SwiftVets.com

[Beatrice1000]

On April 23, 1971, veterans tossed their medals at the Whitehouse in a week long protest organized by Kerry and the VVAW called: Operation Dewey Canyon III. It is bothersome that Kerry currently has his medals in a showcase in his office and when asked about that event has stated that he “didn’t have time to go home to NY to get them” for the big medal toss. In reading some unclassified FBI files (at wintersoldier.com), I have found some items that indicate that Kerry knew as far back as March 1, 1971 that the plan was to “return medals” (that’s almost two month’s time in which to pin your medals on for the big event). In fact, the idea of turning in medals was discussed before the Winter Soldier Investigation in January, 1971.....

I have only read some of the FBI documents and do not claim the following to be a definitive study on this matter. This is just the info that I had time to find, a sketch so to speak, and I’m passing it on to all of you so that you can make up your own minds about what Kerry’s participation was in this regard or to do more research if you are interested. Did he forget his medals? Did he not have time to get them? Did he want to keep them for a later time when he might need them? Did it bother him at all that other people actually threw their medals and he didn’t? (Note that whenever he is interviewed, he lists his medals).... Here’s the info:

FBI Report dated 1/25/71 (S2, p. 19): Doc. with VVAW letterhead dated 1/16/71, address 156 5th Avenue, NY, indicates list of things to bring with to Winter Soldier Investigation - one of the items is: “A number of vets have expressed a desire to have a news conference in order to turn in their ribbons and medals. If you have a desire to participate, please bring them with you.”

FBI Report dated 4/12/71 (S2, p. 218-219): “On April 8, 1971, a confidential source...furnished a five-page document under the letterhead of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), 156 5th Avenue, New York, New York, entitled, “V.V.A.W. Newsletter ’71 #1” dated March, 1971, concerning the demonstrations in Washington, D.C. during April, 1971.... A copy of this document follows:” (extract):..“Dewey Canyon III.....No air cover will be provided,....so bring own ponchos, sleeping bags, canteens, old uniforms and medals ....Other vets, GIs, national guard....and friends of vets and GIs are invited as well. Come prepared for April monsoon weather. Medals will formally be returned, in a body bag, to Congress.”....

FBI Report dated 3/12/71 (S2, p.141): On March 1, 1971, a ..source...provided a schedule..... “On 4/23/71, veterans will return their medals, perhaps symbolically, to Congress.”...

FBI Report dated 3/17/71 (S1,SubA,p.124) - copy of newspaper article: Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Ark.: “Veterans Plan 5-day Capital Camp-in; General Shoup Backs Antiwar Plan”: “John F. Kerry, a former Navy lieutenant who won a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts for wounds in Vietnam, said 5,000 veterans were expected to march on the Capitol, where many would return their combat decorations.”

FBI Report dated 3/17/71 (S1,SubA,p.120) - copy of newspaper article: The Washington Post Times Herald: “Protest Planned Near Capitol,” by William L. Claiborne: ...“retired Navy Lt. John F. Kerry a member of the Viet Nam Veterans executive committee said that on (unreadable) would address a joint session of Congress at which veterans would turn in medals as a symbolic rejection of their service in the Indochina (unreadable) ... former Navy “swift boat” skipper who said he won a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Heart medals in Vietnam, said the demonstration will begin April 19 with a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery followed by a mass march to the Capitol.”

FBI Report dated 4/5/71 (S2,p.172-178): “The March 17, 1971 issue of “The Washington Post”, a WDC newspaper, reported that the VVAW held a press conference on March 16, 1971 in the Cannon House Office Building, WDC.” (this refers to above article, noting that it was a press conference, which was unreadable on the copy). The article described a Retired Navy Lieutenant, John F. Kerry, as a member of the VVAW Executive Committee....during the VVAW press conference,.. Jack Mallory introduced the following persons, in addition to Lieutenant Kerry, [redacted] Massachusetts, and General Shoup, who support the VVAW: ...the source also advised that Mike Phelan, WDC, VVAW Coordinator, and Al Hubbard, VVAW Exec. Sec’y., NY, NY, were also present.”
--“The March 26, 1971 issue of “The Evening Star” contained an article relating to the VVAW April demonstration and reported ‘The dissenting veterans are pledged to non-violence during their peaceful incursion.’ The article described John Kerry as a Vietnam veteran who, in five months as a Navy Lieutenant, won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts all of which he intends to hand back to Congress on April 23. The article stated that Kerry is the son of a former State Dept. official and a graduate of St. Paul’s School and Yale, where he was class orator in 1966. The article also reported that Kerry was granted release from the Navy to run for Congress in his home district in MA, but withdrew in favor of Father Robert Drinan.
--“On March 27, 1971 ...according to the source, the VVAW in WDC, has adopted a flag which the source described as having a yellow background with three red stripes. Superimposed is a blue snake and the slogan, “Don’t tread on me.” .... “Further, as a means of arousing the attention of the news media, it was proposed that a group of amputees from Walter Reed Army Hospital chain themselves to the iron fence outside the White House; date and time yet to be announced.
--“On 3/29/71, ..a source...advised that the VVAW has filed a “Notice of Proposed Demonstration”. (signed by Michael Phelan as local VVAW Coordinator & witnessed by John K. Mallory, 1029 Vermont Avenue, WDC) with the Nat’l. Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, WDC. The individual sponsors of the VVAW were listed as Michael Phelan, Jack Mallory, and John Kerry, and the nature of the VVAW was given as an incorporated, non-profit, organization at 156 5th Avenue, NY, NY. The principal nat’l. officer of the VVAW was listed as Al Hubbard, Exec. Sec’y. In its notice, the VVAW listed ...Al Hubbard and John Kerry as the persons in charge of the demonstration, and they provided an address of 156 5th Avenue, NYC. (note this is the address on other items/flyers). ...
--“The following proposed schedule was filed with the “Notice of Proposed Demonstration”: ....On 4/23/71 at 10:00 a.m. all participants will proceed from the campsite and arrive at the Capitol at 11:00 a.m. While gathered on the Capitol steps, veterans will return their medals symbolically to the American people. The medals will be gathered into a “body bag” carried west on Pennsylvania to the White House, and returned to the President.”

