SwiftVets.com

cm

Hello, I apologize if this has been posted before. I tried a search to find any prior posting, but didn’t find anything under my searches.

There has been a video file where kerry was interviewed in 1971. In it, I feel that kerry is asked if there has been any questions about him having a dishonorable discharge, and in the response, he doesn’t deny that he had one occur.

The following is an interview conducted in Nov 1971, on the TV program Viewpoints, at the TV studios of WRC-TV, Washington, DC. Go to the url here on c-span, click on the blue box which says: A November 6, 1971 interview with John Kerry on protesting the war in Vietnam. (10 min.) or click on this link here.

The site may be slow loading, and I did have to upgrade my real player to play this clip if you have trouble

A real media file will play, when it plays listen closely to the section that starts around 2 minutes 50 secs.

Key conversation is Debbie: Was there every any question about you being dishonourably discharged? Kerry: oh no, no, that has never been questioned.

In looking at this interview, remember that the interviewer is a professional. She would be careful of the tenses used in her wording. The last question was awkwardly phrased, as some people can say that it could be intrepreted as either 1) a dishonorable discharged had occurred, and D: was asking if there had been any questions about it, or 2) had there been raised any questions about a dishonorable discharge occurring

My impression is that it seems to be asking if there was any question about him being (in the state of) dishonorably discharged, and that kerry responds in a way that he is avoiding the question. Kerry appears to give a response “that (the dishonorable discharge} has never been questioned” – there has been no questions about him being dishonorably discharged, If he was not dishonorably discharged, he would have responded along the lines of “a dishonorable discharge didn’t occur/was never considered/etc”. in fact, it appears that kerry was surprised by the question, and tried to brush it off.

If you haven’t seen this video, this is the video where he also is asked about throwing his medals over the fence, and he doesn’t know how many medals he had. Surprisingly, when the interviewer says, “well, you were awarded the bronze star, a silver star, and two purple hearts”, he doesn’t correct that statement, which may lead credance to the idea that there may be something wrong about one of the purple hearts.

sorry if this has been noted before

BuffaloJack · Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 11:52 pm Post subject:

I listened real close. I see what you mean. It is difficult to hear and a little imagination can make it sound the way we want it to. Darn, I think I've contaminated my mind. I wish I hadn't known what to listen for. It would have been better if I just had the time stamp. I can't be impartial now.
Someone else listen and comment please.
I would have been better if Kerry didn't have that thicker than molassas Boston accent. It's difficult to interpret.
Thanks,
Jack

Tom Poole · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 12:32 am Post subject:

Rdtf · CNO Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 2209 Location: BUSHville

welcome cm and thanks for posting that! Might be just the back-up the MSM need to get off their tails and report this.

carpro · Admin Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 1176 Location: Texas

I can't seem to get any sound at all. Any hints?
_________________
"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

cm · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 12:45 am Post subject:

i originally found this when i was looking for background when the swift vets were first starting to state their claim against kerry. At that time, i investigated the documents on kerry's site, but couldn't figure out what the dates meant, until Mr. Lipscombs story.

I, too, didn't know which way to go on it, but you have to think, the interviewer would have had a list of questions, so the questions should be phrased succinctly. My arguements are that "being dishonorably discharged"
is a condition that has already been decided, much as "i am being fired".

i read the sentence as "did anyone ask/say anything about" you being (in the state/conditon of)dishonorably discharged.

try some various grammatical sentence, and see what i mean. The question should have been phrased differently if it was asking if a dishonorable discharge was a consideration.

neverforget · Vice Admiral Joined: 18 Jul 2004 Posts: 875

I can't get it to come up.
_________________
US Army Security Agency
1965-1971

BuffaloJack · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 3:13 am Post subject:

I went back for another listen.
It looks like the link is bad, missing or something.
It worked earlier today.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

cm · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:33 am Post subject:

10/31/04 edited -

please note there has been a correction in the transcription. in the line
"B: well, you were awarded the Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts", the number of purple hearts received by kerry was initially transcribed as two. the corrected number is three.

i think that c-span gets overloaded, then won't stream the video properly.

