Buff

May 04, 2004, 4:26 p.m.
Kerry Purple Heart Doc Speaks Out
The medical description of his first wound.

By Byron York

Some critics of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have questioned the circumstances surrounding the first of three Purple Hearts Kerry won in Vietnam. Those critics, among them some of Kerry's fellow veterans, have suggested that a wound suffered by Kerry in December 1968 may have made him technically eligible for a Purple Heart but was not severe enough to warrant serious consideration, even for a decoration that was handed out by the thousands. Whatever the case, Kerry was awarded the Purple Heart, and, along with two others he won later, it allowed him to request to leave Vietnam before his tour of duty was finished.

Kerry was treated for the wound at a medical facility in Cam Ranh Bay. The doctor who treated Kerry, Louis Letson, is today a retired general practitioner in Alabama. Letson says he remembers his brief encounter with Kerry 35 years ago because "some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." Letson says that last year, as the Democratic campaign began to heat up, he told friends that he remembered treating one of the candidates many years ago. In response to their questions, Letson says, he wrote down his recollections of the time. (Letson says he has had no contacts with anyone from the Bush campaign or the Republican party.) What follows is Letson's memory, as he wrote it.
[QUOTE[
I have a very clear memory of an incident which occurred while I was the Medical Officer at Naval Support Facility, Cam Ranh Bay.
John Kerry was a (jg), the OinC or skipper of a Swift boat, newly arrived in Vietnam. On the night of December 2, he was on patrol north of Cam Ranh, up near Nha Trang area. The next day he came to sick bay, the medical facility, for treatment of a wound that had occurred that night.

The story he told was different from what his crewmen had to say about that night. According to Kerry, they had been engaged in a fire fight, receiving small arms fire from on shore. He said that his injury resulted from this enemy action.

Some of his crew confided that they did not receive any fire from shore, but that Kerry had fired a mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore. The crewman thought that the injury was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar round when it struck the rocks.

That seemed to fit the injury which I treated.

What I saw was a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm. The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.

I simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.

The wound was covered with a bandaid.

Not [sic] other injuries were reported and I do not recall that there was any reported damage to the boat.

[/QUOTE]

What a fucking joke of a human being Kerry is. Contrast this piece of shit with Pat Tillman.

Thong Sniper

cool, fuck kerry! let's vote for bush and find new employment! you're a thinker!

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Buff

No, YOU'RE the thinker!!! Because anyone who thinks John Kerry is a piece of shit obviously also thinks Bush is the second coming of Christ!

Expand your mind, TS.

swoop

:

i stubbed my toe today, where's mine?

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Thong Sniper

Expand my mind? How ironic...

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directfiesta

How can Kerry be a Hero for christ sake?????

He didn't even get lost driving a truck ....

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I know that Asspimple is stoopid ... As he says, it is a FACT !

But I can't figure out how he can breathe or type , at the same time ....

Buff

I think you need to look up the word "ironic," because there was no irony whatsoever. You made a stupid remark based on a stupid assumption, and I called you on it.

Randy

Acctually he recieved 3 purple hearts

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dig420

the only thing true about that article is that Kerry was in Nha Trang and Bush was AWOL in Alabama.

The National Review is a partisan rag only fit for rabid Bush supporters, and Byron York is a conservative hack with roughly the credibility of Ann Coulter. The Bush campaign is looking into every crevice for ANYONE to say something bad about Kerry's conduct in the war, and this is about the best they can do. Funny how all the servicemen who actually served under and with Kerry love and admire him and say it publically, while the conservative slime campaign has to go and find people who are willing to claim they remember verbatim conversations from 40 years ago concerning people whom they had no reason to believe at the time would be important later.

I wonder if he remembers the exact conversation he had with all the thousands of troops he cared for, or just John Kerry.

<IMX>

Troll.

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Joe Citizen

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to contrast Kerry with Dubya?

What does Tillman have to do with anything? Is his corpse running for President?

dig420

on noooo, Letson wouldn't have any political axe to grind, would he? Do a search for him on this page http://www.donbendell.com/Mar14-20-2004GuestBook.html

baddog

and the Silver Star, Bronze Star with V, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

dig420

so what? Bush kept Texas safe and secure. Really smart people i.e. Republicans know who the REAL hero is.

