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John Kerry's VietNam Stories


By Al Young
Aug 16, 2004

Mr. John Hurley, director of "VN Vets for Kerry" appeared last week on Fox Special Report with Brit Hume.

Mr. Hurley told Mr. Hume that John Kerry may not have been in Cambodia specifically on Xmas day but he was there at one time or another with a Navy SEAL team. That is a huge problem for Mr. Hurley and for the Kerry campaign if they go along this line.

Mr. Hurley is a DISCREDITED accuser hack of US military atrocities in VN, a proven liar that just keeps on lying and an associate of Kerry’s during his VVAW days.

Hurley was in the US ARMY 69th Engineers in VN. He accused his battalion of war crimes. He was DISCREDITED by various members of his battalion (Unfit for Command pages 178-80). No one in Mr. Hurley’s battalion sided with him nor confirmed any war crimes. Mr. Hurley recently blamed Mr. Douglas Brinkley, Kerry’s biographer for the “mistake”.

Sounds like a familiar tactic? When found out in a lie, blame others for the lie.

As everyone knows, the US Govt. at that time was denying any US forces in Cambodia. Every River Patrol Commander (River Div.) had orders from Adm. Zumwalt to arrest any US military personnel TRYING to/or crossing the border. There was a very good reason for this. If a US boat was in Cambodia and happened to get captured or sunk, the Cambodia Govt. would have the photos all over the world proving that the US military was crossing the border. This would be an embarrassing political suicide for the US that could not be afforded. This same policy applied to choppers and all other aircraft. On December 23, 1968 Cambodia released 11 US soldiers and 1 South VN detained since July 17 when their landing craft entered Cambodian waters by mistake and was captured by the Cambodian Navy. Cambodia made a huge deal out of it all over the world. So in view of that fact and with the ARMY guys just released out of a Cambodia jail, how could the NAVY afford to send Kerry to Cambodia the VERY next day or on any future day for that matter, on a “secret” mission after that fiasco? Adm. Zumwalt and R. Adm. Hoffmann would have to approve it and they were not stupid men. I get it, Kerry took a SEAL team or a CIA agent for a joy boat ride ALONE and they got lost just like the ARMY guys. Mr. Meehan, pay attention. Kerry had a knack for getting lost. He got lost one time looking for the Bob Hope Xmas show. He took his boat out for personal use without permission.

It is true that there were Swift boats that deployed (not very often) Special Forces teams who were going into Cambodia but they would be dropped off downriver at a safe distance from the border and they would go on foot from there. The Swifts would then "bug out" IMMEDIATELY. This same procedure applied to Special Forces teams sent into Cambodia on choppers. When SFs were deployed in Cambodia via waterways, there were other safer methods to bring them in inside Cambodia.

Rassman’s account of his “rescue” by Kerry on the WSJ of 8/10/04 is not believable if one dissects what he says. If there was a second blast strong enough near or on Kerry’s boat to blow Rassmann off Kerry's boat and if there was intense machine-gun fire from both sides of the river why wasn't there any damage reports filed on the 3 other boats? All the boats should have been a mess and with so much fire power being placed on the 4 boats no one was injured or killed except the men on PCF3 hit by the mine. Seems to me that the 4 boats were but sitting ducks. PCF3 was disabled and took quite some time for the other two boats to rescue everyone from PCF3. There were many people on PCF3 who were incapacitated. Under such heavy fire from both sides of the river it would have been a turkey shoot. Why didn't Kerry’s boat rescue anyone other than Rassmann? What was Kerry's boat doing all that time? PCF3 had to be towed away at a slow speed by the other boats. One more reason for a turkey shoot from both sides of the river. Does Rassmann mean to say that the VC just let them go in peace because JFK “The Hero” was on a boat? If this had happened like Mr. Rassmann says it did, I would have expected that none of men that day would be alive now to talk about it. Sounds very nice Rassmann but its all BUNK! An educated guess would be that PCF 94 (Kerry’s boat) was never hit by anything not even by a VC with a slingshot nor were the other two boats. Rassmann was thrown overboard when Kerry gunned the engines to speed away to a safe place before anyone could tell if there was enemy fire. Kerry took off and left Rassmann in the water. The other 2 boats did come to the aid of PCF3. The gunfire that Kerry and Rassmann refer to is the fire from the two boats doing what they suppose to do when something like that happens when it is unknown what the cause was.

Didn’t take long for the other two boats to cease fire when it was obvious to everyone that there was no incoming enemy fire. Since I am on Rassmann’s mission, let me touch on the “5,000 meter long gauntlet of gunfire and RPGs” from both banks of the river while towing a disabled boat at a snails pace (5.000m=5Km=3miles) as reported by Kerry (Unfit page91). Only one thought comes to mind, everyone on the four boats would be dead, including Kerry and the boats destroyed.

