SwiftVets.com

[spectrout]

From worldnetdaily: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40272


MISSION: IMPLAUSIBLE
Kerry medal complaint reaches Navy secretary
Probe request comes as ex-chief Lehman calls Silver Star citation 'complete mystery'

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Posted: September 2, 2004
1:25 p.m. Eastern



By Art Moore



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© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
The Department of Defense says it has informed Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England of a formal request to investigate alleged military code violations in Sen. John Kerry's Silver Star award.

The request was made by the public interest group Judicial Watch after news reports revealed Kerry's campaign website displays a document listing a "Silver Star with combat 'V'" even though the combat "V" device is never given with the nation's third highest award for heroism.


Also, there are three citations for the award, with the third, issued more than a decade after the event, bearing the signature of former Navy Secretary John Lehman.

Lehman, however, says he had nothing to do with the citation.

"It is a total mystery to me," he told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me."

Judicial Watch's director of investigations and research, Chris Farrell, told WorldNetDaily he spoke this afternoon with a Navy inspector who said the complaint is on his desk.

The inspector, according to Farrell, said he is awaiting instructions from "someone with a much higher pay grade."

Jerome Corsi, author of "Unfit for Command," the New York Times No. 1 best-seller by Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, told WorldNetDaily he considers the Judicial Watch complaint "an important and serious investigation."

"We believe the secretary of the Navy will validate the charges we've made in 'Unfit for Command,'" he said.

In a letter responding to Judicial Watch's complaint, the inspector general of the Defense Department, John R. Crane, cited Section 8(d) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, which states "the IG of the Department of Defense shall expeditiously report suspected or alleged violations of chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice), to the Secretary of the military department concerned or the Secretary of Defense."

The letter says, "We have informed the secretary of the Navy of the allegations."

Judicial Watch filed the complaint Aug. 18 and then, Aug. 31, called on Kerry to remove the Silver Star citation from his campaign website pending a review of the U.S. Navy's granting of the award.

"We hope that this is the beginning of the actual investigation into the legitimacy of Kerry's awards," Farrell told WND.

"Any investigation that finally uncovers the facts and lays out the ground-level truth of the story behind these medals is good for the American public," he said. "We just need the unvarnished truth to come out."

Gary Comerford, spokesman for the Defense Department's inspector general, told WND the inspector general has simply processed the complaint.

"We get a lot of complaints," he said. "When they come in, we look at each one and forward it to where the information is."

But Farrell, a former Army officer, says he sees the speed of the response as an indication that the investigation has a chance to go forward.

"My experience has been that normally there is a tendency with a large military bureaucracy for these things to languish or for there to not be a tremendous sense of urgency," he said.

He noted that in the course of Judicial Watch's many investigations, requests often have taken years to generate a response.

"The fact that they are reacting in a relatively quick way, we find very encouraging," he said.

Navy spokesman Lt. Ohene Gyapong told WND he could not comment immediately and would call back later.

[Snipe]

So where's Hackworth on this?
_________________
Tin Can Sailor

[Stevie]

Hackworth is choking somewhere....

I used to really like him.... but he's been bad on this....

investigation prompted by judicial watch article in Washington post (?) several days ago....

[CandiM]

[Polaris]

CandiM,

It was listed on Kerry's site on his DD214. I would not be at all suprised if that document were "no longer available".
_________________
-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[DenisC]

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14937
_________________
DenisC
173rd Airborne, RVN '65-67'

[spectrout]

found the information below by first by linking to http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_3806.shtml then linking to http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/military_records.html. The second site has the following: (I downloaded the first item Military Service Awards and Acrobat Reader gave me a message box which in effect said file encrypted unable to read. Someone else might try this and see what happens)

John Kerry's Official Naval Records

· Military Service Awards [pdf: 1.3MB]This file contains documents on the awarding of John Kerry's military service awards: 3 Purple Hearts, 1 Bronze Star, and 1 Silver Star.

Acceptance of Discharge Naval Reserve [pdf: 101kb]

· Background Information [pdf: 354kb]

· Bronze Star [pdf: 301kb]

· Bronze Star Recommendation [pdf: 405kb]

· Bupers Orders To Gridley [pdf: 109kb]

· Change of Duty [pdf: 507kb]

· DD214 [pdf: 361kb]

· DD215 (correction to DD214) [pdf: 113kb]

· Duty Recommendation [pdf: 163kb]

· Emergency Data [pdf: 1.22MB]

· Enlistment Contract [pdf: 217kb]

· Enlistment Photo [pdf: 223kb]

· Fitness Reports [pdf: 4.68MB]

· Honorable Discharge From Reserve [pdf: 111kb]

· Leave Record [pdf: 319kb]

· National Defense Service Medal [pdf: 97.6kb]

· Naval Messages [pdf: 470kb]

· Naval OCS Report [pdf: 108kb]

· Nuclear Weapons Training Certificate [pdf: 340kb]

[quote]Can someone else give me a link to this?

[JROTC]

Here's the PDF of his DD214 from his site

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/DD214.pdf
_________________
"It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it" - General Douglas MacArthur

[bergstrom79]

Hackworth?? Hack sez the Navy is "a republican operative".

That's his lie, and he's sticking to it.

[spectrout]

Would someone grant me a small favor by logging on to http://www.johnkerry.com/ (you'll have to supply an e-mail address which I don't think has to be valid) and attempt to open Military Service Awards [pdf: 1.3MB]This file contains documents on the awarding of John Kerry's military service awards: 3 Purple Hearts, 1 Bronze Star, and 1 Silver Star. The page with the military service records is http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/military_records.html

I attempted to open the file but my acrobat reader tells me the file is encrypted, however I sucessfully opened other files on that page. I makes no sense that they would list a file and then not make it available.
I don't know if I have a glitch or not.

Thanks - spectrout

[jstoc]

I accessed the records files from the Kerry site with no problem, and certainly didn't have to enter an email address. Try again. Good luck.
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Veritas

[You GottaBeKidding]

spectrout,

Check your private messages. I have the file.

[Tom Poole]

I just opened it again without any problems. However, as I recall, some of these PDFs require Adobe Reader v.6. Try downloading a newer version and I'll bet your problem is solved.
_________________
'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2

[JROTC]

Also, FYI - when it asks you for your E-mail address, look below and you'll see a button that allows you to "skip and enter" - no comment about the wording.
_________________
"It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it" - General Douglas MacArthur

[noMOass]

someone earlier asked, "Where is Hackworth on this"?

The truth about this whole medal debaucle is ALOT of people exiting the military with medals have attached to them a writeup that is exaggerated.

Everybody wants to be a hero. That doesnt mean that some arent. But as a veteran myself, I can honestly say that people have and are receiving medal packages for office work and useless crap like that. Just for doing their jobs. That is the same for John Kerry and pulling a fellow G.I. back into the boat. That is just something that you would do. Part of the job. It makes about as much sense to give a man a medal for telling fellow soldiers to "GET DOWN" when the enemy is shooting at them. One could argue that his command to "GET DOWN" saved the lives of many during enemy fire. RIDICULOUS.