|
Enlistment, training, and tour of duty on the USS Gridley
After an application for a 12-month deferment to study in Paris
was denied, Kerry enlisted in the United States Navy on February
18, 1966. He began his military service on August 22. After completing
sixteen weeks of officer candidate training in Newport, Rhode Island,
he received his commission on December 16.
He began his military service on August 22, when he reported for
training at the Naval Officer Candidate School at the U.S. Naval
Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island for a 16-week training
program. Here Kerry and the other recruits faced grueling physical
and technical training in preparation for future officer service
in the Navy. Kerry was ordered into active duty on October 19, and
received his Navy commission on December 16.
On Christmas Day, Kerry said goodbye to his relatives as he left
for the ten-week Officer Damage Control Course at the Naval Schools
Command on Treasure Island, California, which began on January 3,
1967. On March 22, he reported to the US Fleet Anti-Air Warfare
Training Center for training as a Combat Information Center Watch
Officer.
Kerry began his first tour of duty June 8, 1967, serving as an ensign
in the electrical department on the guided missile frigate USS Gridley.
On February 9, 1968, the Gridley set sail for Western Pacific
deployment. The next day, Kerry requested duty in Vietnam, listing
as his first preference a position as the commander of a Swift boat,
designated the Patrol Craft Fast (PCF) boats. These 50-foot boats
have aluminum hulls and have little or no armor, but are heavily
armed and rely on speed. (Kerry's second choice was a to be an officer
in a patrol boat squadron, designated the Patrol Boat River [PBR]
oats.)
The Gridley traveled to several places, including Wellington
in New Zealand, Subic Bay in the Philippines, and the Gulf of Tonkin
off North Vietnam, where the ship supported aircraft carriers. The
ship had no enemy contact during this time, and departed for the
US on May 27, returned to port at Long Beach, California on June
6.
Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade; on June 20, Kerry left the Gridley
for special training at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado. After
completing Swift boat commander training on November 17, Kerry reported
for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 of Coastal Division 14 at the Cam
Ranh Bay in South Vietnam, arriving on December 1.
Kerry's tour of duty as commander of a Swift boat
During the first three and half weeks of his four month tour of
duty as a boat commander, Kerry led a Swift Boat Patrol Craft Fast-94,
patrolling the coast on Swift Boat #44 until late January 1969.
After this he served on Swift Boat #94.
The two Swift boats that Kerry successively commanded took part
in Operation SEALORD, the brainchild of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. The
goal was to project a US military presence more aggressively into
an area that had long been a Viet Cong stronghold. As part of that
plan, the Swift boats were assigned to patrol the narrow waterways
- inlets, canals, and coves - of the Mekong River delta, to monitor
enemy movements, interdict enemy river-based supply lines, invite
attack and otherwise draw out hostile forces. During this time,
Kerry led five sailors on various patrols into areas controlled
by the Viet Cong near the Cua Long River.
First Purple Heart
On the night of December 2, 1968, while Kerry and his crew were
patrolling Cam Ranh Bay, they saw people running from a boat to
a nearby shoreline, according to two crewmen who were on duty with
Kerry that day. When the Vietnamese refused to obey an order to
stop running, Kerry ordered the crew to open fire. During this encounter,
Kerry suffered a shrapnel wound in the left arm above the elbow.
The shrapnel was removed and the wound was treated with bacitracin
antibiotic and bandaged. Kerry returned to duty the next day, conducting
a regular Swift boat patrol. It was for this injury that Kerry was
awarded his first Purple Heart.