FBI Report dated 3/31/71 (S2,p.152-153): On March 30, 1971, a ..source..furnished a document published by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc., (VVAW) relating to...and a complete schedule of activities in relation to their planned demonstration in Washington, D.C.... The documents lists a national VVAW office at 156 5th Ave., NY, NY, and a New England office at 65A Winthrop St., Cambridge, MA. Copies of this document...are attached hereto.: VVAW-MASS PAX Office...Cambridge, MA...(extract from schedule): “Fri. April 23 - Symbolic Joint Session of Congress, Turning-in of medals, Pullout from encampment....” ... “***Suggested equipment to bring: ...Utilities or fatigues, Medals to turn in, dry socks.”

FBI Report dated 4/15/71 (S2, p. 185): “An article appearing in the Columbia Missouri Daily Tribune, dated 4/13/71, .... stated that during the rally in Washington, the veterans plan to return their Vietnam war medals in a body bag and march in uniform from Arlington Cemetery to Congress.”

FBI Report dated 4/15/71 (S2, p. 263): “Camil recently visited the Miami area to organize a group of Vietnam vets to participate in the April demonstration by this Group in Washington.... Highlights of the demonstrations will be the public return of all medals earned in the Vietnam conflict, effected by throwing them on the Whitehouse lawn or other conspicuous localities.”

FBI Report dated 4/16/71 (S2, P.240-241): “..on 4/15/71, a copy of leaflet distributed by VVAW in NYC on that date. Leaflet captioned, “Vietnam Veterans March on D.C.”, announces that demonstrations code-named “Dewey Canyon III,” will begin on April 19th, next in WDC.... That activities will include formal and informal meetings with congressmen... also medals and awards will be returned in a formal ceremony to the Congress in KIA body bags.”

(women tossed medals, too....)
FBI File 4/22/71 (or 4/23/71) (S1,SubA,p.91): ..copy of newspaper article: The Evening Star (Washington): “Women in the March Dedicated,” by Mary Anne Dolan: “...Mrs. __ was five months pregnant when her husband was killed...her 2-1/2 yr old son...will have the medals her husband won...” “One of the women who will be giving up medals today --seven of them--is a Gold Star mother...”
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THREE ITEMS AFTER THE EVENT DISCUSSING THE MEDAL TOSS AND/OR JOHN KERRY:

An extract from an article a month later: Human Events -5/22/71: “Kerry’s Credibility Gap”-
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=2979

