SwiftVets.com

[drjohn]

I could not understand why Kerry's crewmates allegedly kept supporting him but having read Tour now I get it.

Kerry, Madeiros and Sandusky got Bronze Stars for 13 Mar 1969.

Thorsen and Short got Commendation Medals.

Kerry allegedly got the Bronze for plucking Rassman out of the water under fire.

Chenoweth pulled a guy out of the water too. If they were under fire, Jack should also have gotten a Bronze Star. And maybe Van O'Dell too.

Larry Thurlow, if under under fire doing what he did, should have gotten a Silver Star. He did one hell of a lot more than Kerry.

There was a plan in the works to beach the boats in an attack. this is in Brinkley's book. There was scuttlebutt that medals were discussed.

I think Kerry's crew know that if their stories fall apart, so do claims about their medals.

[Twidget]

That's an interesting point that I haven't heard before (pardon me if I'm bringing up old stuff).

Who picked up the guys out of the #3 boat, and do they all have bronze stars?

[baldeagl]

That's not all. When Kerry left Vietnam, he arranged for all of his crew to be rotated stateside as well. When Medeiros told Kerry he wanted to stay with the Swiftees, Kerry prevailed upon him to leave.

http://antimedia.blogspot.com/2004/08/more-on-kerrys-band-of-brothers.html

Kerry's early departure meant that he was leaving behind a crew that had suffered through many bloody battles with him. Worried that crew members would be killed, he arranged for them to receive a safer assignment. When one crew member, Medeiros, tried to stay, Kerry "came and talked to me and said, `I really would like you to go. ... I'd like to know you are safe, or safer.'"

I've documented all of it.
_________________
antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/

[stylin19]

Page 82 - Unfit For Command

" According to Kerry's creman, Michael Mederios, Kerry had an agreement with him to turn the boat in and onto the beach if fired upon.
Each of the three boats involved in the operation was involved in the agreement. Larry Lee, a creman and gunner, recalls the agreement as Medeiros recounts it and further recalls a prior discussion of probable medals for those participating. Bronze Stars for selected landers were contemplated and Navy commendations for others. Some cremen dispute this, but none deny that the landing had been calculated the night before."
_________________
U.S.M.C. - 1969-1971
RVN- 1970-1971

[neverforget]

[hanna]

This is from Kerry's journal. It paints a pretty clear picture of how Kerry operates.

Unofficially, Operation SEALORD was dubbed ZWI, for "Zumwalt's Wild Idea." Navy Admiral Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt was frustrated that the coastal patrols had failed to stop the infiltration of arms via the Mekong Delta waterways. Communist forces effectively controlled the river supply route because US forces weren't supposed to go into Cambodia, and the rivers of the Mekong Delta were considered too dangerous for American boats. When Zumwalt decorated an officer who took the extraordinary risk of running the rivers, Kerry took notice.Under Zumwalt's command, swift boats would aggressively engage the enemy. Zumwalt, who died in 2000, calculated in his autobiography that these men under his command had a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded during a typical year. (This wasn't just a statistical concern; one of the swift boat sailors was his son, Lieutenant Elmo Zumwalt III. )
Kerry experienced his first intense combat action on Dec. 2, 1968, when he "semi-volunteered for, was semi-drafted" for a risky covert mission in which he essentially was supposed to "flush out" the enemy, using a little Boston Whaler named "Batman." A larger backup craft was called "Robin."
Unfortunately, Robin had engine trouble, and Batman's exit was delayed until the boats could depart in unison. The Batman crew encountered some Viet Cong, engaged in a firefight, and Kerry was slightly wounded on his arm, earning his first Purple Heart on his first day of serious action.
"It was not a very serious wound at all," recalled William Schachte, who oversaw the mission and went on to become a rear admiral.
Kerry commanded his first swift boat, No. 44, from December 1968 through January 1969, a period that is often overlooked because he did not receive any medals while serving on this craft. But he first learned to skipper on the 44, and he conducted the wrenching Christmas Eve mission in which the old man in the river was probably killed in the crossfire.

[drjohn]

What I am saying is that I believe that Kerry's crew is complicit in a scheme for the awarding of medals.

Who wrote the recommendation for Thurlow?

Anyone know?

Lambert did not sign that document Corn published. Only Elliott did.