Kerry's meeting with Zumwalt and Abrams
At the time, the US military command in Vietnam had an established
a policy of "free-fire zones" - areas in which soldiers
were to shoot anyone moving around after curfew, without first making
sure that they were hostile. Such encounters could result in the
deaths of innocent civilians. Kerry has stated that he never thought
he or his crew were at fault: "There wasn't anybody in that
area that didn't know you don't move at night, that you don't go
out in a sampan on the rivers, and there's a curfew." Nevertheless,
he soon concluded that the policy should be changed. On January
22, 1969, he and several other officers had an unusual meeting in
Saigon with Zumwalt and with Army Gen. Creighton Abrams, the overall
commander of US forces in Vietnam. The officers said that the policy
was alienating the Vietnamese. In addition, Kerry (though only a
lieutenant) bluntly told Vice-Admiral Zumwalt that the Swift boats'
actions were not accomplishing their ostensible goal of interdicting
Viet Cong supply lines. The officers' concerns were dismissed with
what amounted to a pep talk, however. One of the other officers
who participated later recalled, "We all looked at each other
and thought, 'What is this crap?'"
Kerry said that the Saigon meeting left him "more depressed
than when I came." Nevertheless, he returned to his unit. In
late January, he was transferred to Swift Boat #94. This boat conducted
18 missions in the next 48 days, almost all of which were in the
Mekong Delta.
Second Purple Heart
Kerry received his second Purple Heart for action on the Bo De River
on February 28, 1969. The plan had been for the Swift boats to be
accompanied by support helicopters. On the way up the Bo De, however,
the helicopters were attacked. They returned to their base to refuel
and were unable to return to the mission for several hours. Kerry
recorded the situation in his notebook: "We therefore had a
choice: to wait for what was not a confirmed return by the helos
[and] give any snipers more time to set up an ambush for our exit
or we could take a chance and exit immediately without any cover.
We chose the latter.
As the Swift boats reached the Cua Lon, Kerry's boat was hit by
a rocket-propelled grenade round, and a piece of hot shrapnel hit
Kerry's left leg. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached
the Gulf of Thailand safely. Kerry still has shrapnel in his left
thigh because the doctors decided to removed damaged tissue and
close the wound with sutures rather than make a wide opening to
remove the shrapnel. Kerry received his second Purple Heart for
this injury, but he did not take any time off from duty.
Silver Star
Only eight days later, on February 28, another incident occurred.
This time, Kerry's boat was on a mission with three other boats
to patrol a canal off the Bay Hap River. This waterway was surrounded
by thick mangroves and was a Viet Cong stronghold. When Kerry heard
that another Swift boat had been ambushed near the Dong Cung River,
he and his crew rushed to assist them. While moving, the boat was
shot at by several Viet Cong B-40 rockets, with one hitting and
shattering the crew cabin windows. Fred Short, the crew member with
the best view, said that he saw, "out of a spider hole, a Vietcong
standing up, dressed in a loincloth, holding a B-40 rocket."
The normal procedure would have been to fire to shore and then retreat
to an off-shore position. Instead, Kerry ordered Sandusky, the second-in-command
and navigator, to take the boat ashore, directly towards the enemy's
position. As they reached the shore, a Viet Cong teenager jumped
out of the bush, carrying a grenade launcher that could have seriously
damaged the boat. With the enemy soldier only a short distance away
from the boat and crew, forward gunner Tommy Belodeau shot him in
the leg with the boat's .50 caliber M-60 machine gun. "Tommy
in the pit tank winged him in the side of the legs as he was coming
across," Short said. "But the guy didn't miss stride.
I mean, he did not break stride." According to crewmate accounts,
Belodeau's gun jammed after he fired, and while fellow crewmate
Michael Medeiros attempted to fire, he was unable to do so. Reports
indicate that it was Kerry who shot the fleeing Viet Cong soldier
as he was trying to escape with the rocket launcher.
Kerry and Medeiros searched the soldier's corpse and took the rocket
launcher, returning to the boat. Kerry's commanding officer, Capt.
George Elliott, joked that he didn't know whether to court-martial
him for beaching the boat without orders or give him a medal for
saving the crew. Admiral Zumwalt flew into An Thoi to personally
award the medal to Kerry. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions
is presented in his medal citation.