Did Rassmann forget about the 3 mile gauntlet of fire for the WSJ? Rassmann, would you like to send in a “modification”? Rassmann said on the WSJ article that he met Kerry in the Spring of 1969 giving us the impression that he and Kerry were buddies for a while before the mission. Isn’t true that they only met on March 12 the day before the mission and may never have seen him again in VN?

What amazes me is that intelligent journalists reading this bunk generated by Rassmann and Kerry do not pick it apart sentence by sentence and come to the conclusion: WOW this is impossible. One does not have to been in the military to see that Rassmann’s story just doesn’t make sense. Bunk is just taken at face value as the truth. How could any of it be true without heavy casualties due to the time involved rescuing the crew of PCF3 and getting the boat ready to tow under intense fire from both sides of the river and then towing the boat at slow speed for miles?

After reading Unfit for Command and comparing it to all the stories known and told by Kerry and Rassmann, here is my assessment on the whole Rassmann incident:

There were 3 boats and the one that hit a mine (PCF3) people on those boats deserved the medals, not Kerry. One boat was 15 meters from Rassmann as they were going to pick him up when Kerry intercepted the boat. Kerry came back out of nowhere because he had fled the scene and came back later to make a very calculated "rescue". Rassmann was not in any danger and Kerry was not wounded. The reason that Rassmann stayed in the water that long was because the other 2 boats were busy picking up wounded/injured crew from PCF3 that had hit the mine and getting the boat under control keeping it from sinking. Rassmann was not wounded or injured so he was left for last to be picked up. Rassmann fell overboard Kerry's boat when Kerry sped away from the scene. There was also no enemy fire during the whole incident but only a lone mine in the water. If After-Action Reports were to be compared filed by the commanders of the other 3 boats and compared it to Kerry's report it would be like reading about some other incident. Would the other 3 commanders have similar reports and only Kerry reported completely different including a 3 mile gauntlet of fire from both sides of the river that no one else experienced? Does this sound right to anyone? Or wouldn't be reasonable to believe that running a 3 mile gauntlet of heavy fire from both sides of the river at slow speed towing a disabled boat that it would be a slaughter? Does anyone from the four boats confirm this heavy enemy fire other than Kerry and Rassmann? It is possible that a stunned Rassmann dumped in the water right after the mine exploded PCF3 and heard short momentary fire from the two boats mistaken it for enemy fire. However the gunfire from the two boats gave Kerry and Rassmann artistic license to embellish the script. Why did ONLY Rassmann supported Kerry's report and medals recommendation? Why did Rassmann and Kerry keep secret the recommendation for Kerry's medals? Why didn't the other 3 commanders sign the recommendation? Because they didn't even know that Kerry had applied for the medals for the incident and they wouldn't have gone along with Kerry's account of the incident. Only Rassmann and Kerry knew about it. Stinks? Sure does. The others found out years later. Kerry stabbed the other commanders and crews in the back. These guys saved the lives of EVERYONE on PCF3 except Rassmann's. Kerry wasn't around to save anyone but sure as hell pushed his way in to "save" Rassmann when he was within seconds of being pulled out of the water by Chenoweth's boat to be exact. Why didn't Kerry pulled anyone else out of the water but only Rassmann? Because he WASN'T there.

Why did Rassmann stay in the water so long if he fell out Kerry’s boat and if Kerry didn’t flee and was right there to pick him up in seconds? Kerry had high tailed out of the area when PCF3 hit the mine. Like the other 2 boats he should have stayed around protecting the disabled PCF3 in case there WAS enemy fire and rescuing the crew. He didn't, he FLED.

Seems to me that what we have here is a conspiracy between Kerry and Rassmann to make up a secret story in order for Kerry to collect two more medals, after all they had just formed a bond earlier in the day when they threw grenades in a pile of rice which resulted in Kerry getting pelted with grains of rice on his butt. They both had a huge laugh about it and that was John Kerry’s ticket to a third Purple Heart and a quick exit out of VN.

One interesting question is how many times did Kerry’s boats get hit with gunfire or RPG fire or both? If neither of his boats was ever hit, could it be that Kerry only encountered lousy VC shots or they had off spec ammo and bent gun barrels? Kerry commanded two PCFs, strange that in all those firefights only he got hit. Did anyone from his two crews ever get hit? Such bad luck for Kerry but he got medals.

Back to Rassmann, didn’t he join the John Kerry for President Campaign and has been on the payroll since January 2004? This should be checked out. If he is on the payroll what does that tell us? I wonder what his job is. I wonder what his job will be in a Kerry administration should Kerry win.

