Facts indicate veterans against Kerry are lying
How can any rational person take these accusations leveled at John Kerry seriously? Let’s take a look at what some of the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have had to say about John Kerry:
Rear Admiral Roy Huffman said, “John Kerry has not been honest,” in the advertisement, but in an interview last year with Kerry’s biographer, Douglas Brinkley, he stated about Kerry, “I am not going to say anything negative about him — he’s a good man.”
In the advertisement George Elliott said, “John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.” Yet during the Vietnam War, Elliott recommended Kerry for the Silver and Bronze Star medals for valor in combat and gave him the highest possible praise in his officer efficiency reports. “In a combat environment often requiring independent, decisive action, Kerry was unsurpassed,” Elliott wrote in 1969. He went on to rate Kerry as “calm, professional and highly courageous in the face of enemy fire.”
Larry Thurlow stated in the advertisement, “… there was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day.” Yet his very own Bronze Star citation from the Navy in 1969 says, “… all units ? began receiving enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire ? from the river banks.”
Dr. Louis Letson says, “I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury.” Dr. Letson’s name appears on none of Kerry’s medical records. In fact, medic J.C. Carreon’s name appears on the medical form in the section labeled “person administering treatment.”
Lieutenant Commander Grant Hibbard now says, “He betrayed all his shipmates. He lied before the Senate.” Hibbard goes on to say Kerry’s injury was just a scratch and that they had received no enemy fire, but what did Hibbard have to say about Kerry in an evaluation just two weeks after this had happened?
Hibbard wrote that Kerry was under his command for too short a time to evaluate him fully. So of 16 categories for rating, including professional knowledge, moral courage and loyalty, Hibbard checked “not observed” in 12. However, Hibbard gave Kerry the highest rating of “one of the top few” in three categories – initiative, cooperation and personal behavior. He gave Kerry the second-best rating, “above the majority,” in military bearing.
Hmmm … does anyone else find it odd that until Kerry had secured the Democratic nomination to challenge George W. Bush all of these men spoke very highly of John Kerry? Swift Boat Veterans for Lies would probably be a much better name for such a shameful group.
Jamie Lorance
Field Street
McMinnville