This incident has become controversial in the past two years. In
June 2003, Elliott was quoted as saying the award was "well
deserved" and that he had "no regrets or second thoughts
at all about that." (http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml)
However, Elliott apparently changed his story in August 2004, signed
an affidavit that stated "Had I known the facts, I would not
have recommended Kerry for the Silver Star for simply pursuing and
dispatching a single wounded, fleeing Viet Cong" (http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_aff.html)
- a statement made despite the fact that the killing was for the
rescue of the boat and the killing is not even mentioned in the
official citation. After this affidavit was released, Michael Kranish
of the Boston Globe quoted Elliott as having retracted his prior
statement, saying "It was a terrible mistake probably for me
to sign the affidavit with those words. I'm the one in trouble here
... I knew it was wrong ..In a hurry I signed it and faxed it back.
That was a mistake." (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/06/veteran_retracts_criticism_of_kerry/).
Elliott contends that the reporter substantially misquoted him.
In one of his very few public comments about the incident, Kerry
said, "It is a matter of record, what I did in Vietnam. And
over the months that I was in combat, yes, we know that we were
responsible for the loss of enemy lives. But that's war."
Sources close to Kerry say the incident had a profound effect on
him: "It's the reason he gets so angry when his patriotism
is challenged. It was a traumatic experience that's still with him,
and he went through it for his country." It affects the way
Kerry lives his life every day, the source said, since "he
knows he very well would not be alive today had he not taken the
life of another man [he] never ever met." (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/Politics/kerry_medal_040624-1.html)
Bronze Star and third Purple Heart
On March 13, Kerry's boat hit a mine while cruising the Bay Hap
River. Army Lt. James Rassmann, a Green Beret who was sitting on
the deck of the pilothouse eating a chocolate chip cookie, was knocked
overboard as Kerry's arm was hit. Just afterwards, the boat came
under attack from sniper fire on both sides of the bank.
Rassmann dived to the riverbottom as the Swift boats escaped. Coming
back up for air, the enemy repeatedly fired at him. Rassmann was
heading to the north bank, expecting to be taken prisoner, when
Kerry realized he was gone and came back for him. Kerry rescued
Rassmann under heavy fire, and the boat escaped to the Gulf of Siam.
Rassmann later put Kerry in for a Bronze Star, which he was later
awarded with Valor Device. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions
is presented in his medal citation:
Lt. Kerry directed his gunners to provide suppressing
fire, while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding
and in pain, with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the
man aboard. Lt. Kerry then directed his boat to return and assist
the other damaged craft and towed the boat to safety. Lt. Kerry's
calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire
were in keeping with the highest traditions of the US Naval Service.
(Wikisource)
Kerry was again wounded in this incident, for which he also received
his third Purple Heart. His injuries included several shrapnel wounds
in his left upper buttock, which were treated with antiseptic lotion
and bandaged. He also suffered bruising and contusions from hitting
the bulkhead, which was treated with warm soaking. He spent two
days out of service while recovering.
Kerry lost five friends in war, including Yale classmate Richard
Pershing, who was killed in action on February 17, 1968.
An additional account of the incidents for which Kerry was decorated
appears in Snopes. (http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/service.asp)
Return from Vietnam
On March 17, 1969, shortly after his third wound, on March 17, 1969,
Commodore Charles Horne, the commander of Kerry's coastal squadron
and a military administrator, filed a document allowing Kerry's
reassignment to the US He was entitled to this early departure from
Vietnam (subject to approval by the Bureau of Naval Personnel),
because those who had been wounded three times, "regardless
of the nature of the wound or treatment required...will not be ordered
to serve in Vietnam and contiguous waters or to duty with ships
or units which have been alerted for movement to that area."
After a final patrol, Kerry was transferred to Cam Ranh Bay for
five or six days. His tour of duty in Vietnam ended in early April.
On April 11, he reported to the Brooklyn-based Atlantic Military
Sea Transportation Service, where he would remain on active duty
for one more year as a personal aide to an officer. On January 1,
Kerry was promoted to full Lieutenant; on January 3, he requested
discharge. After having been listed as completing his service on
April 29, he officially left active duty on March 1.
