SwiftVets.com

leeinwv · PO3 Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 268

Another Seared--Seared--Memory
From a John Kerry speech commemorating Martin Luther
King Day, Jan. 20, 2003:

"I remember well April 1968--I was serving in
Vietnam--a place of violence--when the news reports
brought home to me and my crewmates the violence back
home--and the tragic news that one of the bullets
flying that terrible spring took the life of that
unabashedly maladjusted citizen."

In fact, Kerry did not go to Vietnam until November
1968.

The Ghost · Seaman Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 160

i'm not 100% sure ,,but i think that he served his first so called tour offshore of vietnam ,,then the ship went back to california ,,and then came back so he could do a tour IN vietnam instead of a tour OFFSHORE of vietnam

Fabius Cunctator · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 5:59 pm Post subject:

I recall seeing something on another post about his being on board a destroyer, USS Gridley??? at that time. Don't imagine he heard a lot of bullets zinging by, unless the ship was under surface or aerial attack.

________________________________________________________
Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator
USMCR – 1974 to the present.

"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum; qui victoriam cupit, milites inbuat diligenter; qui secundos optat eventus, dimicet arte, non casu. Nemo provocare, nemo audet offendere quem intellegit superiorem esse, si pugnet." - F. Vegetii Renati Epitoma Rei Militaris, AD 380

leeinwv · PO3 Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 268

He was on a ship not in vietnam

Tom Poole · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:04 pm Post subject: ...Seared...

I heard on a radio talk show this a.m. (Beck or Ancarlo) that he was on the Gridley April 4, 1968 but not "in country." Allegedly, he was off shore near the Gulf of Tonkin.
_________________
'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2

Navy_Navy_Navy · Admin Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 5777

Someone posted a rather funny list of clips from Kerry's speeches where he has repeated that phrase.

It seems that EVERYTHING has potential for searing his brain, just like EVERYTHING reminds him of Vietnam. Wink

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

lolajl · Lt.Jg. Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 136

kmudd · Master Chief Petty Officer Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 825

Here is another one. lol. I have no idea if it is true.

Kerry woos vets on campaign trail.(News)

The Boston Herald; 7/29/2002; Miga, Andrew

Kerry used a California Democratic Convention speech earlier this year to recall the night he returned to America after serving in Vietnam - the same night in Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968.

"I was on my ship returning to Long Beach from the Gulf of Tonkin," he said. "On the first crackling of the radio we picked up the end of the Robert Kennedy victory speech - the shots fired in the kitchen - the chaos.

"It was strange, I will tell you, leaving a place of violence to return home to violence."