Mr.Fiction

If Tillman was runing for president as a Democrat, right wing veteran-haters would say that his dying wasn't enough of an injury and he was a traitor for not dying twice for his country.

John Kerry risked his life for his country, just like Tillman. Bush used his father's connections to get out of fighting for his country. One is a hero, the other a coward.

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Rictor

So sad. The man served his country. Even if that story was true, which I doubt, he was honored several other times, and I don't see how it makes him "scum."

baddog

Want to take a poll on how many people think you were serious and not sarcastic?

dig420

Anybody who would think I was serious there is probably voting Republican anyway

doober

this is for the dumbasses that cant keep score

George Bush 1
John Kerry 0

Mr.Fiction

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The Truth Hurts

Many people are/were against the Vietnam war... Including Mr. Kerry.

Hypothetically, let's say you're one of them... here's a question...

How can you bash someone that avoided a war you were against and keep a straight face?

I see this on the news shows all the time...
Someone bashing the Vietnam war, and then in the same breath bashing Bush for avoiding going there..

It's gotta feel like when I'm telling my daughter to eat her broccoli, while i'm avoiding it like the plague...

dig420

what about the dumbasses who make nonsensical posts?

*nonsensical = doesn't make any sense (I know you're conservative, literacy isn't your highest priority )

dig420

no, it's Bush and other Chickenhawks falling all over each other trying to find something to bash Kerry's service record while being careful to pretend to respect the fact that he actually went and fought.

Bush is bashed for acting all muscular and super-patriotic while simultaneouly trying to deny he was AWOL - without having to release records to prove it.

AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

it would be a very diferent untold story however if that flying fragment had been a little higher or in the Neck wouldnt it?

That same piece would have killed Kerry in alot of other area's.

At least he fought and friendly fire accidents happen more often than the military likes to admit.

Its cowardly to dig in the books and try and discredit any Veterans exprience in the military. Utterly dispicable.

Now think of that fake Panzy Bush on the Enterprise saying "Mission Accomplished" what a fucken ass.

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samuel

Too expensive? I know someone who can take him there for muuuch less..

Samuel

The Truth Hurts

Personally, I'm a little sick of the childish bashing from both sides.

It's like fucking kindergarten.

I'm close to looking for a good 'none of the above' banner to replace my Bush/Cheney sig.

The Truth Hurts

not for nothing, but the Dems started it with the fucking Bush/National Guard/AWOL shit.

Giorgio_Xo

I don't like Kerry nor do I have plans to vote for him, but he earned his medals.

What about Mr. Bush's and Mr. Cheney's medals?

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AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

But that don't make Bush no fucking War Vet, it makes em a coward.

There is a difference.
Had a poor mans son gone AWOL during war time he would have gone to prison like everyone else.

Bush is a War criminal always has been a war criminal.

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johndoebob

Politicians are liars and only very few weren't going only for their personal egoistic interests after they got elected.

Kerry is a liar too and a joke,he didn't even throw his purple heart away as he claimed it.

Never trust politicians they are the worst crooks,you can only go for the less evil (who knows how kerry wil turn out when he gets elected?).

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<IMX>

Dig420 wtf are you talking about.

Bush got an honorable early release so he could attend Harvard Business school.

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dig420

you know the thing that I really hate about conservatives?

it's that they pick names like 'The Truth Hurts' and they always say shit like they're the voice of god, they couldn't possibly be mistaken or misled because they're way too smart and savvy operators, unlike the poor liberal sheep. They have this tone of self-righteous presumption, as if it's insane to even question anything they say, but when their ridiculous statement gets torn to pieces - undisputably - they don't stop and rethink their position. They don't consider new evidence that may have some bearing on their opinion. They just keep spouting the same discredited shit the next day like nothing ever happened.

It's like Rush Limbaugh, the tough on crime conservative who turns out to be a junkie, and who, it is well hahahahahahahahaed, lies just about every time he opens his mouth, but he's still worshipped as this voice of common sense by the right wingers.