“...Kerry has become one of the hottest young political prospects on the anti-war scene. His oratorical flair, good looks and Kennedyesque manners have marked him as a man to keep an eye on. Indeed, he is already considering running for public office in Massachusetts, according to word passed to friends by his wife, the former Julia Stimson Thorne, daughter of a socially prominent Long Island family. Kerry is not so uptight about Viet Nam as to be militant or radical. He calls himself "an angry young man," but he neither tossed his medals over the Capitol fence nor stayed around for the recent disruptive demonstrations. On May 1, Saturday night, when the big Capitol demonstrations of 200,000 dwindled to a folk-rock concert at the Washington Monument, Kerry chose another scene. Clad in guerrilla togs, he attended a posh black-tie dinner party at the Federal City Club put on by the "Five-ers," a quintet of Washington's top socialites. One of them was Mrs. Robert Charles, better known as Oatsie Leiter, at whose home the Kerrys stayed during the Viet Nam Veterans' encampment on the Mall.”
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FBI File dated 6/6/71 (S1,SubA,p.77): copy of newspaper article: The Sunday Star (Washington): “The Last Patrol,” by Glenn A. McCurdy: “....The next day, at noon, they publicly disowned all the military honors their country had ever given them... a veteran of WWII played taps, and a single line of men tossed military decorations over a crowd-control barrier and onto the steps of the Capitol. This was Dewey Canyon III’s final shot, and even the men in wheelchairs were in line. This was something everyone could understand. Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, campaign ribbons; they littered the steps and bounced off the statue of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. ‘It was a way of reaching the type of person who believes in things like medals,’ said Minnesota artillery gunner __. ‘We threw that stuff away like so much trash in order to convince people there is something wrong with this war. When you get a Purple Heart, it means you bled for something and when you turn that in, they don’t understand’...”
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A personal recall of that day by Christopher Gregory, Interviewed 3/14/95 by Lexington Oral History Projects, Inc. (pp. 24-25) (4/23/71): “... but we were going to take the medals originally. We had to collect all of the medals and put them in a body bag, and deliver them to the floor of Congress. But that got iced. This was too dramatic for them, or something. Somehow, that fell through. So they put up a fence. We were going to do it right in front of the Capitol building, but they put up a fence in front of the Capitol building. They put up a high fence, a wire fence in front of us. So we decided they’re not going to deter us. ....These guys, we lined up. People started to throw their medals away. It was very, very powerful for these guys, because these medals had been presented.
They represented the pain, the suffering, the reward that they were supposed to have, and to say it’s false, to say it’s hollow in this public vehement way. Everybody was in tears. They went up and threw the medals away from one place. They were all ...every one of them...It was very affecting. A lot of wives, widows threw their stuff. It was very profound....
The wives, the mothers, and sisters. It was harder for them really. ... A mother came with a Congressional Medal of Honor who just stood there and held it and couldn’t really, didn’t want to pitch it over the fence. Didn’t want to heave it. Didn’t want to, you know...felt it was somebody else’s memory connected to the past. Very sad, you know? Very sad. But it was such a rough and tumble thing. It was quite dramatic. ...The women were really very much peripheral to this event... I personally made no real connection with any of these women.”
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NOTE: A day before the medal toss, on 4/22/71, Kerry gave his testimony to the Senate condemning our military and our country of purposefully committing war crimes, and etc. As he sat down he said: “I would like to say for the record, and also for the men behind me who are also wearing the uniforms and their medals....” But he had plans for the next day for all those friends around him to throw away the medals that they were wearing -- but he wasn’t wearing his medals, he was wearing his “ribbons” - a symbolic representation of the medals he had left at home (or “forgot” at home?). Newspaper accounts mentioned vets wandering around the Capitol mall with medals dangling from their clothes... Kerry had arranged the demonstration -- he had almost two months to be sure he had his medals with for the big event, but he didn’t:

Some of his memories of the medal toss event:

1971: "I gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine medals," Kerry said in an interview on a Washington, D.C., news program on WRC-TV called Viewpoints on Nov. 6, 1971, according to a tape obtained by ABCNEWS. Kerry was asked if he gave back the Bronze Star, Silver Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for combat duty as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam. "Well, and above that, (I) gave back the others," he said.

1996: Kerry said while he did throw out his ribbons, he didn't throw out his own medals because he "didn't have time to go home (to New York) and get them," he told The Boston Globe.

April 2004: Kerry's most recent claims on the disputed subject: "I never ever implied that I did it, " Kerry told the Los Angeles Times, responding to the question of whether he threw away his medals in protest.
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Comment: This event, which Kerry is dismissive about today because I think he doesn’t want people to look at it -- an event that he orchestrated, in which I think he used veterans to make a dramatic point by making personal sacrifices in parting with their medals, in which he participated in carefully and only theoretically (not even coming up to the microphone and saying his name or throwing those medals he had dramatically said he would), not personally giving up anything-- speaks directly to the character of this man who is willing to do anything and say anything for what I think is personal, political gain. In my opinion, this is a man of shame and deceit who has no business running for the presidency of this great country.

[army72]

Nice work on this story. While it might prove difficult to PIN this on him (pun intended), I have no doubt that he had high ambitions thus had plans for those medals. He could have bought new medals and even had the combat 'v' added for coolness thinking nobody would ever challenge him or his stories.

Do I think that he would do anything to gain political advantage? Absolutely!
Do I think he would stoop so low as to denigrate the very people he now says are his 'Band of Brothers'? I could choke answering that one!
Do I think he betrayed the men that he served with? Absolutely!
Do I think that he betrayed his country by meeting with the enemy on more than one occasion? Absolutely!
Do I think he would do so again if it meant gaining favor from the likes of France? Absolutely.. he would sell those men out in a heartbeat to get in office and the fact that he claims 'wrong war.....bs...bs...bs' that he has to know undercuts their efforts is proof of that.
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Hillary and Kerry in '08? Something smells!!

[Beatrice1000]

[MrJapan]

Good find! Keep up the good work, and let's hope that it all works out... I am starting to get a little sacred that we might get a sKerry Pres... I pray that is not so..
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