SwiftVets.com

[USAF66-70]

Swift boat interview Robert Novak August 27, 2004

NEW YORK -- Retired Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr. said Thursday in his first on-the-record interview about the Swift boat veterans dispute that "I was absolutely in the skimmer" in the early morning on Dec. 2, 1968, when Lt. (j.g.) John Kerry was involved in an incident which led to his first Purple Heart.

"Kerry nicked himself with a M-79 (grenade launcher)," Schachte said in a telephone interview from his home in Charleston, S.C. He said, "Kerry requested a Purple Heart."

Schachte, who also was then a lieutenant junior grade, said he was in command of the small Boston whaler or skimmer, with Kerry aboard in his first combat mission in the Vietnam War. The third crew member was an enlisted man whose name Schachte did not remember.

Two enlisted men who appeared at the podium with Sen. Kerry at the Democratic National Convention in Boston have asserted that they were alone in the small boat with Kerry, with no other officer present. Schachte said it "was not possible" for Kerry to have gone out alone so soon after joining the Swift boat command in late November of 1968.

Kerry supporters say that no critics of the Democratic presidential candidate ever were aboard a boat with him in combat. Washington lawyer Lanny Davis has contended that Schachte was not aboard the Boston whaler, and the statement in "Unfit for Command" that he was aboard undermines that critical book's credibility.

Schachte until now has refused to speak out publicly on this question and agreed to give only two interviews. One was a television interview with Lisa Myers of NBC News. The second was a print interview with me.

Schachte described the use of the skimmer operating very close to shore as a technique that he personally designed to flush enemy forces on the banks of Mekong River so that the larger Swift boats could move in. At about 3 a.m. on Dec. 2, Schachte said, the skimmer -- code-named "Batman" -- fired a hand-held flare. He said that after Kerry's M-16 rifle jammed, the new officer picked up the M-79 and "I heard a 'thunk.' There was no fire from the enemy," he said.

Patrick Runyon and William Zaladonis are the two enlisted men who said they were aboard the skimmer and did not know Schachte. However, two other former officers interviewed Thursday confirmed that Schachte was the originator of the technique and always was aboard the Boston whaler for these missions.

Grant Hibbard, who as a lieutenant commander was Schachte's superior officer, confirmed that Schachte always went on these skimmer missions and "I don't think he (Kerry) was alone" on his first assignment. Hibbard said he had told Kerry to "forget it" when he asked for a Purple Heart.

Ted Peck, another Swift boat commander, said, "I remember Bill (Schachte) telling me it didn't happen" -- that is, Kerry getting an enemy-inflicted wound. He said it would be "impossible" for Kerry to have been in the skimmer without Schachte.

"I was astonished by Kerry's version" (in his book, "Tour of Duty") of what happened Dec. 2, Schachte said Thursday. When asked to support the Kerry critics in the Swift boat controversy, Schachte said, "I didn't want to get involved." But he said he gradually began to change his mind when he saw his own involvement and credibility challenged, starting with Lanny Davis on CNN's "Crossfire" Aug. 12.

The next time he saw Kerry after the first Purple Heart incident, Schachte said, was "about 20 years" later on the U.S. Senate subway in the basement of the Russell Senate Office Building. "I called, 'Hey, John.' He replied, 'Batman.' I was absolutely amazed by his memory." He said they "talked about having lunch" but never did.

Schachte said he has never been contacted by or talked to anybody in the Bush-Cheney campaign or any Republican organization. He said he is a political independent who has voted for candidates of both parties.

[ccwebb]

actual article here:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20040827.shtml

[producehawk]

Next add? THe swiftys need to force a major press Q&A session so these issues can be vetted fully.

[Steve Z]

This article also appeared in the New York Post this morning.

This could be really big--someone corroborating SBVT's version that the first Purple Heart was self-inflicted with no enemy fire (undeserved), and that Hibbard had said "Forget it" when Kerry wanted the Purple Heart.

Since the other two witnesses are pro-Kerry, Schachte is a very important witness for SBVT.

Where do we go with this?
_________________
The traitor will crater!

[baldeagl]

This is astounding news.

[xcorpsman-usn]

Schachte said:
"I was astonished by Kerry's version" (in his book, "Tour of Duty") of what happened Dec. 2, Schachte said Thursday. When asked to support the Kerry critics in the Swift boat controversy, Schachte said, "I didn't want to get involved." But he said he gradually began to change his mind when he saw his own involvement and credibility challenged, starting with Lanny Davis on CNN's "Crossfire" Aug. 12.

This could be dynomite time the slime merchants like davis gets thiers.
_________________
US Navy Corpsman (HM2) 1958 to 1966
"vericity is the heart of morality"
(Thomas H. Huxley)

[integritycounts]

looks like story is posted on Drudge now.....he links to Chicago Sun Times version http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-nws-novak27.html I think it will be picked up elsewhere too..... I would like to see a link to the NBC interview

[ASPB]

[jfnk]

I'd be a little mad if a liar like Lanny Davis representing another liar JFK called me a liar. I cannot stand Lanny Davis. I have to change the channel when he is talking.

[Chuck54]

[rbshirley]

[one more captins mast]

For those of you who think the MSM has any "worth " at all

I have been sending them e-mail and Fedx letters from

Feb. to this date, giving them "exact" info on "things"

and advising them of the risk of going down the road they

are on. They "chose" this road long ago it seems and they

or the ones who pay them "want " it this way.

Some have responded like this: " Your e-mail is mystifying to us

can you make your letter more readable ect."

The e-mails include referance to what may be a steep fall

for them, "they will not stop defending his lies, they are willing

to go down with his ship."


The board of directors of GE have a well written one

regarding the products they sell, (being just like those of other

electrical ect co's ) and they run the risk of haveing this

sub. of their co. NBC causing the "customers" to no longer

TRUST THEM OR THEIR PRODUCTS AS BEFORE


the almost "broke" newspapers will soon be just "green sheets"

and the little bugs , oops "plants" like the one from the

Boston Glob are ready to live on their ill gotten gains so

a loss here , they think they can stand, as they will be watching

from Paris etal anyway.
_________________
the strange mr aj

[Navy_Navy_Navy]