One very important fact which Rassmann avoids making clear. Rassmann was NEVER a member of Kerry’s crew. He and his Green Beret team were operating with Kerry and the other 3 boats on THAT day ONLY. He never operated with Kerry before or after this incident. However he keeps polluting the airwaves insinuating that in fact he was a member of Kerry’s crew. He does not come clean until someone actually pushes the issue with him.

Of course when he is being interviewed by a host sympathetic to Kerry, he is never asked to clarify this very important fact but he is quick to point out that none of the Swift Vets were members of Kerry’s crew. One was but what does it matter? They all served and operated together day after day. The life of one depended on all the others and vice versa.

Doesn’t anyone find it strange that no one from Kerry’s “band of 10 brothers” has not been seen or heard since the SV came out? Where are these guys and why aren’t they backing their “hero”? All I have seen so far is Hurley the Liar, Rassmann the Smoking Mirror and Lanny the Legal Hack.

If Kerry's boat deployed any SF team, there would have been other boats involved as it was the case when Rassmann was with Kerry. For two reasons; one; there would not be enough space to take a SF team on one Swift boat only, therefore other boats had to take on some of the team as was the case with Rassmann's team four boats were used, two; Swift boats RARELY if EVER went on a mission or patrol alone they were too vulnerable but in packs, for protection obviously.

The problem for Mr. Hurley is that members of Kerry's OWN crew deny ever being in Cambodia and no other crew member has come out to say that they were on his or other boats when Kerry deployed a SEAL team or took a CIA agent into Cambodia. Kerry could not have done this by himself (only his boat). Mr. Hurley also said that there were no "Welcome to Cambodia" signs at the border.

That is one of the most stupid statements I have ever heard. Obviously Mr. Hurley tried to pull a fast one on “the folks”. However after the ARMY incident of July 17 a huge sign was put at the border warning of border crossing into Cambodia. All boats had radar and charts, they could tell within 100 yards where they were at all times. Then there were these pesky small patrol boats (PBRs) of the River Patrol Div. that made sure no one crossed into Cambodia a long way from the border. These guys enforced Adm. Zumwald’s orders. The ARMY Landing Craft was the only vessel ever reported to have entered the border illegally.

I suspect that the only time Kerry had any SF in his boat was the Rassmann team. Steve Gardner can verify it, he was Kerry's gunner for most of Kerry's 3 months on Swifts.

When I say "SF" I mean Rangers, SEALs and Green Berets (Rassmann).

Earlier in the week Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan told ABC News: “The Mekong Delta consists of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, so on Christmas Eve in 1968, he was in fact on patrol ... in the Mekong Delta between Cambodia and Vietnam.”

Will someone send a map of SE Asia to the Kerry campaign? They cannot afford one and Teresa will not spring for the 5 bucks.

Then in a reversal of the story, the Kerry campaign later in the week said that Kerry was in Cambodia with a CIA agent, so which is it? SEAL team or CIA agent? If Kerry had taken a CIA agent into Cambodia which I STRONGLY doubt since Swifts were not the method used for this, he and his crew would have to be sworn to secrecy and he wouldn't be talking about it or he would be in jail by now, Senator or not. All clandestine Ops are still classified.

Again, no one in Kerry's crew has ever said they took a CIA agent or a SEAL team into Cambodia, in fact it has been denied.

That then leaves Kerry deploying SEAL teams and CIA agents all by his lonesome self on his boat without his crew. That is a very large pill to swallow.

I would guess that Mr. Kerry may have been in Cambodia at one time or another but as a tourist when he went to VN in the 1990’s to accept his "NATIONAL HERO" honors given to him by the VC not in January 1969 as he now claims. Did Comrade Kerry get any medals from Comrade Do Muoi too? If not he was gypped, but he is a hero in any case to them.

A new "modification" by Dough Brinkley is that Kerry now was in Cambodia in January 1969 not on Xmas 1968 which was “seared, seared in him”. This “seared” business, is it like a tattoo? Navy guys are famous for their tattoos. Well, my question is:

Who gave him the orders? Which Commanding Officer gave him the orders? Where are those orders? In his records which he will not release? All orders are given in written form not verbal. Where are they and who gave them to Kerry? Maybe a Commanding Officer made an exception and did in fact give Kerry the orders for an illegal op on a "wink, wink" basis. NO WAY!!!!!

Someone has to push these questions. Inquiring minds want to know.

He can't just say "I was illegally ordered into Cambodia" and not knowing who gave him the orders? If that happened that is one thing a person would FOREVER have “SEARED” in him who gave the orders for an illegal operation.