In total, Kerry served on active duty for three and a half years,
from August 1966 until March 1970. He was transferred to the Naval
Reserve in 1970, and was later transferred to the Standby Reserve
in 1972, where he no longer was required to participate in Reserve
activities. He received his honorable discharge in 1978.
Criticism of military service and awards
First Purple Heart
Critics have questioned Kerry's first Purple Heart, asserting that
the injury was much too minor to merit a citation. They assert that
the only treatment Kerry received was bacitracin and a bandage,
and that he returned to service immediately.
The criteria for the Purple Heart specify citation for any injury
received in combat requiring treatment by a medical officer, even
by "friendly fire." (http://www.purpleheart.org/Awd_of_PH.htm)
An article in the Boston Globe described the circumstances in which
Purple Hearts were given to wounded soldiers in Vietnam:
'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.' (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/04/14/kerry_faces_questions_over_purple_heart/)
In Douglas Brinkley's book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the
Vietnam War, Brinkley notes that Purple Hearts were given out
frequently:
As generally understood, the Purple Heart is given
to any US citizen wounded in wartime service to the nation. Giving
out Purple Hearts increased as the United States started sending
Swifts up rivers. Sailors - no longer safe on aircraft carriers
or battleships in the Gulf of Tonkin - were starting to bleed, a
lot.
John Kerry's former commander, Grant Hibbard, disputes Kerry's
account of how he received his first Purple Heart. According to
Hibbard, Kerry had intentionally exaggerated the source and extent
of his injury. Because records also show that Hibbard gave Kerry
a positive performance evaluation shortly after the incident, some
have questioned Hibbard's motives. The Kerry campaign's main reaction
to Hibbard's charges was a public statement saying that Hibbard
is politically motivated and questioning why Hibbard came out only
now. (http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/html/5DFF3A46-31C3-48B4-9EB8-BFF13921FA71.shtml)
Silver Star
The details surrounding Kerry's Silver Star award have recently
become somewhat controversial. In June 2003, Elliott was quoted
as saying the award was "well deserved" and that he had "no regrets
or second thoughts at all about that." (http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml.
More recently, in August 2004, Elliott signed an affidavit stating
"Had I known the facts, I would not have recommended Kerry for the
Silver Star for simply pursuing and dispatching a single wounded,
fleeing Viet Cong" (http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_aff.html).
This August affidavit was released in support of his July 2004 affidavit
which stated in part "When Kerry came back to the United States,
he lied about what occured in Vietnam...". It was after the release
of this 1st affidavit, that Michael Kranish, of the Boston Globe
quoted Elliott as having said "It was a terrible mistake probably
for me to sign the affidavit with those words. I'm the one in trouble
here ... I knew it was wrong ..In a hurry I signed it and faxed
it back. That was a mistake." (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/06/veteran_retracts_criticism_of_kerry/).
It was the release of these two affidavits and Elliott's contention
that the Globe reporter substantially misquoted him which resulted
in controversy. While there has been contention from some Kerry
supporters that Elliott's story has changed as the 2004 presidential
race has evolved, for the most part, neither the Kerry nor Bush
camps have commented about Elliott's statements or the press reports
about them.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
As the presidential campaign of 2004 developed, a group of over
200 Vietnam Era veterans who themselves are by and large, also Swift
boat crewmen and officers, formed a group which they refer to as
"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" or "SBVT". This group has conducted
press conferences and has also published a book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0895260174/qid=1092322812/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-3188017-0256122).
This particular group of veterans, while opposing Kerry, does not
speak for the bulk of Kerry's former direct crew mates. Of the living
members of Kerry's direct former crew mates, all of them excepting
one (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/11/kerry_no_hero_in_ex_crewmans_eyes?mode=PF),
currently support him. For a more detailed discussion of this topic,
see Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth.
|
