SwiftVets.com

[charleton]

Brinkley quotes Kerry at length as not actually seeing a man die until December 29, 1968. Supposedly this incident took place at the 3rd Army Surgical Division at Dong Tam. A RVN Tiger scout was seriously wounded. Kerry: "No one to talk to because he could not speak English and we could not speak Vietnamese and how, anyway, does one bridge the gap at a moment like this?"

Elliott's fitness report, which is strangely dated 18 Dec 1969 (months after Kerry left RVN) says that Kerry "has of his own volition leaned the Vietnamese language and is instrumental in the successful Vietnamese training program."

I find it amazing that Kerry is reported to have learned Vietnamese
during the short time in country. I suspect any such claim is false and that Elliott included it because Kerry reported it to him.
This is also early for the "Vietnamese training program."

I spent November 1970 to November 1971 as US Navy attached to the RVN Armed Forces Language School and learned Vietnamese pretty well because I spent many hours a day teaching English to the RVN personnel who were being trained to take over.

If there were no RVN personnel on Kerry's boat, I question how he ever learned more than a few words.

Anyway, perhaps someone can test his knowledge, at least of the Vietnamese phrases or at least the curses that some of us learned and remember well to this day![/b]
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James Charleton

[Ladder Yankee 33]

Kerry played an important role in the "Chieu Hoi" program, except that he was working for the North Vietnamese and it was a call for the "Surrender! You American Butchers."
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"Win the Delta Come Hell or High Water!"
RivDiv11, RAS111, T-111-9, RM3 11/68-11/69