Gainesville FL: In visit to area, vet says Kerry earned medals

[ima_sinnic]

Aug. 19 2004, 6:01 AM
By DEBORAH BALL
Special to The Sun

(sorry, I don't know what's wrong but I can't get a menu with "save image as" to get this picture)
DAVID MASSEY/The Gainesville Sun
Veteran Del Sandusky gives a first-hand account of the firefight that earned John Kerry a medal during the forum sponsored Wednesday by All Veterans for Kerry at the Unified Training Center in Gainesville.
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If there was one man who could be trusted with saving lives, Sen. John Kerry was that man, Vietnam veteran Del Sandusky said Wednesday night in Gainesville.

"He would never leave anybody behind," Sandusky said.

As he recounted their days patrolling the waters of the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, Sandusky, who served as Kerry's crew chief on a swift boat, said Kerry deserved the war medals he won.

Other veterans have claimed that Kerry lied about combat conditions when he won his first Purple Heart.

But Sandusky said those veterans have created a "smear campaign."

"Some of them have stretched truths to the point that they're bald-face lies," Sandusky said. "None of those men served on the same boat Kerry was on - but I did."

More than 200 people packed the Unified Training Center in Gainesville to hear about Sandusky's Vietnam experience with Kerry.

But not everyone was a Kerry supporter. . . .

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004208190351