I now understand that the Kerry campaign will say that Kerry went into Cambodia in February 1969 at least four times with CIA agents. The lie gets bigger and bigger. Obviously he manned the boat alone since no one of his crew recalls doing this as I said above, he goes into Cambodia in a marked US NAVY vessel with two of the noisiest engines ever made and one question that comes to mind is: Why would the NAVY Brass chose Kerry for such delicate and dangerous missions when he only had at the time two months of experience and other more experienced Swift Commanders were available with four or five times Kerry’s experience?

Here is a couple of spin points for the Kerry campaign free of charge: Senator Kerry’s family tree actually originates in Spain. Because of a long family tradition, Senator Kerry observes Xmas on January 6th (Epiphany). Therefore when he said he was in Cambodia during Xmas he in fact meant on January 6th.

As far as not releasing the COMPLETE service records, all of Senator Kerry’s missions were CIA classified and therefore cannot be released. Yeah, that’s it, that’s the ticket. End of story, is everybody happy now?

OK, let's put the word out to all members of the NAVY SEALs who served in VN in 1968 and 1969 if they ever went to Cambodia with Kerry. Let's also ask the same of all CIA agents out there. Someone should still be alive to remember.

Kerry on his now famous speech on the Senate floor and in a Boston Herald interview claimed that while in Cambodia at Xmas, he was shot at by the Khmer Rouge and drunken Vietnamese allies celebrating Xmas.

Well now, whether he claims to be in Cambodia in December of 1968 or January of 1969, the KR didn't do any fighting or appeared until the Easter Offensive in 1972. Wait, Vietnamese celebrating Xmas? Buddhists celebrate Xmas? My father always said “you will learn something new every day of your life”, he was right. Now I know that Buddhists celebrate Xmas. I as a Christian celebrate Ramadan, Yom Kippur and any holiday of any faith just to have excuses to get drunk.

Maybe Kerry and the KR made a deal to do a shootout at the “OK Jungle” but only shoot at him over his head so he could live and tell about it. This would have been a great Kodak moment if Kerry hadn't left his movie camera back at the base.

I guess the CIA agent would not have approved of a camera on such a secret mission, these guys are no fun. Where was Michael Moore when Kerry needed him? He is a fun loving kind of a guy.

I'll bet that Kerry will do some research to see if he can find a dead Commanding Officer who he can say gave him the "Orders for a secret illegal op" in which he HAD to go alone with a SEAL team or with a CIA agent (take your pick) into Cambodia on Xmas Eve or Epiphany Day (take your pick) just to get shot at by the KR and drunken VN to become President of the U.S. of A..

Could Kerry have made up stories about his duty in VN like he did about Mary Ann Knowles from NH in his acceptance speech?

Why doesn’t Kerry sue the Swift Vets? He has a trial lawyer running mate.

The reason he will not sue is because his COMPLETE military records would be disclosed. Not a good thing for Kerry.

Kerry, if you have nothing to hide, get those COMPLETE records out, not just your useless choice morsels that you have on your website.

I have lived in Massachusetts since 1966. I have been aware of Kerry’s VN stories since he ran for Congress and lost in the early 70’s. Kerry has been fooling the people of Massachusetts since then. He has made his VN stories the centerpiece of EVERY political campaign. It is now the right time for Kerry to tell the truth to the people of Massachusetts and the American people. Let the chips fall where they may and be the man he has portrayed to be in his VN stories. Do not hide behind the fact that he and only he can release his military records. It is the time for the truth.

I am not a hack for Swiftvets.com nor am I a Republican hack. In fact I voted for Clinton before I voted against him. In writing this opinion I just researched and scrutinized available information from both sides and dissected every sentence to make sense of what was said.

I realized the inconsistencies in Kerry’s and Rassmann’s stories, I didn’t just read words and take them for granted. Isn’t that what the media should have been doing?

Kerry, Hurley and the DNC sound like a script out of a Marx Brothers movie.

“The party of the first party……….. etc., etc., etc.”

Just too funny.

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About the author Al Young: I am a disgusted former registered democrat. The last straw was the performances by Carville, Lanny Davis and Chris Mathews. I no longer can stand the rabid extreme left wing socialist media who will try to hide what is obvious just to elect Kerry. Email: abxxy@aol.com

[Tom Poole]

IMHO, after the election, these guys standing with Kerry today will begin to spend money beyond their means. To violate one's principles, it's always about money. I wonder if some will get thousands while others will get hundreds of thousands.
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'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2

[Maggie1]

Al,
You might be interested in Kerry's eulogy for Thomas Belodeau. It was put in the Congressional Record, January 28, 1998 pages S186-S187. He talks about the mine incident. It's another different story. I had trouble getting to it online or I would provide a directlink. Someone else ion this forum provided the information via the following links:

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=collinsswift1.htm
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=kerry94%2Ehtm

Welcome aboard!
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Proud Wife of a Vietnam Vet