Do you know what would happen to a leftist pundit who is found to be a habitual liar? He or she would be discredited and shunned by his colleagues, they would be humiliated and definitely wouldn't considered a prominent figure in leftist punditry or policy. This is because the left generally isn't formulating thier opinions according to the their ideology and then altering the facts to suit their ideas. The process is reversed. Research is done, hypotheses are formulated, discussed and only adopted if they can't be proven to be incorrect.

Can someone name a brilliant conservative musician or artist? Can anyone name ONE TIME in the history of the world when conservatives have been shown, in hindsight, to be on the correct side of an important issue?

If you're a conservative, you're evil and you also haven't read this far into this post, because it's too hard for your tiny little brain. You're the inquisitors, you're not Galileo. You're the guys holding the dog leashes and baseball bats, not the Freedom Marchers. From a liberal viewpoint, you all just seem to be willfully ignorant people. You're like christians, just looking for some cause to identify with to prop up your apparently deficient sense of personal identity.

The whole problem with debating with you guys is that you only give your opinion, you're not interested in backing it up or defending it, you just want to throw it in somebody's face and watch thier reaction. Your mind can't be changed because you never really used an intellectual reasoned process to reach your opinion in the first place, therefore reason will not sway you. Why do I bother?

The Truth Hurts

Then again, I don't seem to recall him ever making that claim.

If having money didn't come with certain perks...
who'd bother trying to become rich?

So you've stated... a hundred times before, yet there he is, still the constitutionally elected president, and more than likely will be so for another 4 and a half years.

dig420

I think there is a legitimate question as to whether Bush served his time, and the fact that he won't authorize a blanket release of his records is only supporting the doubters. What is he trying to hide?

If a man is sending in other men and women to die in a foreign country for dubious reasons, his actions when it was his turn to go fight become relevant. These guys bring this kind of thing on themselves by wrapping themselves in the flag and talking like Rambo.

AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

Summary:

Conservatives have unreal expectations of society and still trumpet there diatribes without realising that reality often contradicts what they preach.

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dig420

wtf I'm talking about is common knowledge if you read anything except the American Spectator. Bush got permission to change the location of his service to work on a political campaign. He never showed up at his new location, or at the very least hasn't been able to produce any hahahahahahahahas showing he was there. Harvard Business School isn't even in the equation.

The Truth Hurts

you know the thing that I really hate about liberals?

They can't make an arguement with out insulting someone, making uninformed presumptions, rambling on endlessly about absolutely nothing, or mentioning Rush Limbaugh.

AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

"If having money didn't come with certain perks...
who'd bother trying to become rich?"

So what your saying is Rich people are entitled to slanting the system?

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Giorgio_Xo

I am not a Liberal. Bush betrayed the Republican Party.

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swoop

Vietnam Vet Slams Kerry:

Vietnam vets slam Kerry

By RICHARD TOMKINS, UPI White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- Sen. John Kerry's accounts of his service in Vietnam and his statements that he witnessed atrocities were attacked as fabrications and political opportunism Tuesday by a group of Vietnam veterans who served with him personally or in the units affiliated with him during his short tour of duty in Southeast Asia.

The veterans, including some of Kerry's former commanders and shipmates, have formed an organization called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" and called on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to authorize release of all his service records, including medical records.

"We feel it is very, very import that the American people get the actual truth about that three or four months Kerry served in Vietnam since he has made it a center piece of his biography," said John O'Neill, who took charge of Kerry's boat and crew after Kerry left Vietnam. "Second, we resent very deeply the false war crimes charges he made coming back from Vietnam. ... We think that those have cast aspersion on those living and dead.

"We think he knew he was lying when he made them. We think they are unsupportable. We intend to bring the truth about that to the American people. Third, we believe that based on our experience with him, he is totally unfit to be commander in chief."

Kerry, who commanded a river patrol boat, served about 4 months of a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam and won the Silver Star and Bronze Star. He requested and received reassignment to the United States after receiving three Purple Hearts for combat wounds, allowed under Navy regulations. The circumstances and merit of one of those awards has come into question in the campaign against President George W. Bush, leading to acrimonious mudslinging and a resurrection of the turmoil the conflict inflicted on American society.

