Here's John Kerry's Silver Star Comendation......

[Jack from Charlotte]

Thought you all might find it handy today and beyond...

This is the description of the action that resulted in the award. It's read prior to the award being made....signed by Admiral Zumwalt



COMMANDER
UNITED STATES NAVAL FORCES
VIETNAM

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to:

JOHN FORBES KERRY
LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE
UNITED STATES NAVAL RESERVE

For service as set forth in the following:

CITATION

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Officer in Charge of United States Navy Patrol Craft Fast 94 and Officer in Tactical Command of an operation in the Republic of Vietnam. On 28 February 1969, Patrol Craft Fast 23, 43 and 94, in conjunction with Underwater Demolition Team 13 and Vietnamese Regional and Popular Forces personnel, conducted an operation on the Ca Mau Peninsula as part of Operations SEA LORDS. While transiting the Bay Hap River en route to an insertion point along the Dong Cung River, these craft with thirty Regional/Popular Force personnel embarked in each unit came under heavy enemy small arms fire from the river banks. The Officer in Tactical Command, Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY directed his units to turn to the beach and charge the Viet Cong positions. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY expertly directed the fire of his craft at the fleeing enemy while simultaneously coordinating the insertion of the embarked troops. While the Regional and Popular Forces conducted an area sweep, Patrol Craft Fast 43 remained on station to provide fire support and Patrol Craft Fast 23 and 94 moved upstream to investigate an area from which gunshots were coming. Arriving at the area, Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY’s craft received a B-40 rocket close aboard. Once again Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY ordered his units to charge the enemy positions and summoned Patrol Craft Fast 43 to the area to provide additional firepower. Patrol Craft Fast 94 then beached in the center of the enemy positions and an enemy solider sprang up from his position not ten feet from Patrol Craft Fast 94 and fled. Without hesitation Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind ahoochh and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY then led an assault party and conducted a sweep of the area while the Patrol Craft Fast continued to provide fire support. After the enemy had been completely routed, all personnel returned to the Patrol Craft Fast to withdraw from the area. While backing off the beach, these units again came under a hail of fire, this time from the opposite river bank. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY immediately coordinated the firepower of his units and suppressed the enemy fire. Later, after disembarking personnel and while exiting from the Bay Hap River, the Patrol Craft Fast were again taken under fire. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY immediately maneuvered his craft through several strafing runs which completely silenced the enemy. As a result of this operation, the Viet Cong were killed and one wounded with no friendly casualties. In addition, numerous sampans, structures and bunkers were destroyed as well as confiscation of substantial quantities of combat essential supplies. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY devotion to duty, courage under fire, outstanding leadership, and exemplary professionalism directly contributed to the success of this operation and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

For the President


E.R. ZUMWALT, Jr.
Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy
Commander U.S. Naval Forces, Vietnam

[Wickerman]

1. Hmmm, don't see "shot him in the back" anywhere

KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind ahoochh and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber.

[Walt Starr]

3. Chased down an armed man and killed him

Had a rocket launcher.

Some "teen ager".

[DemoTex]

7. Could have been a teenager. Hell, we had US teenagers in 'Nam.

Many, many VC were teenagers. Our guys usually didn't check IDs in a fire-fight.

[Walt Starr]

10. Yep, the average age of the U.S. combat soldier in Vietnam was 19

The Smear Boat Veterans are trying to paint it as an unarmed thirteen year old who was shot in the back.

[Jack from Charlotte]

6. Excuse me............?

If the VC was a teenager Kerry wasn't supposed to shoot him? So he was supposed to card the VC to see his age and then act?

Shot in the back, front or wherever......... It's a soldier and sailors job to kill the enemy.

Sounds like someone's been watching too many John Wayne movies.

[Wickerman]

12. some whackjob group is saying Kerry should be charged for

war crimes for shooting an unarmed teenager in the back. Not what happened here.

[displacedtexan]

2. Old Man Zumwalt would NEVER sign that unless it was copacetic.

His career was his life.

[Ivote]

5. For which president did Zumwalt sign the citation

There is no date on it

[Jack from Charlotte]

8. The action took place 28 February 1969 so.........

I would assmume Nixon was President.

Here's a pdf of the actual document.....

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/jkerry/jksilverstar.pdf

[Beausoleil]

9. The action was in '69

So it was probably Nixon. Who later had Colson hire O'Neill to smear Kerry.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Good post

Would love to see someone sneak onto a RW talk show and start reading the citation.