Here is the interview up to the comment in question.
What I thought was a debbie, thus the D for the interviewer, is actually betty.

Interview: as accurate as I could transcribe it

B: you’re looking at a picture of a veteran who is throwing his medals away, this is one of the photographs included in a new book by our guest, john kerry, former lieutenant. The book is called the new soldier, vietnam veterans against the war by john kerry, and david thorn and george butler. Could you explain this picture to me?
K: well, that, betty, is a picture of one of the, uh, many veterans who came to Washington last april, and decided that the last resort they had to try and wake the country up and try to tell it what was happening in vietnam as well as tell what was happening back home to men who are veterans, was to renounce the symbols, of, of of of the renounce the symbols which this country gives which supposedly reinforces all of the things which they had done, which is the medals themselves, and so they decided to give them back to their country, uhm
B: how many did you give back, john?
K: I gave back, I can’t remember, 6, 7, 8, 9
B: well, you were awarded the Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts.
K: well, above that, I gave back nine others
B: do you think it did any good?
K: I think it did, yes, I think it did. Alot of people are shocked by it, a lot of people feel that it was the wrong thing to do, in terms of showing respect to their friends(?) and everything, but, it basically, it reached the country in terms the country hasn’t been reached, in terms of telling them, that veterans who came back, were against the war, but they were not all they were made up to be, that is the vice president, president said, they didn’t consider themselves to be the best men of America, they didn’t like what they had done. And they didn’t like what was being done in America’s name. And it was terribly important that america come to understand, that, that there, there were these men, who were a part of the, so called establishment, or structure, who were also against the war, and as such, I think it is a very important stepping off point, for bringing alot of other people to the level of disgust that they felt inside of them, but they didn’t know how to say.
B: has anyone called you a hypocrite because one wonders, when you, as a lieutenant in the navy, serving in Vietnam, when you had a moment of truth?
K: (laugh) I’ve been called a lot worse than a hypocrite, uh, I, uh, should have had, course I have, (mutter) and they do call me worse things, but not, but there’s a lot of other reasons. But, as far as, as when I learned, uh, we just all come into our consciousness at a different stage, and I unfortunately, was one of those, I mean I joined the navy in 1965, uh, before the first draft cards had been burned, and uh, my consciousness just didn’t really come around full scale until I got to vietnam. But, once it did, uh, there was a consistent effort, on the part of myself, and the other people that were opposed to it, to oppose it, right there in vietnam, and to, continually raise it as a point of discussion with our commanders, and to fight it, and to fight the policies (mutter) from there, till we came back and got out.

B: Was there every any question about you being dishonorably discharged?
K: oh no, no, that is never been questioned.

Goes on to talk about how the only thing that the soldiers learned was how to kill, talks about soldiers returning addicted to drugs, in and out of trouble.

Citizen for Truth · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:47 am Post subject:

Link is working fine here. I've been sending out to everyone I can think of. Thanks for posting it.

miltonsket · Seaman Recruit Joined: 23 Aug 2004 Posts: 20

Would he have been discharged in 1971? He just seems shocked at the question to me. Like what - no one has said that.

mangdawg · Lt.Jg. Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 116

bullzeye66 · Seaman Recruit Joined: 29 Oct 2004 Posts: 1

The video is not working... did someone save it to their hd? If so, is it possible that someone may have it on an ftp server?
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AMERICA... Land of the Free, 'because' of the Brave!

BuffaloJack · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 12:10 pm Post subject:

No video but a short audio byte is here of just the 2 sentence exchange.
http://img87.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img87&image=dishonorabedischarge.swf ...

reasonable · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 12:11 pm Post subject:

In the same interview, Kerry claimed he "gave back" as many as NINE of his own medals.

---------------------------------------

Q: How many did you give back, John?

A: I gave back, I can't remember - 6, 7, 8, 9 medals)...

Q: Well, you were awarded a bronze silver star, a silver star, and 3 purple hearts.

A: Well, above that, I gave back my others.

http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/rwh032804.asp