Following his return and then discharge from the Navy, Kerry became a prominent anti-war activist and testified before Congress that he had witnessed U.S. forces committing atrocities and war crimes.

"I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces," said retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, chairman of the organization. "This is not a political issue. It is a matter of honesty."

Hoffman said Kerry had recently telephoned him and spent 45 minutes attempting to convince Hoffman of not proceeding with the formation of the organization, which Democrats Tuesday attacked as a shill for Bush.

Hoffmann, who debated Kerry on television in 1971 over Vietnam allegations, denied any ties to Bush or the Republican Party. The Swift boat veterans held differing political and social views, he said. "There is only one issue we all agree on, and that is the issue of John Kerry."

In a letter to Kerry signed by more than 200 Swift boats veterans, they wrote, "It is our collective judgment that, upon your return from Vietnam, you grossly and knowingly distorted the conduct of the American soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen of that war (including a betrayal of many of us, without regard for the danger your actions caused us).

"Further, we believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material facts as to your own conduct in this war.

"We believe you continue this conduct today, albeit by changing from an anti-war to a 'war hero' status," the letter said.

The veterans Tuesday were vociferous in denying they had seen or had participated in wartime atrocities and questioned that if Kerry had indeed observed any, why he didn't report it as he was required to do.

One veteran, noting the allegations were again made in a book on Kerry's war experiences, choked back tears as he related how his wife and daughter had read about the alleged war crimes Kerry spoke about in Douglas Brinkley's "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" and asked him if he had committed them.

Spokesmen for the Kerry campaign were not immediately available for comment Tuesday, but the Democratic National Committee put out a statement attacking the public relations company used by the group as having Republic Party connections. The veterans made no comment on the allegations.

Kerry has admitted a poor choice of words in his testimony before Congress in 1971 but says he served with honor in the war.

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Heywood Jablome

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Useless Warrior

The true difference; Kerry was very wealthy at the time of the Viet Nam, but chose not to avoid it even though he opposed it. George Bush, also very wealthy at the time, chose to avoid it while working for the party that forced it on us.

Bush did not win the popular vote during the last election, in fact, at last count, lost it by 500,000,000 votes.

George Bush has disgraced our nation. We should feel shame because of him and his dubious actions. If you think our sons should die for Haliburton's share value, go ahead, vote for Bush. If you actually beleive that Iraq was a plausible threat before we invaded, vote for Bush. If you think we have made progress in the Middle East, vote for Bush. If you are a critical thinker, vote for anyone but Bush.

The Truth Hurts

ROFL.

m00d

<IMX>

Dude, as Bush said on Meet the Press they dont' give you an honorable discharge if you have been AWOL.

I think Bush gives a pretty simple explanation.
And he has dental records.

We all know that people just don't fake those things.

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AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

FACT: There were alot of War Crimes during Vietnam.

Its inevitably part of war.

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m00d

dig420

so Hoffman, who's been described a guy straight out of Catch-22, is pissed off at Kerry for taking his three purple hearts and leaving. So what? What's the point? That Kerry didn't want to be in Vietnam anymore? I don't think anyone's arguing that, least of all John Kerry. Hoffman's been attacking Kerry since 1971 for his opposition to the war.

As for John O'Neill, he was sicced on Kerry by Nixon (O'Neill said Nixon was the greatest man he ever met) back in the '60's to try to counteract Kerry's anti-war efforts, and he was rewarded with a clerkship under Rehnquist to start off his legal career. He's a right-wing political hack, and has never been anything but a hack.

But of course, from the conservative viewpoint this is a groundswell, rising TOTALLY ON IT'S OWN, of anti-Kerry sentiment among veterans.

Just more slime and bullshit from the right. They're counting on people not checking the source.

dig420

what's his simple explanation? Just because I didn't get arrested doesn't mean I never committed a crime. Why doesn't he just authorize a release of his military records to prove it?

xenophobic

While John Kerry did serve, and won medals in vietnam, he also came home and accused american soldiers of being baby killers whom commited atrocities, made up some story about throwing his medals on to the white house lawn, and sided with the enemy, and people want to put him in charge of the military? who for attorney general - Charles Manson?