[Jack from Charlotte]

11. Here's a link to the Bronze Star Comendation.......

Would love someone with secretarial skills type it up like the other one so it's easier to read........

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/jkerry/jkbronzestar.pdf

[RobertSeattle]

14. Might look at the Kerry site

http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/military_records.html

[glitch]

13. you should have the snopes debunking link too - been posting it on

the silver star threads:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/service.asp

Kerry earned his Silver Star on 28 February 1969, when he beached his craft and jumped off it with an M-16 rifle in hand to chase and shoot a guerrilla who was running into position to launch a B-40 rocket at Kerry's boat. Contrary to the account quoted above, Kerry did not shoot a "Charlie" who had "fired at the boat and missed," whose "rocket launcher was empty," and who was "already dead or dying" after being "knocked down with a .50 caliber round." Kerry's boat had been hit by a rocket fired by someone else — the guerrilla in question was still armed with a live B-40 and had only been clipped in the leg; when the guerrilla got up to run, Kerry assumed he was getting into position to launch a rocket and shot him:

On Feb. 28, 1969, Kerry's boat received word that a swift boat was being ambushed. As Kerry raced to the scene, his boat became another target, as a Viet Cong B-40 rocket blast shattered a window. Kerry could have ordered his crew to hit the enemy and run. But the skipper had a more aggressive reaction in mind. Beach the boat, Kerry ordered, and the craft's bow was quickly rammed upon the shoreline. Out of the bush appeared a teenager in a loin cloth, clutching a grenade launcher.

An enemy was just feet away, holding a weapon with enough firepower to blow up the boat. Kerry's forward gunner, Belodeau, shot and clipped the Viet Cong in the leg. Then Belodeau's gun jammed, according to other crewmates (Belodeau died in 1997). Medeiros tried to fire at the Viet Cong, but he couldn't get a shot off.

...lots more.

They debunked the rw spin back in FEBRUARY 2004

[Jack from Charlotte]

17. Excellent stuf in there, vidali. Thanks. Here's a snip.......

and if anyone isn't aware, Snopes has been a longtime debunker of internet misinformation as well as information.



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.

"There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts — from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40 grenades," said George Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception."

[jtb33]

15. Is it just me...

Or does his citation for the Bronze Star seem like a more "dangerous/heroic" act than his citation for the Silver Star? It sounds like he put himself more in danger for the Bronze Star than he did for the Silver Star...

[Jack from Charlotte]

21. I don't know.........

leaving the boat and running into the shore...... (jungle?) to cap an enemy soldier who has a rocket launcher?

[Bandit]

16. I have one question and I want to make it clear I have no doubts about

Kerry and his bravery but it has been my experience that awards are written up by the officer in charge of the operation who had either personal observation of the deeds or got the report from a person of command status that witnessed the events. Enlisted men don't write officers up for citations. Who was the person who wrote Kerry up. I know who put his name to the order awarding the medal but who wrote the report? I guess it probably would be an officer from one of the other boats but can't be sure.

[Jack from Charlotte]

18. His commanding officer, George Elliot............

Go here.......

http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/service.asp

[Zorra]

19. Here's a great website listing comprehensive Kerry and AWOLboy's

service records.

http://www.awolbush.com/kerry-vs-bush.asp

[UTUSN]

20. & Here Are Shrub's Ribbons (Thanks to VetWife's Website)

[Rebellious Republican]

23. Bwahahaha, thats good UTUSN, I like it!

:toast:

[Jack from Charlotte]

25. RR, that ribbon.........

is that for the 1st Iraq war?

[Rebellious Republican]

26. Beirut "83" Naval Expeditionary Forces. That and my AC wings

are the only two out of all of them that mean anything to me!

[Jack from Charlotte]

27. Were you part of that marine contingent involved in the explosion

in Beruit? And what is ..... AC..... wings.

I'm assuming you were USMC.

[HFishbine]

22. And in that same month...

"A senior at Yale, Bush takes an Air Force officers pilot aptitude test scoring a 25, the lowest passing score."

http://www.independent-media.tv/itemprint.cfm?fmedia_id=7073&fcategory_desc=The%20Zero%20and%20The%20Hero

[Jack from Charlotte]

24. Here's a photo of AWOL showing off everthing he'd learned in school

How to deal with bubble gum........