else already posted the POW/MIA Families against Kerry link but as I went through the site and saw those testimonies of the POWs, I thought it would be a great addition for the research addition here.
_________________
Laura~

[NavyBrat]

Here's another one that my cousin sent to me:

Who is John Kerry?

By JEREMIAH DENTON
(Rear Admiral, US Navy, Retired) (Former POW)

Knowing that I served in the U.S. Senate with John Kerry and that, like
him, I am a veteran of the Vietnam War, many people have asked me what I
think of him, particularly now that he's the apparent presidential nominee
of the Democratic Party. When Kerry joined me in the Senate, I already
knew about his record of defamatory remarks and behavior criticizing U.S.
policy in Vietnam and the conduct of our military personnel there. I had
learned in North Vietnamese prisons how much harm such statements caused.
To me, his remarks and behavior amounted to giving aid and comfort to our
Vietnamese and Soviet enemies. So I was not surprised when his subsequent
overall voting pattern in the Senate was consistently detrimental to our
national security. Considering his demonstrated popularity during the
Democratic primaries, I earnestly hope the American people will soberly
consider Kerry's qualifications for the presidency in light of his position
and record on both our cultural war at home and on national security
issues. To put it bluntly, John Kerry exemplifies the very reasons that I
switched to the Republican Party. Like the majority in his political party,
he has proven by his words and actions that his list of priorities -- his
ideas on what most needs to be done to improve this country -- are almost
opposite to my own. Here are two issue areas that I consider top
priorities: the war over the soul of America, and national security.

Top priority should be placed on an effort to recover our most fundamental
founding belief that our national objectives, policies and laws should
reflect obedience to the will of Almighty God. Our Declaration of
Independence, our national Constitution and each of the states'
constitutions stress that basic American national principle. For about 200
years, the entire country, both parties and all branches of government
understood that principle and tried to follow it, if imperfectly. For some
50 years, our nation's opinion-makers, our courts and, gradually, our
politicians have been abandoning our historical effort to be "one nation
under God" in favor of becoming "one nation without God," with glaringly
unfavorable results. I believe our political leaders, educational system,
parents and opinion-makers must all return to teaching the truth most
emphasized by our Founding Fathers. George Washington called religious
belief indispensable to the prosperity of our democracy. William Penn
said, "Men must choose to be governed by God or condemn themselves to be
ruled by tyrants." And when asked what caused the Civil War, President
Lincoln said, "We have forgotten God." In these days we have not only
forgotten God, we are by our new standards of government and culture
rejecting him as the acknowledged creator and as the endower of our rights.
As a result, we are suffering cultural decay and human unhappiness. The
decline of the institution of the family is the most obvious result.
Perhaps the current movie, "The Passion of the Christ," will help many to
come to realize the cost of the redemption of our sins, and the
destructiveness of sin.

Let's remember that over 95 percent of Americans during our founding days
were Christians, and though our Founding Fathers stipulated that no one was
to be compelled to believe in any religion, and also stipulated that there
would be no single Christian denomination installed as a national religion,
there was no question that our laws were to be firmly based on the Judean
Ten Commandments and on Christ's mandate to love your neighbor as you love
yourself. That setup brought us amazing success as a nation, lifting us
from our humble beginnings, through crisis after crisis, to become the
leading nation of the world. Now, though, we are throwing away the very
source of our strength and greatness. Yet I am not giving up on our
country. I am encouraged at the stand and the attitude of our president, and
inspired by his courage. There are many more of his stripe in Washington
now. Though Rome and other empires have decayed and fallen, the cultural
war in the United States can and should be won by the majority of
Americans -- a majority to whom Kerry and the Democrats disdainfully refer
to as the "far right." They are people who believe in God and in the
original concept of "one nation under God."

As a nation, we are now at the point of no return. The GOOD GUYS are
finally angry enough to join the fray, and I pray we are not too late.
John Kerry is not among the good guys. The Democratic Party isn't, either.
Indeed, on the subject of national security, John Kerry epitomizes a fatal
weakness in the Democratic Party. During the decisive days of the Cold
War, after the Democratic Party changed during the mid-1960s, the party was
on the wrong side of every strategic debate on policy regarding Vietnam and
the USSR, and is now generally on the wrong side in the war on terrorism.
The truth is that the Cold War was barely won by a narrow margin -- a
victory and a margin determined by the political choices made by our
government regarding suitable steps to deter Soviet attack and finally win
the Cold War. If the U.S. had followed the Democratic Party line, the
Cold War would have concluded with the U.S. having to surrender without a
fight, or the U.S. would have been defeated in a nuclear war with
acceptable losses to the USSR. It was not Johnson and Carter and the
Democrats; it was Nixon, Reagan, George Bush and the Republicans who led us
to victory in the Cold War.

And George W. Bush and the Republican majority -- not John Kerry and the
Democrats -- can lead us to victory in the war on terrorism.

Who is Jeremiah Denton? 28-May-04

In 1973, Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. walked off an Air Force C-141aircraft to
freedom after being held captive in North Vietnam for more than seven
years. Born in 1924 in Mobile Alabama, Denton graduated from the United
States Naval Academy in 1946. In June 1965, he was assigned to Attack
Squadron 75 on the USS Independence flying the Grumman A-6 Intruder. On 18
July 1965, while pulling up after leading a bombing attack on enemy
installations near Thanh Hoa, he was shot down and captured by North
Vietnamese troops. While held prisoner, Denton became the first American
subjected to four years of solitary confinement. In 1966, during a
television interview by the North Vietnamese and broadcast on American
television, Denton gained national attention when, while being questioned,
he blinked his eyes in Morse code, repeatedly spelling out the covert
message "T-O-R-T-U-R-E".

During his captivity he frequently served as the senior American military
officer in numerous camps in and around Hanoi. On 12 February 1973, Denton
was released and promoted to rear admiral in April 1973. In 1976 Denton's
Vietnam experience was chronicled in the book When Hell Was in Session, and
in an NBC movie of the same title, which won the 1979 Peabody Award. In
1979 Denton retired from the Navy as Commandant of the Armed Forces Staff
College and returned to Mobile, Alabama. During his 34 years of military
service, he received numerous awards and honors, to include: the Navy
Cross, three Silver Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and two Purple
Hearts. In November 1980, Denton became the first retired flag officer ever
elected to the U.S. Senate. Some of his major committee assignments
included: the Judiciary Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and the
Veterans Affairs Committee. In 1983, Denton founded the National Forum
Foundation dedicated to the concept of One Nation under God, the
institution of the family, welfare reform, and peacekeeping and
humanitarian affairs. In 1987, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan
to be Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Merchant Marine and
Defense. Among many other legislative accomplishments, Denton established
the highly acclaimed international aid program known as The Denton Program,
responsible for transporting over 20 million pounds of critical equipment
and supplies to needy people throughout the world. Denton currently
serves as President of the National Forum Foundation and lectures on
national and international affairs. He and his wife Jane reside in Mobile,
Alabama. They have 7 children and 15 grandchildren.

Important Veteran Information Links
National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP)
http://www.nvlsp.org/ <http://www.nvlsp.org/> <http://www.nvlsp.org/>
_________________
Laura~